By Timothy Nash Anthony Storer Bob Thomas Tom Rastin
Natural gas is a critical, abundant, reliable, and clean source of energy for the American economy, both commercially and environmentally. Beyond its well-known role in electricity generation, natural gas is central to the heating and cooling of homes, businesses, assembly lines, and laboratories across the country. For most Americans, natural gas is the reason the lights come on, the home stays warm, food stays affordable, and hospitals function safely.
What many Americans do not fully appreciate, however, is the role natural gas plays as a feedstock in producing thousands of everyday products. Fertilizers are essential to food production and security; plastics used in packaging, vehicles, and technology; synthetic fibers for clothing; pharmaceuticals; paints; detergents; shampoos; and even advanced products such as solar panels and wind turbines all depend on natural gas for their existence. From agriculture to health care to consumer goods, natural gas is indispensable to modern industry.
Imagine daily life without fertilizers, synthetic rubber, nylon in clothing and carpets, common medicines, cosmetics, insulation, or PVC piping. In many regions of the country, natural gas is the primary and most cost-effective method to run homes and businesses. Without it, production would not be possible.
A closer look at key categories of daily living shows that dozens of essential goods would either become dramatically more expensive or cease to exist without natural gas as a core input:
Agriculture and food production rely on natural gas to produce fertilizers and pesticides, provide heat for food processing, such as pasteurization, and manufacture materials used in packaging and storage.
Plastics and polymers (including polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, polystyrene, PET, and polyurethane) are all derived from natural gas. These materials are used in everything from water pipes, flooring, and insulation to food containers, bottles, medical packaging, toys, trash bags, and automotive components.
Fabrics and textiles such as nylon, polyester, spandex, and acrylic fibers are made possible through natural gas chemistry. These materials are foundational to affordable clothing, carpets, upholstery, ropes, and industrial fabrics.
Health and personal care products depend heavily on natural gas-based materials and processing. Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, IV bags, tubing, gloves, masks, contact lenses, prosthetics, and hearing aids all require inputs derived from natural gas. So do everyday items like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, deodorant, cosmetics, and diapers.
Building and construction materials, from paints and coatings to adhesives, insulation, roofing materials, vinyl flooring, and concrete additives, depend on natural gas both as a feedstock and as a fuel for manufacturing processes such as kilns and cement production. Even components used in solar panels and wind turbine blades trace back to natural gas-based materials.
Automotive and transportation infrastructure also relies on natural gas for tire production, vehicle components, and the materials used to construct parking lots, roads, and highways.
The conveniences and necessities Americans rely on daily are the product of abundant, reliable, and clean domestic natural gas. Beyond its economic value, natural gas has delivered significant environmental benefits as well.
In practical terms, the shift from coal to natural gas has done more to reduce U.S. power-sector emissions than any single federal climate program to date. Replacing coal with natural gas in power generation roughly cuts carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity in half, while virtually eliminating mercury emissions and dramatically reducing sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. As a result, U.S. power-sector carbon dioxide emissions have fallen to levels not seen in decades.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, roughly two-thirds of the power sector’s carbon dioxide decline can be attributed to increased use of natural gas, while a recent EPA study suggests the number could be as high as 75%. This is clear evidence that natural gas has served as a bridge to a lower-carbon economy. Critics argue that such a bridge, risks becoming a crutch, slowing the transition to zero-carbon energy sources. Yet the reality is that natural gas remains a crucial part of a pragmatic clean-energy strategy, particularly when paired with high-efficiency generation and emerging carbon-capture technologies. A realistic clean-energy policy should recognize natural gas as a foundational part of an energy system that is cleaner, more resilient, and economically viable.
For most Americans, natural gas forms an invisible backbone of modern civilization, enabling processes that touch nearly every aspect of daily life. From the gases that power steel furnaces to those that preserve food, support health care, and enable advanced manufacturing, natural gas has helped raise living standards dramatically over the past quarter-century.
At the same time, most people rarely think about natural gas beyond filling a propane tank for a weekend barbecue. Few recognize that these substances underpin a multi- trillion-dollar global industry that continues to grow as new applications emerge in semiconductors, clean energy, and advanced materials. Recognizing the role of natural gas is about understanding what already works and improving it responsibly as the energy system continues to evolve, especially our vital power grid. Understanding the true role of natural gas helps us appreciate the complex industrial infrastructure that supports our modern, evolving, and increasingly efficient world, led by breakthrough technologies like data centers and AI.
About the Authors
Dr. Timothy G. Nash is director of The Northwood Center for the Advancement of Freedom, Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (NUCAFFE) at Northwood University.
Mr. Anthony Storer is an outstanding student at Northwood University, majoring in finance and economics, and is a student scholar at NUCAFFE.
Mr. Bob Thomas is COO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Tom Rastin is a retired business executive from Ohio.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
Actually, buying into anti-coal arguments is dangerous. Perhaps coal plants as of 1945 had that performance, but not now.
Giving aid and comfort to the Green Blob is futile, as they will eat you all, not just you last.
Modern coal is FAR LESS destructive to the environment than wind and solar…
.. with the side benefit of releasing much needed plant food into the atmosphere…
.. as well as providing coal ash that is used in many construction and building products.
“A closer look at key categories of daily living shows that dozens of essential goods would either become dramatically more expensive or cease to exist without natural gas as a core input”
No-one is suggesting that nat gas should become unavailable. The objection is to burning it. Use as a feedstock for making things is not a climate problem.
Nylon – “It produces nitrous oxide—a greenhouse gas that, it’s suggested, is 300 times worse than carbon dioxide.”
https://goodonyou.eco/material-guide-nylon/
What has that to do with Nat Gas?
Nitrous oxide can be removed.
It comes from the feedstock.
