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Liquified natural gas leaves a greenhouse gas footprint that is 33% worse than coal, when processing and shipping are taken into account, according to a new Cornell study.

"Natural gas and shale gas are all bad for the climate. Liquified natural gas (LNG) is worse," said Robert Howarth, author of the study and the David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "LNG is made from shale gas, and to make it you must supercool it to liquid form and then transport it to market in large tankers. That takes energy."

The research, "The Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Exported from the United States," appears in Energy Science & Engineering.

The emissions of methane and carbon dioxide released during LNG's extraction, processing, transportation and storage account for approximately half of its total greenhouse gas footprint, Howarth said.

Over 20 years, the carbon footprint for LNG is one-third larger than coal, when analyzed using the measurement of global warming potential, which compares the atmospheric impact for different greenhouse gases. Even on a 100-year time scale—a more-forgiving scale than 20 years—the liquified natural gas carbon footprint equals or still exceeds coal, Howarth said.

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