As governments around the world debate the mix of fossil fuel and renewable sources they use to meet their energy needs, public attitudes about natural gas are mostly positive, according to a recent international survey by Pew Research Center.
A median of 69% of adults across the 20 global publics favor expanding the use of natural gas, including about two-thirds or more in 16 of those places. The survey was conducted between October 2019 and March 2020 in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Russia and other places in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Public support for expanding use of natural gas stands in contrast to the much smaller shares of adults who express support for expanding oil (median of 39%) and coal (median of 24%). And it comes even as many people in the surveyed areas say the priority for energy production should be increasing renewable sources. A median of 93% of adults in the surveyed areas support using more solar power, for example, and a median of 87% say the same about wind power. Demand for natural gas has grown internationally in recent years, in part because it has a smaller carbon footprint than coal and other fossil fuels. In Singapore, where the government has promoted increased use of natural gas, consumption has grown about ninefold in recent decades. In some places, natural gas consumption has expanded as public opinion has turned against nuclear power. In Japan, the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident led to government closure of nuclear power plants and a sharp increase in demand for natural gas. Read more...
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