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Climate consequences of natural gas as a bridge fuel

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  • Michael Levi

Abstract

Many have recently speculated that natural gas might become a “bridge fuel”, smoothing a transition of the global energy system from fossil fuels to zero carbon energy by temporarily offsetting the decline in coal use. Others have contended that such a bridge is incompatible with oft-discussed climate objectives and that methane leakage from natural gas system may eliminate any advantage that natural gas has over coal. Yet global climate stabilization scenarios where natural gas provides a substantial bridge are generally absent from the literature, making study of gas as a bridge fuel difficult. Here we construct a family of such scenarios and study some of their properties. In the context of the most ambitious stabilization objectives (450 ppm CO 2 ), and absent carbon capture and sequestration, a natural gas bridge is of limited direct emissions-reducing value, since that bridge must be short. Natural gas can, however, play a more important role in the context of more modest but still stringent objectives (550 ppm CO 2 ), which are compatible with longer natural gas bridges. Further, contrary to recent claims, methane leakage from natural gas operations is unlikely to strongly undermine the climate benefits of substituting gas for coal in the context of bridge fuel scenarios. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

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  • Michael Levi, 2013. "Climate consequences of natural gas as a bridge fuel," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 609-623, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:118:y:2013:i:3:p:609-623
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0658-3
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    Cited by:

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    14. Markéta Mikolajková-Alifov & Frank Pettersson & Margareta Björklund-Sänkiaho & Henrik Saxén, 2019. "A Model of Optimal Gas Supply to a Set of Distributed Consumers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-27, January.
    15. Santillán Vera, Mónica & García Manrique, Lilia & Rodríguez Peña, Isabel & De La Vega Navarro, Angel, 2023. "Drivers of electricity GHG emissions and the role of natural gas in mexican energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    16. Nyambuu, Unurjargal & Semmler, Willi, 2020. "Climate change and the transition to a low carbon economy – Carbon targets and the carbon budget," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 367-376.
    17. Hausfather, Zeke, 2015. "Bounding the climate viability of natural gas as a bridge fuel to displace coal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 286-294.
    18. Wang, Zhihao & Sharafian, Amir & Mérida, Walter, 2020. "Non-equilibrium thermodynamic model for liquefied natural gas storage tanks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    19. Temitayo B. Majekodunmi & Mohd Shahidan Shaari & Nor Fadzilah Zainal & Nor Hidayah Harun & Abdul Rahim Ridzuan & Noorazeela Zainol Abidin & Nur Hayati Abd Rahman, 2023. "Gas Consumption as a Key for Low Carbon State and its Impact on Economic Growth in Malaysia: ARDL Approach," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(3), pages 469-477, May.
    20. Guo, Yingjian & Hawkes, Adam, 2019. "The impact of demand uncertainties and China-US natural gas tariff on global gas trade," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 205-217.
    21. Oksana V. Savchina & Olga V. Savchina & Anastasia V. Asinovich & Maksim A. Kosyakov & Alexander L. Bobkov, 2017. "Energy Sector of the Russian Federation in the Context of Macroeconomic Instability," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 28-33.
    22. McGlade, Christophe & Pye, Steve & Ekins, Paul & Bradshaw, Michael & Watson, Jim, 2018. "The future role of natural gas in the UK: A bridge to nowhere?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 454-465.
    23. Mignone, Bryan K. & Showalter, Sharon & Wood, Frances & McJeon, Haewon & Steinberg, Daniel, 2017. "Sensitivity of natural gas deployment in the US power sector to future carbon policy expectations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 518-524.
    24. Zhang, Xiaochun & Myhrvold, Nathan P. & Hausfather, Zeke & Caldeira, Ken, 2016. "Climate benefits of natural gas as a bridge fuel and potential delay of near-zero energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 317-322.

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