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Natural gas switch won’t slow climate change, study suggests

This article by the CBC discusses a recent study that disputes the notion of greater natural gas exploitation serving as a bridge to a low-carbon future:

Cheap and plentiful natural gas isn’t quite a bridge to a brighter energy future as claimed and won’t slow global warming, a new study projects.

Abundant natural gas in the United States has been displacing coal, which contains a higher proportion of carbon and produces more of the chief global warming gas carbon dioxide.

But the new international study says an expansion of natural gas use by 2050 would also keep other energy-producing technologies like wind, solar and nuclear, from being used more. And those technologies are even better than natural gas for avoiding global warming.

Computer simulations show that emissions of heat-trapping gases to make electricity would not decline worldwide and could possibly go up, says the study, released Wednesday by the journal Nature.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org

Jim Brennan: