Last week, the supply of Russian natural gas to the Netherlands stopped. And so a new puzzle has to be put together to get enough energy. In addition to the growth of sustainable energy, there are three measures that can close the gap: saving energy, extra coal and temporarily extracting more gas in the Netherlands. How can that puzzle work out for our climate goals?
We can be brief about energy savings: this always leads to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions – the more we save, the faster the emissions fall.
Coal-fired power stations have been limited to 35 percent of their capacity since this year. Temporarily allowing these plants to run at higher power actually increases CO2 emissions – but perhaps less than you might think.
The reason for this is that if we use more coal, we burn less gas in gas-fired power stations. And gas is also a source of CO2. If the emissions from gas extraction are also taken into account, the net increase in emissions from additional coal firing will probably remain below the 2 million ton CO2.
The CO2 reduction due to ambitious energy savings is quickly greater. For example, if companies’ existing obligation to save is complied with, annual emissions will already fall by 4 million tons. These two measures can therefore be taken side by side without increasing emissions.
How do we fill the gas storage?
Even if we drastically reduce our gas use by saving and burning more coal, we are not out of trouble, say energie-experts.
They point out that the three underground gas storages in the Netherlands are ‘dangerously empty’ – and that at a time with a tense gas market and sky-high prices. Those stocks must therefore be topped up before the start of the new heating season at the latest. So we also need extra gas.
What about the climate impact? The most important comparison is between gas that is extracted closer to home, for example in the Netherlands and Norway – and Russian gas.
Russian gas industry leaks a lot of greenhouse gases
Something remarkable is going on with that Russian gas, it turned out two years ago. There was suddenly 40 percent more methane in the air around the drilling areas and the pipelines to Europe showed satellite observations. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas.
Analysts suspect that the cause is poor maintenance of Russian drilling rigs and pipelines. As a result, large leaks are becoming more frequent. The measured methane increase took place while the export of Russian gas actually decreased due to the corona crisis.
Methane leakages are a structural problem of the worldwide gas industry, also in the Netherlands. And it is difficult to come up with reliable figures, because it is in the interest of companies and countries to sweep this damage item for the climate under the rug as much as possible.
Estimated methane leakages from the Russian gas industry are between 5 and 7 percent† That is 8 times higher than the average methane leakages from natural gas in the EU.
This also means that Russian gas is on average much worse for the climate than Western European natural gas. From about 5 percent methane leakage, natural gas can be even more harmful to the climate than coal.
Liquefied shale gas is a polluting replacement
The story is not over yet. The Dutch gas storage facilities can also be topped up with LNG – liquefied natural gas that is brought in by ships, for example from Qatar and the US.
Due to the war in Ukraine, the worldwide demand for LNG is sky-high, and so is the price. But LNG has another drawback: it takes a lot of energy to liquefy the gas under great pressure and thus make it ready for transport.
This energy consumption means that LNG is generally worse for the climate than ‘normal natural gas’ that is transported via pipelines. And if the LNG comes from the US, it is first extracted (as shale gas) from very hard rock. This is done with a polluting drilling method, fracking, which also requires a lot of energy.
LNG from shale gas is therefore possibly even more polluting for the climate than the leakage-sensitive Russian gas. The cleanest gas is ultimately gas that we do not use. So save – preferably as much as possible.
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