Is something better than nothing?

Assuming the Environmental Protection Agency’s estimate of the industry’s methane leakage rate — 2.4 percent — is accurate, choosing to build a new gas power plant instead of a new coal plant produces immediate greenhouse emissions benefits, and that would be the case even if the leakage rate were nearly a point higher. Replacing old, inefficient coal plants with new natural gas facilities would presumably produce larger benefits. But using natural gas to run cars wouldn’t reduce net climate impacts for 80 years. Fueling heavy-duty trucks with natural gas wouldn’t result in greenhouse emissions benefits for 300 years.

via www.washingtonpost.com