When natural gas is burned it does burn very cleanly. When combined with oxygen, it should produce only carbon dioxide and water vapor.

In reality though, natural gas in the U.S. contains sulphur and butane. So when burned, it creates air pollution. Not pure, but better than the other fossil fuels...


>>Hi Dragan,
>>
>>Not any really good energy options in the U.S. but here are a few:
>>
>>BioEnergy - promising, there must be enough waste out there to use!
>>geothermal - promising but not available everywhere
>>wind - available only in a few select locations
>>solar - can only provide a portion of a homeowner's energy reqmts
>>gas - fossil fuel that uses natural gas reserves and causes pollution
>>oil - fossil fuel and relies on external sources and contributes to the U.S. being an oil hog, pollutes, etc.
>>electric - generated by hydropower (impacts on watershed and kills many species of fish and aquatic life) or nuclear (scary) based
>>wood - causes the destruction of tropical forests (or so they say)...also adds particles and carbon to the air when it burns...
>>coal - cannot be used legally in the U.S. in new construction
>
>
>One minor correction - the natural gas produces water and CO2 when it burns. But then, chemistry was always my weak spot, someone better correct me.
>
>>Which do you use?
>
>There's no silver bullet here. Can't be. We have to combine - use geothermal where available, use biogas where available, use sun where feasible. And stop wasting.
>
>My way was to drive a bicycle whenever I didn't really need a car - i.e. a bicycle as a means of transportation, not as a recreational item. Not feasible here - in a car sized country, there's nothing near enough to drive a bicycle to. Whenever I need something, it's just too far for a bike ride.
>
>The house we built was heavily insulated - the walls (cement foam blocks, which is already an insulator) were a foot thick, the windows fit snugly and had real thermopane glass (vacuumised).
>
>I'll never buy an SUV or a truck. And I hope for my next car I'll manage to get my hands on something electric or hybrid.
>
>And I telecommute. The first year of telecommuting drove my gas consumption from 330 galons a year to 232. And I'm doing that for the third year.
>
>One small thing - I'm not replacing lightbulbs. I'm switching to those small neons. They consume about 25% of energy for the same light.