Why natural gas? Quite simply natural gas is affordable, abundant and cleaner then other fossil fuels. By increasing the amount of natural gas and decreasing the amount of coal and oil in Canada’s overall energy mix we will reduce carbon emissions. Natural gas burns approximately 50% less carbon then coal and approximately 30% less the oil.
Due to technological advancements in horizontal drilling and fracturing, natural gas can be economically extracted from shale formations. The natural gas found in these shale formation has fundamentally changed natural gas as a long term energy source. In the U.S. shale gas has increased natural gas reserves by ~40%. In Canada, the Horn River basin in northeast British Columbia is estimated to hold as much as 600 Trillion cubic feet.
Billions in investment capital has already been put into the Horn River basin and other shale resources across Canada. This resource will be extracted. It is Canada’s choice to leverage this resource and capture the opportunity to reduce carbon emissions domestically or let the resource be exported to the competitive benefit of others. With this said, Canada is in position to dramatically increase natural gas usage within their power generation and transportation networks, and still be a net exporter of natural gas to both the U.S. and other markets that will be opened up due to LNG transportation.
Learn more at Wikipedia – Natural Gas
