Re: “People need to know the truth about LNG”, (Citizen, June 17).
The letter wanted to let people know the truth about LNG safety.
The letter deals with the safety record of the LNG industry. While the LNG industry may have a reasonable safety record, we still need to ask ourselves why we are even considering involvement with this industry.
Natural gas in its natural form is a fairly clean source of energy.
It has the lowest CO2 emissions per unit of energy of any fossil fuel because it is suitable for use in high efficiency combined cycle power stations. For an equivalent amount of heat, natural gas produces about 30 per cent less CO2 than petroleum and 45 per cent less CO2 than coal. It moves easily through pipelines and is fairly abundant.
LNG is not a clean source of energy.
To liquefy natural gas, it must be taken down to about -162 C (-260 F). This is done through compressing.
When transporting, these temperatures must be maintained, and then, before the LNG can be used, it must be re-gasified.
All this takes an incredible amount of energy. It can be as much as 40 per cent of the original energy available in the natural gas.
Wasting 40 per cent of an available energy source is not something we should be doing. It adds 40 per cent more CO2 from the use of this fuel. Our planet can not afford this kind of waste.
We should keep natural gas natural.
Use it right here in North America as a cheap and relatively clean energy source and forget the notion of shipping it across oceans (more wasted energy) and let Asia supply natural gas from their own continental sources.
Tim McGiffin
Cobble Hill