Natural Gas Facts

• Natural gas serves nearly 69 million homes, 5.5 million businesses, 185,400 factories, and 1,825 electric generating units
• On a daily basis, the average U.S. home uses 175 cubic feet of natural gas
• Fertilizer used to grow crops is composed almost entirely of natural gas components, so U.S. agricultural producers rely on an affordable, stable supply of natural gas
• Natural gas utilities do not profit from the natural gas they deliver; they earn revenue from the service and delivery fees they charge customers to transport the natural gas to them

Environmental Benefits

• Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel on the market today because it produces much lower emissions than those of other fossil fuels like coal or oil. It is also extraordinarily efficient
• Due to the higher efficiency of natural gas combined cycle generation compared with coal-fired boilers, natural gas emits 52 to 56 percent less GHG than coal for the same amount of electricity
• Only 0.1 percent of natural gas is emitted from systems operated by local natural gas utilities. Continued efforts to upgrade and modernize the natural gas pipeline network to enhance safety are lowering those emissions even further

Efficiency

• The direct use of natural gas in America’s homes and businesses achieves 91 percent energy efficiency
• The average American home consumes 40 percent less natural gas than it did 40 years ago
• By funding natural gas efficiency programs, natural gas utilities helped customers save 239 trillion Btu of energy and offset 12.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2016

Domestically Abundant

• Domestic gas production accounts for nearly 92 percent of all natural gas consumed in the United States and shale gas production now accounts for more than 50 percent of gas produced
• According to the Energy Information Administration and the Potential Gas Committee, the U.S. estimated future supply of natural gas stood at 3,374 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) at year end 2018 – enough to meet America’s energy needs for more than 100 years

Safe and Resilient

• According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, pipelines are the safest form of energy transportation. Safety is the number one priority for America’s natural gas utilities
• There are more than 2.5 million miles of pipeline that transport natural gas to more than 178 million Americans throughout the U.S.
• Natural gas utilities spend more than $26 billion annually to help enhance the safety of natural gas distribution and transmission systems
• The dedicated efforts of natural gas utilities over the past decade have led to an approximately 40 percent decline in serious pipeline incidents throughout the natural gas distribution system
• There are nearly 1.4 million miles of plastic pipe – the leading edge of advanced utility pipeline materials. In the past decade, natural gas utilities have installed updated plastic lines at a rate of 26,000 miles per year

Source: American Gas Association, 2019