Renewable Natural Gas & a Decarbonized Energy Future (Michael Webber, University of Texas and ENGIE)

“Renewable natural gas is a form of methane that comes from renewable sources rather than fossil reservoirs. … We can make methane in a renewable, recurring way by for example decomposing organic sources … without oxygen present (anaerobically) to form methane.  We can also manufacture methane from extra electricity by cracking the hydrogen out of water vapor to make CH4, which is methane. … In this case you’re taking carbon out of the atmospheric reservoir … and dumping it in the same reservoir. That reduces your total life cycle carbon emissions.”

“You can electrify everything.  It’s just a matter of cost and reliability. … If your goal is to really get to zero carbon as quickly as possible, as cheaply as possible, and in as robust a way as possible, keeping fuels as part of that mix is important. … The reliability problem shows up in different ways.  In electricity we have to overbuild to accommodate peak demand. … which is idled most of the time and therefore becomes very expensive. [There are also] technical issues associated with how [the all-electric] grid performs. … In our view, decarbonizing gas may be a relatively cheap way to go … Fuels are powerful storage mechanisms.”

“There’s a pressing need to solve climate change. … For me it’s more important for us to set [decarbonization] standards and goals for what we expect [and to require compliance]. … If you can comply, that’s great. … If you can’t, then you can’t participate.  But … if you are telling a lot of people that they can’t even be a part of that future, then they will fight that future.”

Michael Webber is is based in Paris, France where he serves as the Chief Science and Technology Officer at ENGIE, a global energy & infrastructure services company. Webber is also the Josey Centennial Professor in Energy Resources at the University of Texas at Austin.