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| Natural gas prices have risen twice as fast as LP in the past decade or two. Back then LP cost 4 times as much per BTU as NG, now the ratio is under 2:1. The main reason for that is electric power plants, particularly gas fired turbine peaking plants can be built is a back yard (for space) and because the fumes are pretty clean without any scrubbing, the permit process is trivial. Then they can be fired up and put on line in minutes and can be shut down as quickly so the electric utilities love them. A coal fired steam turbine plant takes years to get permits, years to build (though if wasn't for the permit process it wouldn't take nearly as long), and the turbines take much planning for starts and stops, takes 8 hours or more to warm up and cool down so they can't go on line quick when a peak load (or loss of wind kills the wind farms) pops up more than forecast.
And then there's manufacturing plants that need lots of process heat, its just cleaner and quicker to use NG in the new plants because of permits and that increases the demand. And T Bone Pickens wants to apply NG as vehicle fuel. It does burn clean, but its hard to liquefy for efficient hauling and tank filling.
A year or two ago, the price of N fertilizer went so high that it hurt corn profits and the demands on NG will continue to increase because its a decent fuel. Its being hauled from China and Indonesia to Australia now in liquid form by the super tanker load, and a little bit to the east coast of the US.
NG has been an important fuel for more than a century and will continue to be important so long as it can be found somewhere and pumped or hauled. Most cities heat on NG, though some use a lot of oil in the NE US.
Gerald J. | |
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Seed corn genetics heading in the right direction ?
