Pew: Majority Supports Using a Mix of Fossil Fuels and Renewables in Fight Against Climate Change
Natural gas has helped make America’s energy mix cleaner and more environmentally-friendly for nearly three decades. In fact, the single largest factor in power sector emissions reductions over the last 27 years is the overall switch in electricity generation from coal to natural gas—swapping one for the other yields a 53 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Natural gas is helping our environment today and will play a key role in securing America’s cleaner energy future. And a new poll from the Pew Research Center indicates that the bulk of America recognizes this too.
A large majority of U.S. adults (71 percent) agree that the U.S. should prioritize alternative energy development, but 64 percent of them also agree that the country should rely on a mix of fossil fuels and renewables in its efforts to combat climate change.
What’s great about these findings for natural gas is that natural gas has a part to play on every side of this equation.
Adults who believe that the U.S. should prioritize alternative energy development will find that the natural gas industry is doing just that—investing in renewable natural gas (RNG) and clean hydrogen technologies across the country.
The same adults that support using a mix of fossil and renewable fuels to address climate change will find natural gas on both sides of that bridge—traditional natural gas on the fossil fuel side and RNG derived from landfill gas and other sources on the renewable side. That’s a fact that no other energy resource can lay claim to.
Read the full Pew study here. Visit AGA’s website to learn more about RNG and the other environmental benefits of natural gas.