Read complete books and articles on: Natural Gas

Natural Gas - natural mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons found issuing from the ground or obtained from specially driven wells. The composition of natural gas varies in different localities. Its chief component, methane, usually makes up from 80% to 95%, and the balance is composed of varying amounts of ethane, propane, butane, and other hydrocarbon compounds. Some of the hydrocarbons found in

Although commonly associated with petroleum deposits it also occurs separately in sand, sandstone, and limestone deposits. Some geologists theorize that natural gas is a byproduct of decaying vegetable matter in underground strata, while others think it may be primordial gases that rise up from the mantle. Because of its flammability and high calorific value, natural gas is used extensively as an illuminant and a fuel.

Natural gas was known to the ancients but was considered by them to be a supernatural phenomenon because, noticed only when ignited, it appeared as a mysterious fire bursting from the ground. One of the earliest attempts to harness it for economic use occurred in the early 19th cent. in Fredonia, N.Y. Toward the latter part of the 19th cent., large industrial cities began to make use of natural gas, and extensive pipeline systems have been constructed to transport gas.

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas that has been pressurized and cooled so as to liquefy it for convenience in shipping and storage. The boiling point of natural gas is extremely low, and only in the 1970s did cryogenic technology (see low-temperature physics) advance enough to make the production and transport of LNG commerically feasible. Some of the natural gas moved to and from the United States is carried as LNG in special tankers.

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14 of the Best Books and Articles on: Natural Gas

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Clean Cheap Heat: The Development of Residential Markets for Natural Gas in the United States » Read Now
by John H. Herbert. 196 pgs.

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This work traces the development of residential natural gas markets in the United States from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. It examines how social, economic, and technological factors interrelated to bring a relatively new energy source from obscurity to general acceptance by the...
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This work traces the development of residential natural gas markets in the United States from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. It examines how social, economic, and technological factors interrelated to bring a relatively new energy source from obscurity to general acceptance by the population. The author credits the appearance of particular appliances which helped spawn natural gas use, notes legislative developments such as the Natural Gas Act of 1938 and the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, and shows the various effects of regulation and price changes on the market.
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2.

Competition in the Natural Gas Pipeline Industry: An Economic Policy Analysis » Read Now
by Edward C. Gallick. 288 pgs.

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This work considers the potential effects of competition in the natural gas pipeline industry. Contrary to published studies and government reports, this study concludes that federal regulation in the industry is no longer necessary to limit the market power of current pipeline suppliers. Rather...
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This work considers the potential effects of competition in the natural gas pipeline industry. Contrary to published studies and government reports, this study concludes that federal regulation in the industry is no longer necessary to limit the market power of current pipeline suppliers. Rather, potential entry by nearby suppliers--a competitive factor largely ignored in most economic analyses--will promote competition in most major markets. The purpose of the work is two-fold: to quantify the competitive effect of potential entry by natural gas suppliers and to demonstrate that any industry analysis which fails to consider this competitive factor is likely to be in error.
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3.

Farewell Fossil Fuels: Reviewing America's Energy Policy (Chap. 6 "Natural Gas") » Read Now
by Sidney Borowitz. 224 pgs.

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Energy has become America's forgotten crisis. For more than a decade, Americans have become stridently complacent towards the use and especially the availability of energy to fuel most aspects of their economic and recreational lives.
Memories of the oil shocks of the '70s have grown very dim. Long...
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Energy has become America's forgotten crisis. For more than a decade, Americans have become stridently complacent towards the use and especially the availability of energy to fuel most aspects of their economic and recreational lives.
Memories of the oil shocks of the '70s have grown very dim. Long lines at gas stations have been replaced with long lines of people at auto dealers buying gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles. The United States now imports more oil, over 50%, than it did prior to the first "oil crisis" of 1973-74. Yet our reliance on fossil fuels has not been tempered by history.
Fossil fuels -- petroleum, natural gas, and coal -- are finite, and eventually they will run out. They are not renewable, and they carry significant political and environmental complications. But there are alternatives. Sidney Borowitz presents a concise, coherent narrative of the major sources of energy currently in use today throughout the world, and explains, in a cogent, jargon-free manner, how these other energy sources -- nuclear, solar photovoltaics, wind, geothermal, fusion, hydrogen, and ocean currents -- can be developed.
To continue on our present complacent course is to court environmental and political disaster. This prescient book presents a clear-eyed, even-handed explication of solutions that will help us avoid future energy crises.
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4.

