A bill introduced Thursday by California state Sen. Henry Stern would replace the term “natural gas” with the term “methane” throughout all of the state’s energy codes.
S.B. 1237 would change references to natural gas in state laws to emphasize that it’s almost entirely made up of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The natural gas industry has branded the fuel as sustainable, since it is cleaner burning than coal and petroleum products.
branded the fuel as sustainable
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But methane is the second-biggest driver of climate change, after carbon dioxide, and traps heat 86 times more effectively than CO2 over 20-year time scales.
second-biggest driver
