Environmentally Clean:
Natural gas as a fuel source is much “greener” than alternative fossil fuels. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), natural gas produces roughly half as much CO2 as coal and 32% less than oil.
Increased gas utilization is also expected to help India meet its intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) commitments under the Paris Agreement
In addition to emitting lower levels of CO2, natural gas emits far fewer pollutants into the air. For example, burning natural gas produces less than 1% of the amount of Sulphur dioxide compared to coal or oil.
- Economical/ Cost Efficient:
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- Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is 40% cheaper than Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), 60% cheaper than gasoline and 45% cheaper than diesel.
- A 10% replacement of liquid fuel into gas will reduce India’s import bill by nearly $3billion every year.
- Convenience:
- Gas is continuously fed into the system so there are no hassles of refilling. Further, it is piped, thus does not require any space to store, hence handling is easy, safe and secure
- Possibility of Energy Independence:
- A gas-based economy would help India be less reliant on crude oil imports by substituting the use of oil products in industrial and residential applications.
- Improved Access:
- Gas utilization would also help improve access to electricity and clean cooking for India’s growing population with unmet energy needs.
- According IEA, 2017, A total of 244 million Indians do not have access to electricity and 819 million do not have access to clean cooking fuel.
