ECONOMICS

Economics

Economics

Introduction

The world today is very different from what it was like a century ago. After the latest from the beginning of mankind until the early nineteenth century to reach a world population of 1,000 million people, took just over a century to double this population. And double again took only 30 years. Between 1900 and 2000 the human population grew from 1,500 million to 6,000 million over the next 50 years is expected to reach 10,000 million. This population growth coupled with a general increase in living standards in much of the world, is putting tremendous pressure on the global ecosystem. We can not afford to be wasteful in the use of our resources, and the use of our planet as a dumping ground for our waste, as we have done in the past.

Discussion

The transition from an industrial to an information-based economy seems to promise a reduction in resource consumption and waste generation. But it also poses dangers. In some cases we can reduce material-dematerialize-per unit of product. For example, a mobile phone is much lighter than the equivalent of ten years ago. But, while lighter, also the products are cheaper, which means they are sold, and therefore produce a much-larger quantities. Resulting in an increase in the amount of materials used and ultimately the waste generated through the disposal.

The chemical composition of natural gas is the reason for its wide acceptance as the cleanest of fossil fuels. In fact, the highest ratio hydrogen / carbon in the composition of natural gas, compared with other fossil fuels, its combustion makes it emits less CO2 per unit of energy produced. The combustion of natural gas, composed mainly of methane (CH4), producing 25% less CO2 than petroleum products and 40% less CO2 than burning coal per unit of energy produced (Gorman, 2009). CO2 is attributed to 65% of the influence of human activity on greenhouse gases, CH4 and 19% of that influence.

Most of the CO2 emitted (75% - 90%) is produced by burning fossil fuels. However, methane emissions are produced mostly by farming and agriculture, landfills, sewage, and activities related to fossil fuels (Hartman & Meshbesher, 2010). The companies that distribute natural gas will account for less than 10% of methane emissions into the atmosphere each year figure is reduced by the measures taken by companies such as renovation of old pipes, vents gas recovery, etc.

Thus, natural gas is the fossil fuel that emits less CO2 per unit of energy produced. Being a gas, mixing and subsequent combustion air is easier than other fossil fuels and particulate matter and sulfur corrosive compounds, facilitate the recovery of waste heat and, therefore, the efficiencies of its use. In addition, natural gas reserves are abundant, and their transport and distribution through underground pipes make their impact on the landscape is minimal. For performance and low emission of pollutants, natural gas is particularly suitable for power generation and cogeneration, use of boilers and industrial furnaces, automotive, air conditioning and other uses in commercial and ...