Natural gas is used in over 60 million homes. In addition, natural gas is used in 78 percent of restaurants, 73 percent of lodging facilities, 51 percent of hospitals, 59 percent of offices and 58 percent of retail buildings.
Natural gas fuels our economy. It is vital to America's manufacturers, not only to power their operations, but also as an essential feedstock for many of the products we use daily - clothing, carpets, sports equipment, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, computers, and auto parts. It is also a primary feedstock for chemicals, plastics and fertilizers.
Natural gas is a clean burning domestic energy source that powers our economy. It cools and warms our homes and businesses, is used to generate electricity, and helps maintain our quality of life.
Natural gas has many uses:
- Meets 24 percent of U.S. energy requirements.
- Heats 51 percent of U.S. households.
- Cools homes and provides fuel for cooking.
- Provides the energy source or raw material to make a wide range of products, such as plastics, steel, glass, synthetic fabrics, fertilizer, aspirin, automobiles and processed food.
The demand for natural gas is growing:
- Americans used 23.2 trillion cubic feet of it in 2008.
- Natural gas supplies about 64.9 million residential customers and 5.5 million commercial and industrial customers in 2007.
- It powers nearly 120,000 vehicles operating on American roads.
Supply:
- Most natural gas used in the United States comes from North America.
- The United States produced 20.6 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas in 2008 - about 88 percent of U.S. consumption. U.S. production has been essentially flat for 30 years.
- Improved technology has contributed to an 8 percent increase in U.S. natural gas production between 2007 and 2008.