International Trade in Natural Gas, in The Geographical Review » Read Now
by Alexander Melamid. 6 pgs.

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...International trade in natural gas. by Alexander Melamid World reserves of natural gas and oil, converted into energy terms, are about equal. Natural gas supplies...
5.

Productivity in Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production, in Monthly Labor Review » Read Now
by Brian L. Friedman. 9 pgs.

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...Productivity in crude oil and natural gas production. by Brian L...hour) in the crude petroleum and natural gas production industry declined at...posting gains. Output In...
6.

Energy Structures and Environmental Futures (Chap. 5 "Energy-Sector Developments: Natural Gas") » Read Now
by Torleif Haugland, Helge Ole Bergesen, Kjell Roland. 330 pgs.

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This book examines the history and prospects of the European energy sector for the last twenty-five and the next twenty-five years. The energy sector in Europe is faced with two challenges. On the one hand, economic integration and internationalization of markets, on the other the risks posed by...
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This book examines the history and prospects of the European energy sector for the last twenty-five and the next twenty-five years. The energy sector in Europe is faced with two challenges. On the one hand, economic integration and internationalization of markets, on the other the risks posed by climate change and the likelihood of further demands by consumers and governments to restructure the sector in line with a more environmentalist agenda. The authors' analysis is rooted in a careful examination of the factors that have shaped energy in Europa over the last twenty-five years, its regulatory systems, its corporate structure, and the role of energy and environmental policies. The book then examines how these might or might not be transformed in the light of intensified and accelerated economic and political integration in Europe or if the sector is faced with sustained pressure to restructure from the environmental lobby. The authors conclude that whatever major changes may be in the offing in the early twenty-first century, they will have to work through the structures of the twentieth century which are not going to yield easily either to economic internationalization or political environmentalism.
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7.

The Unexpected Rise of Natural Gas, in The Futurist » Read Now
by Christopher Flavin, Nicholas Lenssen. 4 pgs.

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...The unexpected rise of natural gas. by Christopher Flavin...growing advantages to its use, natural gas may usurp oil as the worlds energy...1984 to assess the prospects for...
8.

Do Gas Cost Incentive Mechanisms Work? A Nation-Wide Study, in American Economist » Read Now
by Vladimir Hlasny. 17 pgs.

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9.

Unitizing Oil and Gas Fields around the World: A Comparative Analysis of National, Laws and Private Contracts, in Houston Journal of International Law » Read Now
by David F. Asmus, Jacqueline Lang Weaver. 195 pgs.

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10.

New Dimensions of Market Failure in Electricity and Natural Gas Supply, in Journal of Economic Issues » Read Now
by Harry M. Trebing. 10 pgs.

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...Market Failure in Electricity and Natural Gas Supply. by Harry M. Trebing...reliability, cost overruns, and, for natural gas, successive periods of...
11.

Explaining a Paradox: The Alberta-California Natural Gas Trade Dispute, in Policy Studies Journal » Read Now
by Patrick Impero Wilson. 16 pgs.

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...paradox: the Alberta-California natural gas trade dispute. by Patrick...government of Alberta and the provinces natural gas producers when it attempted to...competitive...
12.

Open Access and the Emergence of a Competitive Natural Gas Market, in Contemporary Economic Policy » Read Now
by Arthur De Vany, W. David Walls. 20 pgs.

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...THE EMERGENCE OF A COMPETITIVE NATURAL GAS MARKET ARTHUR DE VANY and...Recent regulatory changes permitted natural gas pipelines to become "open access...correlated. A...
13.

Implications and Policy Options of California's Reliance on Natural Gas » Read Now
by Mark A. Bernstein, Paul D. Holtberg, David Ortiz. 41 pgs.

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Assess the benefits, risks, and implications of the increased use of natural gas to meet California's growing energy needs.
14.

High Altitude Energy: A History of Fossil Fuels in Colorado » Read Now
by Lee Scamehorn. 244 pgs.

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