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Natural gas is an invaluable resource for many people. From cooking your meals to heating your homes and providing hot water for baths and showers, gas is one of the home's essential utilities that many of us couldn't live without - but it can sometimes be easy to take the fuel for granted.
Composed primarily of methane, natural gas is the cleanest and most environmentally friendly of the fossil fuels, making gas heating appliances much more desirable than coal fires and other, dirtier alternatives. The fuel is also much more abundant and can be found in a myriad of places, including oil fields and coal beds as well as dedicated natural gas fields.
However, despite this ease of discovery, natural gas can be extremely difficult to transport and deliver over long distances, which is the primary reason for the increase in fuel costs in recent years as international distributors impose heavier charges for delivery of the precious fuel through pipelines and other transport methods. The low density of natural gas makes transportation especially difficult, though it can be temporarily converted into a liquid state as LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) which makes delivery easier.
Like other fossil fuels, natural gas is non-renewable, meaning we could face an ever-dwindling supply in the coming years, leading to even steeper costs. Drilling for new sources of natural gas can also be prohibitively expensive, as wells need to be an average of 6000 feet deep and can cost up to 80 million US dollars to excavate.
While this scarcity will likely cause energy companies to look into more alternative energy sources in coming years, it's unlikely that we'll ever stop using gas altogether. Natural gas is more ecologically sound than most other fuels too, producing less carbon emissions as well as less sulphur, making it popular with environmentalists, and there's even evidence that natural gas was being used for energy as far back as Ancient Greece and Persia.
Natural gas can sometimes be dangerous too however, and you need to ensure that your boiler and heating appliances are always in good working order to avoid any accidents occurring. Because natural gas is odourless it can be difficult to determine whether gas may be leaking into your home, though this has caused some gas companies to add an artificial aroma to reduce the chance of people accidentally breathing in the fumes and improve safety in homes.
Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
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