• Natural Gas Won't Save Us: As natural gas prices plummeted in recent years, there's been widespread belief that using natural gas as a methadone-like substitute for oil would be a boon for the climate. But research soon to be published shows that a switch to gas would actually accelerate climate change slightly for the next 40 to 130 years (depending on how much methane leaks from gas-drilling operations). After that, there would be a slight cooling of the global temperature.
• Coca-Cola to Add EV Delivery Trucks to Its Fleet This Year: Coca-Cola has announced plans to expand its electric vehicle delivery fleet in five cities in the U.S. by bring six trucks to five cities this year. Each of the new eStar vehicles can save Coke up to 60 percent in fuel costs, is almost silent in operation, and is about 50 percent recyclable at the end of its life. All told, the new eStar trucks along with additional new alt-fuel vehicle additions to its fleet will give Coca-Cola more than 750 greener vehicles in its fleet by year's end.
• Nalco Helps Marriott Mumbai Save 16M Gallons of Water: A new case study from Nalco highlights how the company's water monitoring and control technology is helping the 583-room Marriott Renaissance Mumbai hotel and conference center save 16 million gallons of water -- and 600,000 kilowatt-hours of energy -- per year. The case study is part of a larger partnership between Nalco and Marriott to apply Nalco's technology to save Marriott 450 million gallons of water over a three-year period.
• Doing Waste Recycling the Wrong Way: From the "news of the weird" file: The head of a waste recycling business in Devon, England, has been fined £6,300 (about US$10,000) for taking the annual November 5 Guy Fawkes Night celebration as an opportunity to burn hazardous waste in a bonfire.
• Climate Scientists Seek Help Funding Legal Fight: Over at Climate Progress, Joseph Romm has reposted a plea for help from climate scientists whose email correspondence has been targeted by the American Tradition Institute. The scientists are asking for support for their legal fund to fight an FOI request that they fear will be used to turn their correspondence into another ClimateGate debacle.
[Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Coca-Cola is adding six electric vehicles and 100 overall alternative-fuel vehicles to its fleet.]
Photo CC-licensed by Tod Baker.
As with so many environmental
As with so many environmental issues, the truth is hard to uncover. However, obscure and incomplete reporting does little to clarify. Although it may be true that using natural gas as a substitute for petroleum derived fuels is less than ideal for a number of reasons, natural gas is still one of the cleaner hydrocarbon fuels. The article referenced in the first segment this First Take, does not address natural gas a substitute for oil; it addresses using natural gas in place of coal. Furthermore, this First Take neglects to acknowledge that burning natural gas in place of coal substantially reduces green house gas emissions. A detailed Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors life cycle analysis authored in collaboration with the Worldwatch Institute found that US natural gas-fired electricity generation emits 47% less green houses gases than coal. This study considers the life cycle of these fuels from production (including shale gas supply) through use. However, the yet to be published Climate Change Letters study does raise an interesting point regarding the impact of sulphates. Please be cautious when reporting environmental information—these issues and their solutions are complex.