We've recognized that natural gas would be the fastest-growing of the conventional fuels: oil, natural gas, coal. And so, we see the important role that natural gas will play globally and, more importantly, the important role it will play in the U.S. in terms of meeting future energy demand.
Today, natural gas now outstrips coal as the leading provider of electricity in America. If this is as big as people believe it is, natural gas will soon be powering trucks and marine ships. Maybe even standard commercial cars that people use at home through compressed natural gas, other gas to liquids. The potential is there for more energy independence by America and a reliance on cleaner fuel - natural gas emits half as much as coal, in terms of carbon emissions. That's a real bounty.
As we look ahead, we see increasing opportunities for Duke in natural gas - not just for producing electricity, but in providing gas for our customers. We have been investing in renewables as well throughout the U.S.
We need fuel diversity as far as the generation of electricity because you can only get so much natural gas through the pipelines.
Electricity is derived from many non-renewable energy sources like oil, natural gas and coal.
Compared to coal, which generates almost half the electricity in the United States, natural gas is indeed a cleaner, less polluting fuel. But compared to, say, solar, it's filthy. And of course there is nothing renewable about natural gas.
Even after so many decades of Independence there are 18,500 villages in India which do not have electricity. We affirm our commitment to provide electricity to all those villages that do not have electricity.
The blockade against American natural-gas exports needs to be lifted, and the war on coal needs to be ended, so that, instead of being wasted to replace perfectly good coal-generated electricity, our natural-gas exports can be expanded even further.
The volatile natural gas market has affected us all, and we are giving our customers an option to lock in their electricity price for the entire year. This will allow them to anticipate their electricity bills and budget accordingly throughout 2006.
I was very bearish on natural gas for many years, pretty much from 2006 on. There was a tremendous natural gas bubble in the United States.
Relative to oil, however, natural gas is very cheap and very attractive. And I think that natural gas in emerging markets is very attractive. There is very little natural gas infrastructure in places such as China, where there is tremendous demand for natural gas.
Through Duke Energy's strong balance sheet and electric generation expertise, and Piedmont's understanding of natural gas markets and proficient operations, the combined company will be well-positioned for a future that may require additional natural gas infrastructure and services to meet the needs of our customers.
Natural gas will displace coal in power generation. Getting natural gas into the transportation fleet is harder. It works best for vehicles that work from centralized fueling facilities like trucking fleets or buses and cabs. That is happening. Before it can make big inroads beyond that, infrastructure is going to need to be developed.
If we are to meet the growing electricity demand in the United States without significantly increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, we must maintain a diverse supply of electricity, and nuclear power must be part of that mix.
Nobody disputes that cheap natural gas would be a good thing for the economy. The question is, is this a sustainable new development that can be counted on for decades to come, or simply a 'bubble' brought on by a land grab and drilling frenzy?
Natural gas is an important part of delivering energy, whether you're producing power or other solutions for customers.