Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Today, we’re continuing our coverage of the future of energy in Rhode Island. Since the state burns too much natural gas to reach net-zero by 2050, it’s time to change our relationship to that energy source – but how?
We had Janek Schaller and Juliana Merullo from our Possibly team learn more about the potential solutions to this problem.
Janek Schaller: What’s up, Megan?
Juliana Merullo: Hi there!
Megan Hall: So, remind me, what’s the problem with natural gas?
Janek Schaller: Well, burning gas to heat homes and generate electricity accounts for about ⅓ of Rhode Island’s carbon emissions. That’s not even counting the gas that leaks without being burned, which warms the planet as well.
Megan Hall: So where do we go from here?
Juliana Merullo: An excellent question, and one that the stakeholder group organized by the Public Utility Commission, or PUC has been mulling over for more than a year now.
Megan Hall: What are they trying to figure out?
Janek Schaller: Essentially, the future of natural gas boils down to one main debate: Should we improve our existing gas infrastructure or should we abandon gas pipelines entirely and electrify our heating sector?
Megan Hall: So What’s the answer?
Juliana Merullo: They’re not sure yet, But, we can tell you what we know about those options…
Megan Hall: Let’s hear them!
Janek Schaller: Ok- option number 1 would be to update and improve gas infrastructure across the state. Natural Gas leaks in the United States happen roughly once every forty hours –so, the thinking is that if newer equipment can eliminate those leaks, we can keep up with our emissions targets.
Juliana Merullo: There’s one big problem here. If we sink money into improvements to the gas network, we’re more likely to use it for a longer time, and there is no way to reach our greenhouse gas reduction targets if we continue to burn gas to heat our homes.
Megan Hall: What if we weren’t burning natural gas?
Juliana Merullo: That’s another idea! We could use those pipelines for an alternative fuel source with less emissions.
Megan Hall: Does that alternative fuel source exist?
Janek Schaller: Not really. … Researchers are looking into blending hydrogen into natural gas pipelines, but as of right now, we don’t have a way to produce hydrogen without also releasing lots of carbon dioxide emissions.
Juliana Merullo: We might solve that problem someday, but it’s very unlikely to help by 2030, when our first reduction target has to be met.
Janek Schaller: Some people hope that biogas, which is made from decomposing organic matter like manure and sewage, could be a decent substitute for natural gas.
Juliana Merullo: But, unfortunately, it’s not really all that much better than natural gas, and it’s hard to produce it in large quantities.
Megan Hall: What about just abandoning natural gas and the pipelines that get it to our homes?
Janek Schaller: Some states are already looking into that.
Megan Hall: What does that process look like? You can’t just turn off the gas supply one day, right?
Juliana Merullo: It wouldn’t be quite that dramatic. Places that have abandoned their gas infrastructure use an approach that’s called “Trimming.”
Megan Hall: How does that work?
Janek Schaller: They start by shutting down aging sections of gas infrastructure, block by block. Then, all of the homes and businesses that were connected to those sections get electrified.
Megan Hall: Who has done this so far?
Juliana Merullo: California, for one! One of its major utility companies is working to retire and dismantle their own infrastructure.
Megan Hall: Could Rhode Island do this, too?
Janek Schaller: It’s certainly possible! So far, Rhode Island Energy hasn’t expressed much interest in this approach, but they are the main utility for gas AND electric in our state, so in theory, they wouldn’t lose any business by switching people over to electricity.
Megan Hall: Got it. So what happens next?
Juliana Merullo: The Public Utility Commission’s stakeholder group is still considering the best approach for reducing our emissions. They’ll report their final recommendations to the legislature in March of 2024
Megan Hall: We’ll definitely stay tuned on that front. Thanks, Janek and Juliana!
That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
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Possibly is a co-production of The Public’s Radio, Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society and Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative.
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