What is Sustainable Gas?

The recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned of ‘severe, widespread and irreversible impacts’ unless carbon emissions are cut

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon himself exhorted investors to look to renewable energy and build a sustainable future. So what does sustainability mean when it relates to gas, and is it a real possibility?

Sustainable gas refers to the potential of natural gas to play a key role in a low carbon world, and the development/deployment of technologies that will enable it to fulfill that role. Clearly we have to make the most efficient use of all available energy sources, whilst paying attention to both their cost and environmental impact. The challenge for energy policy makers is to create a framework within which natural gas can play a full and important role in the energy mix, both today and into the future, given that reserves of conventional gas will be able to meet demand for decades, with newly available sources of unconventional gas boosting supply.

The challenge for academia and industry is to develop and deploy cost effective technologies that enable natural gas to play that role, a challenge that sits at the heart of the work within the Sustainable Gas Institute.