<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:inherit;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
span.apple-converted-space
{mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the USA, after refusing to sign on to the Kyoto agreement, became the only one of the industrialized biggies to meet the goals it proposed?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>CO2 emissions in USA drop to 1994 levels.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://singularityhub.com/2013/04/25/co2-emissions-in-us-plunge-to-1994-levels-as-natural-gas-booms/?utm_source=The+Harvest+Is+Bountiful&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=46080c1bf5-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN">http://singularityhub.com/2013/04/25/co2-emissions-in-us-plunge-to-1994-levels-as-natural-gas-booms/?utm_source=The+Harvest+Is+Bountiful&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=46080c1bf5-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>Proponents of natural gas, or methane in its purest form, say it is cleaner than coal and oil, lacks the PR problems and toxic waste byproducts of nuclear, and more efficiently produces electricity than sustainable sources. It is abundant and, in recent years, cheap. Is natural gas the future of energy production, a risky stop-gap measure to energy independence and cleaner energy, or simply overhyped?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>Whatever your opinion on the matter, natural gas is asserting itself into the energy mix. David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy,<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324103504578376441015222064.html#project%3DNATGAS2print%26articleTabs%3Darticle"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>told the <i>WSJ’s</i></span><span class=apple-converted-space><i><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;text-decoration:none'> </span></i></span><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>ECO:nomics conference</span></a>, “Natural gas is in the process of wiping out the coal industry, and it’s wiping out the nuclear industry quicker than we thought.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>Last year natural gas prices significantly undercut coal prices. The spread between coal and natural gas<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10771"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>has narrowed</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>in the beginning of 2013 as gas prices jumped. But the longer trend shows rising natural gas use in electricity generation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>30% of US electricity is<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324103504578376441015222064.html#project%3DNATGAS2print%26articleTabs%3Darticle"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>now generated</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>from natural gas compared to 16% in 2000, while coal-based electricity is down to 38% from 52% in 2000. Some of coal’s decline may be due to a 3% rise in renewables, but the nearly doubling of natural gas use is clearly a central driver.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><a href="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/SH-92_4.jpg"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=300 height=200 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CE41CB.D6D2AA60" alt="SH 92_#4"></span></a><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>This switch from coal to natural gas—which releases 50% less CO2 than coal when burned—may be an<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324763404578430751849503848.html"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>important reason</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>CO2 emissions in the US fell -12% from their 2005 high to 1994 levels at the end of 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>In the future, natural gas may even skip costly power plants and the electrical grid. Crane thinks natural gas providers will realize they already have a direct pipeline into people’s homes for home furnaces and gas stoves. Someone just needs to invent a “gizmo” to convert that gas to electricity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>Natural gas also has potential applications in transportation. Some commercial trucking firms are already switching to natural gas powered trucks. And although it would take an enormous effort to re-engineer passenger cars and the attendent infrastructure, there are those<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304192704577406431047638416.html"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>who believe</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>it can and will be done.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>But cheap gas may not last. Tim Rosenzweig CEO of Goldwind Americas<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324103504578376441015222064.html#project%3DNATGAS2print%26articleTabs%3Darticle"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>asks</span></a>, “If everybody is generating their own power, and you’re running it into the transportation system, when you increase that much demand, what’s going to happen to prices?” Supply is relatively fixed in the short run, so higher demand could lead to higher prices.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'>That said, elevated prices needn’t last forever. Higher prices also encourage further exploration, production, and new supply—which eases price pressures and the cycle begins again. Further, the US has plenty of supply to develop.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:18.0pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#404040'><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing"><span style='font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#646464;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>Fracking and horizontal drilling</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>technology are opening vast natural gas fields previously trapped in shale formations. Though reserves estimates vary year to year, the US shale gas supply is rapidly growing. Big shale gas fields include the Marcellus (PA and WV), Eagle Ford (TX), Bakken (ND), and Haynesville (LA and TX) formations. Shale gas is expected to play a much larger role in natural gas supply in the coming years.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>