Toby Z. Rice, President and CEO of EQT Corporation, had the rug ripped out from beneath his feet by environmental economics expert Hazel Thayer (@hazelisonline) in a TikTok video.
"But I think we better fact-check ourselves before we fact-wreck ourselves," she said, before systematically disassembling Rice's claim that natural gas is the cheapest, most reliable, and cleanest form of energy.
@hazelisonline Time to debunk Lil Toby as he pushes for somehow even more pipelines. #mythbusting #gasbusting #debunked #learnontiktok #gasleakspartner #gasleaks #cookingwithgas #cleanenergy #gasbusters #exposegas ♬ original sound - Hazel Thayer
Unfortunately, for Rice, at least, the facts on the ground tell a different tale. Let's start with the "cheapest," and work our way down from there.
Universally, natural gas is not the cheapest form of energy. Lazard's 2024 Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis pegs solar at $29 to $92 per megawatt-hour, wind at $27 to $73 per MWh, and natural gas at $45 to $108 per MWh, the latter of which is derived from the best "combined cycle" natural gas plants.
In terms of reliability, natural gas is indeed more reliable than wind and solar, with 85% to 90% capacity factors versus 25% to 30% for solar and 35% to 50% for wind. However, those renewable energy forms require zero fuel to operate other than naturally occurring sunlight and wind, and nuclear easily slaps natural gas down in uptime, resilience, and cost of downtime.
Moving on to the "cleanest" claim, natural gas does have a few advantages. It does at least emit 50% less CO2 than coal per unit of energy, and some analysts argue it has helped the U.S. significantly lower its carbon footprint since the height of coal power. Obtaining it is also generally considered less hazardous to the health of workers than coal, and air pollution from coal is worse for human health.
But as Thayer said in her video, when it comes to the planet's overheating, other sources point to the concern that natural gas may actually be "as bad or worse than coal if we account for the flares and leakages." Unfortunately, natural gas' main element is methane, which escapes during production, processing, transport, and distribution.
To explain that a bit better: Natural gas production involves controlled burning, called "flares," and in its gaseous form, any accident or leak means it escapes right into the air and atmosphere — whereas coal, at least, can be picked back up off the ground. Solar and wind energy, meanwhile, do not pose such risks, although there is some pollution associated with the manufacturing of the equipment, similar to the manufacturing of power plants and trucks and the mining, drilling, and fracking operations themselves.
Further, climate scientists estimate methane is around 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so its leaks and flares are nothing to overlook.
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No way 👎 Solar, nuclear, wind, hydropower, and biomass are all cleaner forms of energy, in order from best to worst. So, while this TikTok video oversimplifies things a bit, Rice is not at all correct in his clean energy claim.
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Though there are some things to like about natural gas, it's really choosing the lesser of evils, especially compared to the growing availability of cleaner, more reliable, and cheaper alternatives.
As one response post made clear: "It's the cheapest!! When it's cheap that is. Currently, it's expensive as h***, so not cheap… but when it's cheap it's really cheap!"
One TikToker joked, "Love the energy, pun heavily intended lol."
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