Commentary: Natural Gas is our Biggest Local Climate Change Challenge

Published on October 03, 2024

By Robert Gibson, Chair, Los Alamos County Board of Public Utilities

(This article represents the individual views of its author, not necessarily those of the Board or Department of Public Utilities.)

What greenhouse gas (GHG) emission source is our largest and will be hardest for Los Alamos to reduce or eliminate? No, it is not automotive tailpipes or billowing smokestacks at the plants that still supply much of our electric power. It is natural gas, here called simply “gas.”

Gas is a hydrocarbon, like coal, oil, gasoline, and wood. Burning hydrocarbons produce carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal GHG. (They also produce harmless water vapor.) In addition, gas is primarily methane, a much more potent GHG. Unburned gas leaks into the atmosphere at every step of its life above ground – exploration, extraction, transmission, distribution, and combustion.

Transmission, distribution, and incomplete combustion losses are modest. Well leaks are major. Most of L.A.’s gas comes from the Permian Basin in southeast New Mexico and west Texas, the second leakiest well field in the country. The global warming effect of the methane that leaks from those wells is comparable to or greater than that from the CO2 produced by burning it.

While those gas leaks are remote from our county, we are the ultimate users and responsible for them just as we are for power plant stack emissions. (The current draft Climate Action Plan ignores these remote fugitive emissions, making its gas-based GHG emission estimates artificially low.)

Its magnitude is not what makes gas use reduction our biggest climate challenge.

Motor vehicle manufacturers are converting to electric vehicles. Carbon-free electric power sources exist and are growing. For both of these emitters, most of us can largely leave the GHG reduction problem to “somebody else.”

Natural gas is different. It heats almost every building in L.A. Many of us also use it for cooking, water heating, clothes drying, pilot lights, and decorative fireplaces. Except for the latter, there are electric alternatives for each of these functions. “Electrification” is the common term for converting to them.

Electrification will eventually involve major actions by every property owner in the county. Details will be different for every building. “Somebody else” cannot solve this problem.

For many buildings, even electrification may not be the biggest challenge. Some leak much more heat energy than necessary due to inadequate insulation, old windows and doors, deteriorated seals, etc. Of course, excessive leakage drives utility bills higher, regardless of heat source.

Gas service is not going away any time soon. The county government’s goal is to phase it out by 2070. That is longer than the lifetime of most gas appliances. Many homes and most other buildings would otherwise be remodeled during that time, too. Others will be replaced. Reducing heat energy needs (and bills) and replacing gas appliances with electric should be kept in mind when planning home improvements or appliance replacements.

For its part, the Dept. of Public Utilities is seeking more carbon-free electric power while also planning to upgrade and modernize our electric distribution system to meet the increased demands of both electrified buildings and electric vehicles. The Department also provides ever more information to assist residents in the transition. 

Reducing or eliminating emissions from natural gas cannot be left to “somebody else.” The effort involves all of us. That is why it is so challenging.