US study questions greenhouse benefits of natural gas as vehicle fuel
Fri 04 July 2014
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A US-study by Stanford University researchers says that the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel could exacerbate climate change due to leaks of methane during the drilling, production and transport of the fuel. The researchers say that the leaks offset some of the natural gas' CO2 benefit.
"There's lots of reasons to shift from diesel," says lead author Adam Brandt of Stanford - reported in USA Today -adding diesel buses are "stinky" and natural gas ones may help cut oil imports and improve local air quality. But from a climate perspective, "it's not likely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
The researchers say that burning natural gas in vehicles emits less carbon dioxide than burning diesel, but the drilling and production of natural gas leaks methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Those leaks offset some of natural gas' CO2 benefit. "Even running passenger cars on natural gas instead of gasoline is probably on the borderline in terms of climate," he says.
The research, a review of 200-plus studies over 20 years, appeared in the journal Science.
Richard Kolodziej, president of Natural Gas Vehicles for America, disagreed with the finding saying a 2007 report by the California Energy Commission calculated that on a well-to-wheel basis — which includes extraction and distribution — that natural gas in vehicles emits 22% less greenhouse gases than diesel and 29% less than conventional gasoline.
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