Snakes in The Greenhouse: Does Increased Natural Gas Use Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal Consumption?
Published In
Energy Research & Social Science
Document Type
Citation
Publication Date
2018
Abstract
Since natural gas emits less carbon than does coal per unit of electricity generation, some analysts suggest natural gas will help to mitigate climate change. However, sociological research has found that the substitution of one natural resource for another often does not happen as anticipated because of political and economic factors. Here, we analyze cross-national time-series data to examine the connection between growth in emissions from natural gas consumption and changes in emissions from coal use, controlling for several structural factors. We find that CO 2 emissions from natural gas sources do not displace CO 2 emissions from coal. These results cast doubt on whether the growing use of natural gas is likely to help substantially reduce CO 2 emissions.
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DOI
10.1016/j.erss.2018.02.001
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/26036
Citation Details
Greiner, P. T., York, R., & McGee, J. A. (2018). Snakes in The Greenhouse: Does increased natural gas use reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal consumption?. Energy Research & Social Science, 38, 53-57.