Today there is much talk about whether natural gas is a clean or dirty energy source—with energy executives and activists and others on one side speaking against using it because of its being overestimated as a clean energy source and with industry leaders on the other side championing it as the cleanest solution for a green future. So the ideal way to answer such a loaded question is to look to such experts—on both sides—to determine how clean or dirty natural gas is.

Just the Natural Gas Facts, Please

But also important in answering this question is looking to the comparisons between natural gas and other current as well as other potential energy sources—including oil, coal, nuclear energy, and solar and wind energy. For example, where there is what is called a pollution gap between natural gas and coal and oil, there are evidenced statistics and facts:

According to research by (and that cited by) Pro Publica, natural gas produces 50 percent fewer overall greenhouse gases than does coal. That is, for instance, natural gas results in less toxic particulate pollution but also less dirty chemicals as carbon dioxide, putting out nearly 45 percent less carbon dioxide emission than coal (and nearly 30 percent less than oil). And according to Pro Publica’s Abe Lustgarten, there are 1,600 gas-fired power plants in the United States running 32 percent cleaner than coal.
Indeed, as the expert investigations at Natural Gas.org reveal, natural gas energy not only puts out less carbon dioxide but less carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide(s), sulfur dioxide, mercury, and particulates than do coal and oil (with their more complex chemical make-ups, their higher carbon ratios, and their higher nitrogen and sulfur contents). Moreover, as Natural Gas.org authorities further explain, coal and oil, containing or producing substances that do not burn, send out into the environment actual ash particles—whereby natural gas does not.
And in this culture and climate, where acid rain has moved beyond environmental theory to become a reality (whereby the output of said sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, heated by the sun and responding to the air’s water particles, resulting in acidic compounds), the natural gas source, putting out no sulfur dioxide and up to 80 percent fewer/less nitrogen oxides, is seen as the cleaner, safer way to go.
Other Natural Gas Variables Considered

Added to the above considerations for energy purity are of course cost and viability. In this respect, natural gas, wind and solar power, and nuclear power are all in contention. But where these latter sources beat the former in terms of how much cleaner they are (nuclear, solar, and wind energy are far less polluting), they are also more costly and have much further to go in terms of development. So even if considered in the context of “the lesser of all evils,” natural gas—cleaner, cheaper, and more available and for the most part accessible—is a leading contender.