Nitrous oxide is easily converted to N₂ and O₂
Nor is burning it.
Harold The Organic Chemist Says:
“CO2 Does Not Cause Warming Of Air”!
Shown in the chart (See below) is a plot of the average annual temperature in Adelaide from 1857 to 1999. In 1857 the concentration
of CO2 in air was ca. 280 ppmv (0.55 g CO2/cu. m. of air), and by 1999 it had increased to ca. 368 ppmv (0.73 g CO2/cu. m. of air), but there was no corresponding increase in the air temperature in this port city.
Instead there was a cooling that began in ca. 1940. In 1999 Tavg was 16.7° C.
To obtain more recent Adelaide temperature data, I went to:
https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/adelaide/average-temperature-by-year. The Tmax and Tmin data from 1887 to 2025 are displayed in a table. The computed Tavg for 2025 is 15.9° C. Adelaide is still cooling down. In 2025 the concentration of CO2 in air was ca. 425 ppmv (0.84g CO2/cu. m. of air). Note how little CO2 there is in the air. There is just too little CO2 in the air to have any effect on weather and climate in Adelaide. Please keep in mind that 71% of the is covered by H2O the one and only one greenhouse gas of importance.
The above empirical data falsify the claim by the IPCC that CO2 causes
warming of air and by extension global warming. We do not have to worry about the CO2 produced by use of fossil fuels.
The chart was obtained from the late John L. Daly’s website:
“Still Waiting For Greenhouse” available at: http://www.john-daly.com. From the home page, go to the end and click on “Station Temperature Data”. On the “World Map” click “Australia”. There is displayed a list of weather stations. Click on “Adelaide”. Use the back arrow to redisplay the list of stations. Clicking the back arrow again displays the “World Map”. Be sure to check all the charts for Australia. John Daly found over 200 weather stations that showed no warming up to 2002.
NB: If you click on the chart, it will expand and become clear. Click on the “X” in the circle to contract the chart and return to Comments.
Oxidizing CH4 only produces 2 essential molecules for biome enhancement. CO2 and H2O to help plant photosynthesis and, thereby, growth.
Then, as a supplemental benefit, it also increases the growing season allowing for both a potential early harvest with increased crop yields which is already evidenced in empirical data.
The O2 for oxidizing CH4 comes from air, but air is approximately 80% N2. The oxidation temperatures from natural gas also cause some N2 to oxidize to NOx. And yes, that NOx can be removed with an SCR, selective catalytic reduction.
Objection noted – and ignored.
Next.
Using GAS to produce RELIABLE energy, heating ad electricity is not a climate problem either.
Using COAL to produce RELIABLE energy heating and electricity is not a climate problem either.
What is a problem is destroying habitats and economies with erratic UNRELAIBLE wind and solar, that create environmental destruction and pollution at EVERY stage in their short unsustainable existence.
Over 22m of the 28m+ homes in the UK are on the gas network. UK population Jan 2026 is 69.7m the vast majority of whom depend on gas to heat their homes, bring up their kids and live a reasonable life. And you want them to throw that all away.!
Only nut balls object to burning natural gas. CO2 is good for you, a boon and blessing. It’s the fundamental nutrient of life. The planet is NOT too warm. We live in an Ice Age. The world has been warmer than today for 99% of the last 250 million years. Warmer is Better for Life.
The predictions of an oncoming Thermageddon are unscientific, disproved, debunked, and preposterous. The climate alarmists are carrying water for genocidal globalists who wish to eliminate and/or enslave humanity.
Natural gas is a precious resource that lifts humanity out of grinding poverty, disease, famine, and serfdom. Opposition to its use is anti-humanism at its worst.
Agreed, we need to stop talking about natural gas reducing emissions. We don’t want to reduce emissions
Natural gas and propane are indeed important fuels for the emerging energy transition.
The one that takes us back to a reliance on coal, gas, oil, nuclear and some hydro, where available, and gets rid of the outrageously expensive, unreliable, and unneeded wind and solar. More CO2?
Yes please!
All hydro-carbons are transition fuels (Coal, Gas, Oil) from the long-forgotten whale oil industry.
Despite advances in tech – wind and solar are artifacts of a long distant past.
Large scale hydro is somewhat ‘clean’, but restricted due to the required construction materials.
Fission and Fusion (If fusion \s ever actually developed) are where the future of ‘clean’ energy lay.
.
Anyone telling you anything different is lying….
“In practical terms, the shift from coal to natural gas has done more to reduce U.S. power-sector emissions than any single federal climate program to date. Replacing coal with natural gas in power generation roughly cuts carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity in half, while virtually eliminating mercury emissions and dramatically reducing sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. As a result, U.S. power-sector carbon dioxide emissions have fallen to levels not seen in decades.”
This is unwise. Advocating for natural gas should not promote the misconception that emissions of CO2 have any harmful influence to begin with. Stop doing this! And modern emission control systems for coal-fired power generation deal very effectively with stack emissions to eliminate risk of perceptible harm.
One more thing:
“Yet the reality is that natural gas remains a crucial part of a pragmatic clean-energy strategy, particularly when paired with high-efficiency generation and emerging carbon-capture technologies.”
No. The reality is that CO2 capture has NO VALUE as a “climate” mitigation measure, because incremental CO2 can be shown in any case to have a vanishingly weak influence on ANY trend of climate variables.
https://www.regulations.gov/comment/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0124-0141
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.
We need to advocate for the benefits of CO2 emissions in strong language
From article:”…roughly cuts carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity in half,…”.
So what. This is a non reason to turn to natgas.
We have hundreds of years of coal available. I would guess several hundred years of gas. Thousands of years of methane hydrates. Same, with nuclear.
CO2 is a stupid reason to get rid of coal.