Fairbanks Natural Gas

Natural Gas is the obvious choice when it comes to the environment and burning fossil fuels. No one can argue that natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel available. There are numerous reasons why natural gas is the choice when it comes to the environment:

Cleanest and most efficient burning fossil fuel.
Virtually no atmospheric emissions of small particulate matter or sulfur dioxide.
Far lower levels of "greenhouse" gases and nitrogen oxides.
Produces virtually no solid waste and has much less impact on water quality.
No requirements for an underground fuel tank, eliminating any possible chance of spills or fuel leaks.

We have compiled data and numbers for you below to help you grasp how much cleaner and more environmentally friendly natural gas is when compared with two other common fossil fuels, oil and coal, which are both used extensively in the Fairbanks area. Most homes and business in the Fairbanks area currently use heating oil to heat their homes and for making hot water. Also, Fairbanksans use electricity to heat their water, dry their clothes and cook their food. Some of the electricity used is obtained from the burning of coal. Natural gas is the environmental choice over the alternative for all these applications.

(Pounds of air pollutants produced per billion BTUs of energy)

Pollutant	Natural Gas	Oil		Coal
Carbon Monoxide (CO)	0.84	1.4	(+67%)	5.2	(+520%)
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)	117,000	164,000	(+40%)	208,000	(+78%)
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)	92	448	(+387%)	457	(+397%)
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)	0.6	1,122	(NA)	2,591	(NA)
Particulates	7.0	84	(NA)	2,744	(NA)
Source: Energy Information Administration / UAF NA - Numbers are over 1000% and not practical for comparison

So what do these numbers mean? Let's take the above numbers and convert them into something everyone can understand and relate. With the introduction of natural gas into the Fairbanks community with our first customer in 1998, FNG customers have been drastically reducing the release of hundreds of thousands of pounds of air pollutants by not burning fuel alternatives.

The numbers listed below show how many more pounds of air pollutants that would have been released into the air since 1998 had those residents and businesses continued to use heating oil instead of natural gas.

(Based on FNG's cumulative sales between 5/98-10/03 - 963 Billion BTU's)

Pollutant	Oil (Pounds)
Carbon Monoxide (CO)	540
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)	45,270,00
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)	343,000
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)	1,080,000
Particulates	1,350

As you can see, Natural Gas is the Environmental Choice!

For more information, please visit the American Gas Association (AGA) or the Energy Information Association (EIA). You can also contact our Sales and Service Technician, Mace Willey, or call or stop by our office.

And new to Fairbanks and our website is an exciting new fuel cell research project. Follow the link to find out more! Natural Gas Fuel Cell.

If you have any questions about natural gas and the enviroment, please contact our office.


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