地球環境問題をふまえた天然ガスの21世紀の挑戦-資源経済委員会報告

抄録

The renewable energies such as solar power, wind force have only 1/500 density ofenergy compared with thermal power station and nuclear power station, and therefore are not nowfeasible. Nuclear power has the share of more than 35% of total power generation in Japan.
On the contrary, in the United States of America, most new capacity of power generation comes from combined cycle natural gas power plant along with the natural gas trunk line. On the other hand, there is no trunk line in Japan. Natural gas is the cleanest energy among the fossil energies because of small emission of CO₂, NO_x, and SO_x. Compared with the coal power generation, combined cycle natural gas power generation emits the only 35% of CO₂ which is emitted by coal power.
The nuclear power is the base load power generation and cannot establish the whole electricity system as a single nuclear power system, which needs the package of thermal power system. In the view of the amount of CO₂ emission, the dispersed natural gas power system is almost the same as the packaged nuclear system.
Therefore, about 20 million tons of CO₂ will be reduced if the dispersed natural gas powersystem replaces the half of thermal power generation in Japan, which means the achievement of the criteria of the Global Warming Prevention Act.