OUR MOST IMPORTANT STEP IN TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE

shared from Dear Friend, It’s hard to escape the ads, you know the one: all blue skies with happy people talking about how clean natural gas is. And sure, it might be cleaner than coal, but that’s not saying much. Natural gas is still a fossil fuel—producing and burning it creates global warming emissions. The prevalence of these ads is a sign of how critical this moment in time is for our energy choices. If we become too reliant on natural gas, we put ourselves at risk for increasing climate change and natural gas price spikes. We have a great opportunity to make the switch to clean energy now—and avoid excessive investments in another fossil fuel that won’t pay off in the future.—Katy Science in Action Tell Governor Brown: Keep our state moving toward clean energy California just passed historic commitments to renewable energy and energy efficiency, and Governor Jerry Brown recently laid out ambitious goals for reducing our global warming pollution overall. But our state still uses natural gas, which puts us at risk for overreliance on this fossil fuel. As the state makes plans to achieve emissions reductions goals, we need the governor to continue his climate leadership. Urge Governor Brown to encourage the agencies he oversees to make decisions that decrease reliance on natural gas and continue to move our state toward a clean energy future. Cartoon of the Month

Got Science? Read More > Why would a respected group like the American Academy of Pediatrics allow Coca-Cola to sponsor their website about children’s health? John Rogers Senior Analyst, Climate & Energy Program Ask a Scientist A supporter in Indianapolis, IN, asks "I have seen two different terms: compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. What is the difference between the two?" Both compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are ways of making natural gas available when it wouldn’t otherwise be. CNG is compressed to more than 3,000 pounds per square inch, which shrinks its volume to 1 percent of what it would have been at normal atmospheric pressure, so it can be usable as a transportation fuel. LNG is a way of transporting natural gas long distances when pipelines aren’t an option—across oceans, for example. Compressing and cooling natural gas converts it to a liquid and cuts its volume to 1/600th of the original, making it possible to ship the LNG in special tankers. Once it gets to its destination, the LNG can be unloaded at a receiving terminal and regasified—turned back into a gas. It can then be delivered through local pipelines to customers. More broadly, natural gas has played an important role in our electricity system by lowering costs, reducing carbon pollution, and helping the country move to more renewable energy. But overly relying on natural gas could be a problem. READ MORE Do you have a question for UCS scientists? Submit your question today. Links for additional information > The natural gas gamble. > States face crucial decision under Clean Power Plan. > How solar energy works. Buzz from the Blog: THE EQUATION — Connect with our experts > Dave Cooke: Volkswagen Caught Cheating—CA, EPA Asking For Vehicles To Be Recalled > Ken Kimmel: Scientist Who Discovered Other Planets Gives Gift to Help Protect Our Planet > David Wright: Stanislav Petrov And The Day the World Almost Ended (Really) > Erika Spanger-Siegfried: Sea Level Rise and the March of King Tides Top Tweets > .@UCSUSA #climate scientist: East coast braced for historic flooding even as #Joaquin moved offshore http://t.co/eEH0NEpTLL > Hot off the presses: My New @UCSUSA Survey of Gov't Scientists finds Scientific Integrity Needs Improvement http://t.co/r7L1j5oadl #opengov >Global milestone: The first million electric vehicles http://t.co/UJuZ1RvvQX > "Congress seems ready to reanimate one of its favorite hard-to-kill ideas: space-based missile defense." http://j.mp/1KPvGz4 DEFEND SCIENCE Your commitment to UCS ensures that scientific facts inform decisions that affect our environment, our health, and our security. Donate today. Science for a healthy planet and safer world UCS is a 501(c)(3) organization. All gifts are tax deductible. You can be confident your donations to UCS are spent wisely. About UCS | Take Action | Donate | Contact Us | Privacy Policy  Union of Concerned Scientists 2 Brattle Square | Cambridge, MA 02138-3780 © Union of Concerned Scientists. All rights reserved. www.ucusa.org

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