If we shifted everything from Petrol to Natural Gas overnight, would this slow warming?

[Taverner]

I know there is still carbon emissions from LP or NG - but not as much as petrol.

If we enacted a plan that put LP kits on every gas burner, and then switched from petrol to LP quickly - and say this was all over the world - would it have any effect?

[Selatius]

1. Theoretically, you get a more efficient burn off of methane than with liquid gasoline.

A gas always burns more efficiently than a liquid, even if the liquid is passed through a spray, such as a fuel injector. It always burns less efficiently than a gas. You could get more distance out of a unit of gas than you would if that unit was a liquid.

[tridim]

2. If we did, most people couldn't afford to heat their homes with NG. nt

[lapfog_1]

3. The one good idea from the T. Boone Pickens plan

is to quit using NG to run electric power plants (and, also, not substitute coal). So we invest in a *lot* of wind power, turn off a large number of NG electric plants, and use the surplus NG to power vehicles.

Personally, I think we should invest in massive wind, solar, geothermal, and gravity (tide action) power systems, turn off the coal and NG, and use electricity for both heat, cooling, and most transportation. And we go to bio diesel for long haul transport (trucks, trains).

[kristopher]

4. You've got the right idea.

I'm pretty certain that is how it is going to shake out.

Picken's is looking at low penetration by wind and not taking storage technologies into account. The natural gas turbines will be the last fossil fuel source to be turned off.

Technology * Capacity/configuration/fuel * Estimate (gCO2e/kWh)

Wind 2.5 MW, offshore 9
Hydroelectric 3.1 MW, reservoir 10
Wind 1.5 MW, onshore 10
Biogas Anaerobic digestion 11
Hydroelectric 300 kW, run-of-river 13
Solar thermal 80 MW, parabolic trough 13
Biomass Forest wood Co-combustion with hard coal 14
Biomass Forest wood steam turbine 22
Biomass Short rotation forestry Co-combustion with hard coal 23
Biomass FOREST WOOD reciprocating engine 27
Biomass Waste wood steam turbine 31
Solar PV Polycrystalline silicone 32
Biomass Short rotation forestry steam turbine 35
Geothermal 80 MW, hot dry rock 38
Biomass Short rotation forestry reciprocating engine 41
Nuclear Various reactor types 66
Natural gas Various combined cycle turbines 443
Fuel cell Hydrogen from gas reforming 664
Diesel Various generator and turbine types 778
Heavy oil Various generator and turbine types 778
Coal Various generator types with scrubbing 960
Coal Various generator types without scrubbing 1050


B.K. Sovacool / Energy Policy 36 (2008) page 2950

[meow mix]

5. scenario: "global dimming" then immediatly ceased

and then the true global warming that has been held off, instantly appears...
the human civilization is crushed within 2 years and the species is gone 1 or 2 hundred years later.

[Taverner]

6. I assume you are saying we will run out of LP

[Dead_Parrot]

7. No

There's a point where the planet's own feedbacks start doing the warming - the permafrost starts melting, the forests start dying, etc: We past it some years ago, so we're going to warm anyway unless we can reverse the process

And we'd still be adding our own CO₂ to the processes. Granted, it might by 1.5 ppm/year instead of 2ppm/year, but it's still going in the wrong direction, so the warming will carry on accelerating.

Switching to NG (aside from the supply problems already mentioned) just means the warming doesn't accelerate quite as fast as it would otherwise. And as Meow mentioned, we loose the cooling from global dimming - so there might not be any net difference at all.