Natural Gas Gains an Advantage

A recent giant discovery of natural gas in Louisiana expects to change the energy landscape in the U.S. Experts estimate Haynesville Shale may contain the equivalent of 33 billions barrels of oil, which takes 18 years to produce. Remember, this is just a cautious estimate -- it could be much larger.

Since then, fields in Arkansas, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Texas report holding massive amounts of energy resources waiting for pumping. No longer could experts ignore the possibility of adding natural gas to future projects to lower energy rates, carbon emissions and foreign oil use.

President Barack Obama is working on a climate change bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee that will reveal ambitious target goals for lowering carbon dioxide emissions. To do this, the U.S. would need to stop relying on heavy carbon emission producing coal-fired power plants and move toward renewable energy found in wind and solar power. What's more is that coal produces twice as much carbon emission as natural gas does.

Natural gas has been sitting inside of shale, a common nonporous rock in the U.S. Initially, few pursued the use of natural gas for energy because it was too dense for production. However, a Texas oilman turned natural gas stopped the decline of natural gas services with the establishment of Barnett Shale in Fort Worth.

Billionaire energy investor T. Boone Pickens has put together the "Pickens Plan" to cut foreign oil dependence especially when oil is more expensive to produce, hard to find and fails to keep up with demand. The Pickens Plan aims to create millions of new jobs to generate electricity from wind and solar energy, develop an electrical grid, and provide incentives for car, home and building owners to upgrade energy saving solutions such as tax incentives for those who switch to cars running on natural gas instead of foreign imported oil.

While the Pickens Plan sounds like a dream, some believe the plan could drive up the cost of natural gas putting money into the pockets of producers. Others worry about the lack of regulations especially with the process of removing natural gas from the earth, which involves taking water from local wells and mixing them with chemicals.

Some businesses and cities already have plans in place to convert cars, buses and trucks to run on natural gas. Not only does it save energy, but also natural gas has been cheaper than gasoline. Furthermore, North America produces most of the U.S.-consumed natural gas.