The deciding factors that natural gas would be a good transition to energy efficiency are:
1. There is an abundant supply of the gas
2. There is a high net energy yield
3. The cost is low
4. It emits less air pollution
5. There are only moderate environmental impacts
6. It can be transported easily by pipeline
7. Not much land is needed because it is found near crude oil

Natural Gas is a fossil fuel that, like other fossil fuels, was formed from fossil deposits. It consists of fifty to ninety percent methane, smaller amounts of heavier hydrocarbons (thane, propane, and butane), and small amounts of Hydrogen sulfide. There are two kinds of natural gas, conventional and unconventional. Conventional lies above most crude oil reservoirs and unconventional is found by itself in underground sources such as methane hydrate which are small bubbles of natural gas trapped in ice crusts under arctic permafrost.
When extracted, butane and propane gases are liquified and stored as Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is then stored in pressurized tanks for use primarily in rural areas. The rest of the gas is dried to remove the water vapor, cleansed of poisonous Hydrogen sulfides, and pumped into pressurized pipelines. In order to be transported, natural gas has to cool to negative three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, at which point the gas can be converted to Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).
Russia and Kazakhstan have 42% of the world’s known supplies of natural gas. Similar to other fossil fuels and sources of energy, it is expected that more sources of natural gas will be found especially in places near crude oil. The amount of time projected before natural gas will be depleted is 125 years.
The advantages of natural gas are:
8. there is an abundant supply expected to last up to 125 years
9. it has a high net energy yield
10. compared to other energy alternatives, the cost is low
11. it emits less air pollution
12. lower CO2 emission
13. there are only moderate environmental impacts during extraction
14. it can be transported easily by pipeline
15. not a lot of land is used because it is found near crude oil
Some disadvantages of natural gas are:
$ more pipelines would be needed in order to transport the gas
$ methane can leak out of the pipelines and then contaminate groundwater
$ the amount of natural gas is on the decline
In 2001, natural gas provided 53% of the heat in US homes and 16% of the electricity. It seems that natural gas is the best way to make the transition to improved energy efficiency.