Theres community buses at my campus have a VERY large print along the side that say. “Powered by clean natural gas”. What does that mean. Isnt all gas natural?
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Clean in this context is that natural gas produces fewer tailpipe emissions when compared to the diesel fuel typically used to power buses.
Natural gas in this context is a gaseous petroleum product that is primarily methane. That’s just what it’s commonly called.
Yes, no, not really.
Gas, as in gasoline, the fuel of the typical vehicle, is mostly made by distilling crude oil. The chemical formula is C8H18, though gasoline has a lot of other hydrocarbons and other additives in there. But mostly it’s a hydrocarbon in the C8H18 range.
Natural Gas is a very specific hydrocarbon, CH4. It’s called natural gas because it can naturally form through regular decomposition (it’s often called Methane) rather than needing to be distilled, and it can also be natively found in underground deposits the same way crude oil can.
The “Clean” part of “clean natural gas” is that natural gas generally tends to burn a lot cleaner than gasoline, with fewer unwanted byproducts and contaminants. Ideal combustion is the carbon and hydrogen in the fuel + oxygen in the air = water and carbon dioxide. You’ll never get 100% ideal combustion. You’re more likely to get closer with natural gas than gasoline.
Its a marketing ploy and tagline by the fossil fuel industry to mislead people into thinking its doesn’t contribute to global warming. Its BS.
“Natural gas is a relatively clean burning fossil fuel”. That word ‘relatively’ is doing a lot of work. Just like saying “Getting punched in the face is relatively pleasant.” Yes, true, when you are comparing the experience relative to getting you face run over by a truck.
Natural gas (or just “gas” in the US) is gas that is extracted out of the ground and then minimally processed by cleaning / separating / etc. Natural gas is mostly methane (CH4).
This distinguishes it from other fuel gas, like liquified petroleum (LP gas, or “propane”) which is a byproduct of the oil refining process. LP gas is made up of methane, butane, propane, ethane.
Natural gas being called “clean” is just marketing by the natural gas industry. Yes, it is cleaner than coal or fuel oil or diesel – as in natural gas produces less soot and particulate matter, because it is easier to set up to produce complete combustion. But burning natural gas still produces CO2, which is a primary greenhouse gas….so bad for the environment, but not visible as such.
Natural gas is just methane in the ground.
Methane burns a lot cleaner than oil and coal, but yes it still emits a lot of carbon. Gas companies love to market the lower carbon footprint of methane so that’s why.
There actually does exist clean renewable methane, typically called green methane or biomethane, that’s the exact same chemical, but made renewably, typically from bacteria digesting plant material(and if you regrow the plants its renewable).
It’s a marketing ploy. The intent is that when you hear someone talk about replacing fossil fuels like natural gas with solar/wind they want you to say “nooo my natural gas is clean, don’t replace it”
It means that burning it doesn’t release toxic fumes. But that has little/nothing to do with the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Burning any hydrocarbon (methane, butane, propane, gasoline, etc) causes it to react with oxygen to produce heat, water vapor, and CO2. By calling it “clean” they really just mean that it’s pure, and that there are few/no other byproducts that could be hazardous.
By calling it clean, they mostly want to mislead you into thinking it’s fine for the environment. But there’s no way around the fact that burning any hydrocarbon for fuel will release CO2 into the atmosphere.
It is a marketing lie. Natural gas is responsible for a huge percentage of the CO2 in the atmosphere. Not good.
“Natural gas” in this context means (mostly) methane. Back in the day, “natural” distinguished it from [coal gas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gas). And “clean” is there as a more recent marketing term to remind you that burning methane produces fewer emissions than something like diesel.
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