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Article: Natural gas: challenges and solutions; In the first article in this series, we looked at U.S. and world petroleum reserves. The details of the price increases of petroleum products will be governed by many factors, not the least of which will be our success in developing suitable alternatives.(POWERING THE FUTURE)(Statistical data)
- Article from:
- Advanced Materials & Processes
- Article date:
- March 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 ASM International. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Natural gas has provided the United States with a source of energy for home heating and electrical power that has softened the impact of the depletion of oil, Fig. 1. Natural gas provides over 20% of our total energy supply, and the presence of natural gas reserves in the United States has allowed us to maintain a level of "natural gas independence." Unfortunately, that independence is rapidly being eroded. As Fig. 2 and Table 1 clearly show, the bulk of the known reserves of natural gas reside in the Middle East and in the Former Soviet Union.
North America has about 5% of the world's natural gas reserves, which is approximately the same proportion as its ...