http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Improving the energy efficiency of Maryland homes heated by natural gas would generate a "hat trick" of economic and environmental benefits over the next 10 years, including more than 80,000 new jobs, savings of hundreds of dollars in average heating bills and a nine percent reduction in residential carbon emissions, concludes a new study by the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER). http://www.physorg.com/news180096281.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:47:06 EST news180096281 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new type of natural-gas electric power plant proposed by MIT researchers could provide electricity with zero carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, at costs comparable to or less than conventional natural-gas plants, and even to coal-burning plants. But that can only come about if and when a price is set on the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases - a step the U.S. Congress and other governments are considering as a way to halt climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news179058845.html Technology Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:34:39 EST news179058845 It is currently estimated that natural gas resources will be exhausted in 130 years; however, those reserves where extraction is cost-effective will only flow for another 60 years or so. http://www.physorg.com/news177164574.html Chemistry Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:00:01 EST news177164574 Scientists in Washington, D.C. are reporting laboratory evidence supporting the possibility that some of Earth's oil and natural gas may have formed in a way much different than the traditional process described in science textbooks. http://www.physorg.com/news176559602.html Chemistry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:01 EST news176559602 (AP) -- Bernice and Jerry Angely like to show visitors the singed T-shirt a friend was wearing when their water well exploded and shot flames 30 feet high. http://www.physorg.com/news176354190.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:17:21 EST news176354190 An abundant greenhouse gas could someday help clean up the earth. Converting methane to liquid methanol could produce clean, low-cost fuel and prevent the potent greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere. Exploiting methane in this way could also produce a hydrogen source for fuel cells and yield other industrial applications. http://www.physorg.com/news175434422.html Chemistry Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:10:01 EST news175434422 (PhysOrg.com) -- Race cars have long provided a testing ground for driving technology that we eventually see in passenger cars on the road. To this end, an engineering team in Lancashire, England, is hoping to give cow power a place in mass-produced consumer automobiles by creating a race car that runs on cow manure. Yep, there are hopes that by processing cow waste and using it to fuel cars, it can reduce the impact of two things that contribute to global warming. http://www.physorg.com/news174914638.html Technology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:25:04 EST news174914638 The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a free, online collection of data on the properties of gas hydrates, naturally occurring crystalline materials that are a potential energy resource and also may affect the Earth's climate. http://www.physorg.com/news174140874.html Chemistry Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:02 EST news174140874 A consortium brought together by low carbon experts at the University of East Anglia (UEA) is today launching the first bus in the UK to run on clean, biomethane gas. http://www.physorg.com/news171657631.html Technology Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:41:02 EST news171657631 The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter. Now for the first time, scientists have found that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle -the layer of Earth under the crust and on top of the core. The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues from Russia and Sweden, and is published in the July 26, advanced on-line issue of Nature Geoscience. http://www.physorg.com/news167835116.html Space & Earth Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:10:01 EST news167835116 A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences bird populations, findings with implications for the fate of ecological communities situated amid growing urban clamor. http://www.physorg.com/news167571326.html Biology Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:35:51 EST news167571326 Americans used more solar, nuclear, biomass and wind energy in 2008 than they did in 2007, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The nation used less coal and petroleum during the same time frame and only slightly increased its natural gas consumption. Geothermal energy use remained the same. http://www.physorg.com/news167316045.html Technology Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:50:05 EST news167316045 A new plant that produces gas from wood was opened in Austria on Wednesday, paving the way towards new possibilities in renewable energy. http://www.physorg.com/news165084883.html Technology Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:30:02 EST news165084883 American agriculture has become increasingly dependent on foreign sources of natural gas, a key ingredient in the nitrogen fertilizer that farmers use to get high yields of crops such as corn and wheat. http://www.physorg.com/news164537641.html Space & Earth Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:10:02 EST news164537641 (AP) -- Nearly one-third of the natural gas yet to be discovered in the world is north of the Arctic Circle and most of it is in Russian territory, according to a new analysis led by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey. http://www.physorg.com/news162812345.html Space & Earth Fri, 29 May 2009 10:47:22 EST news162812345 The U.S. Department of Energy should consider gradually changing its system of setting appliance energy-efficiency standards to a full-fuel-cycle measurement, which takes into account both the energy used to operate an appliance, as well as upstream energy costs -- energy consumed in producing and distributing fuels from coal, oil, and natural gas, and energy lost in generating and delivering electric power. This change would offer consumers more complete information on household energy consumption and its environmental impacts, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. http://www.physorg.com/news162642806.html Technology Wed, 27 May 2009 11:34:33 EST news162642806 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new method for converting algae into renewable natural gas for use in pipelines and power generation has been transferred from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to the marketplace under a license between Genifuel Corporation and Battelle. http://www.physorg.com/news160839462.html Technology Wed, 06 May 2009 14:38:46 EST news160839462 In the future, natural gas derived from chunks of ice that workers collect from beneath the ocean floor and beneath the arctic permafrost may fuel cars, heat homes, and power factories. Government researchers are reporting that these so-called "gas hydrates," a frozen form of natural gas that bursts into flames at the touch of a match, show increasing promise as an abundant, untapped source of clean, sustainable energy. The icy chunks could supplement traditional energy sources that are in short supply and which produce large amounts of carbon dioxide linked to global warming, the scientists say. http://www.physorg.com/news157038377.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:46:55 EST news157038377 (AP) -- AT&T Inc. said Wednesday it will spend up to $350 million over five years to buy more than 8,000 Ford Motor Co. vans and trucks, then convert them to run on compressed natural gas. http://www.physorg.com/news155999539.html Technology Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:12:39 EST news155999539 Ploughing resources into the use of natural gas as an alternative energy supply could lead to global shortage within 20 years time, according to a leading energy expert. http://www.physorg.com/news155489151.html Technology Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:26:27 EST news155489151 The first comprehensive analysis of air emissions associated with natural gas and oil production in the Barnett Shale area finds that emissions can be a significant contributor to Dallas-Fort Worth smog formation, comparable to the combined emissions from all Metroplex cars and trucks. http://www.physorg.com/news153514020.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:47:41 EST news153514020 (PhysOrg.com) -- When a group of University of Oklahoma researchers began studying the environmental fate of spilt petroleum, a problem that has plagued the energy industry for decades, they did not expect to eventually isolate a community of microorganisms capable of converting hydrocarbons into natural gas. http://www.physorg.com/news138386369.html Biology Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:39:29 EST news138386369