Listener Mail: Is Renewable Natural Gas a Scam?

April 29, 2021·43 min·4 clips

SoCalGas funded a front group to stop cities from banning natural gas hookups.

Listener mail gets the bong treatment. Sean sent in a strange note from his gas utility about renewable natural gas, and Anna Ladd walks Ayanna and Alex through what the offer appears to promise. First, the basics. The conversation treats RNG as a lower emitting version of gas, made from sources like landfill waste, food waste, animal manure, and agricultural waste. Then the fine print starts to matter. Alex hears the first caveat, then the next one: caveats on top of caveats, with the show's usual brisk teasing. The first tradeoff is personal. If signing up would cost hundreds of extra dollars each year, Tom suggests comparing that money with efficient electric appliances instead. That point lands quickly. Electrifying a home means swapping gas dependent stoves or boilers for electric versions that can run cleaner as the grid adds renewable energy. The grid piece matters. Electric appliances can get cleaner over time with the power system. Gas appliances stay tied to fuel. RNG has a ceiling too. Even if every available stream of agricultural waste, landfill gas, food waste, and manure were converted, it would still cover something like 10 percent of U.S. natural gas consumption. That makes the caveat hard to wave away. Renewable natural gas may help during the transition, but it cannot do the whole job of decarbonizing homes and buildings. The better use case may be elsewhere. Tom points to harder to electrify sectors, including heavy industry, where cleaner gas could make more sense than using it in everyday homes. The mailbag then widens out. After the gas utility question, Ayanna and Alex turn to listener climate action Venn diagrams, including actions tied to pizza and playing the trumpet. It stays friendly without getting fluffy: a practical, lightly skeptical answer that leaves room for RNG while refusing to treat it as the main fix.

As heard by us

A practical answer to a utility pitch, with enough nuance to keep it honest.

The episode treats renewable natural gas as a practical climate question: what it can do, where it falls short, and why a gas utility would be promoting it.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want the straight answer on whether renewable natural gas is worth your utility's pitch.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from How to Save a Planet