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US report confirms LNG greener than coal

The Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of LNG vs Coal report compares the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions attributable to LNG and coal when used to generate electricity, using a representative average of the typical operations of both types of fossil energy.

Using findings from a 2009 Pace Global Energy Services study, the report found that on a comparison of LNG and coal emissions in the United States, existing domestic coal power plants produced two and a half times more emissions on a lifecycle basis than that of LNG and that even the cleanest coal technologies produce 70 per cent more lifecycle gas emissions than LNG.

The report also concluded that end-use fuel combustion produces the large majority of the total lifecycle greenhouse gas emission in all cases and that emissions from extraction and transportation are minimal in comparison to end-use combustion for all cases.

APPEA said that the report is consistent with similar studies conducted by the CSIRO in 1996 and WorleyParsons in 2008.

Each of the studies found that customer countries who imported Australian LNG to displace higher emission fuels in electricity generation produced between 4 and 9.5 tonnes less greenhouse gas emissions even when all associated greenhouse gas emissions from production, liquefaction and transport of importing Australian LNG were taken into account.

Ms Robinson said the report’s findings reinforce the positive benefits of Australian natural gas exports in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions as well as in creating up to 55,000 jobs and providing an additional $A10 billion in government revenue each year.

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