Reference no: EM133290378

Case: According to the MIT Energy Initiative report, The Future of Natural Gas, the newly realized abundance of low-cost gas provides an enormous potential benefit to the nation, providing a cost-effective bridge to a secure and low-carbon future.

Power plants typically operate for 20 years, making them by definition a long-term investment. Plants we build today will be operating past 2030, so we need to think far ahead.
As this image shows, natural gas plants generate more than one-third (35%) of the electricity in the U.S.; coal plants are in second, generating 27% of our electricity.

Natural gas is a cleaner fuel source than coal, with roughly half the carbon dioxide emissions;
The price of natural gas and oil have varied wildly since 2008: $13.06 per cubic foot in July 2008 to $2.89 in June 2016, and $133.37 per barrel in July 2008 to $48.76 per barrel in June 2016 respectively.

Renewables such as wind, geothermal, and hydropower can also be among the cheapest electricity options (Business Council for Sustainable Energy, 2019), but we can't control when they produce power. As shown in this timeline, wind power has been scaling up incredibly fast with U.S. installed capacity surpassing 89 gigawatts in 2018. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) published a report saying it is possible to reach 80% renewables by 2050, but it will require a large investment in transmission lines, grid storage, and moderately higher electricity bills.

Address the following questions:

Question: Should the United States be doubling down on natural gas, or ramping up investments in renewables?

Do you envision a different "bridge" toward a sustainable, secure, and low-carbon energy future? Think about the environmental and cost trade-offs of your choice as well.