Former chemical engineer in the coal industry, urging B.C. municipalities to change the term natural gas to "fossil gas"
"The term natural gas does not explicitly convey the fossil origins of such gas, leading to potential misunderstandings and hampering policy-making,"
in German it is called "Erdgas" which translates to earth gas and means it is from the ground.
I love how literal and concise German can be.
Yeah when it wants to be. When it is not insisting that nouns of things that don't have genders have genders. Die Pizza. It doesn't have a vagina, stop pretending that it does.
Supernatural gas.
SAMMMMMMMM
No wonder my house is haunted
Do folks think we're bottling cow farts? Wood gas is about the only non fossil gas we use (though sewer gas lamps still exist I think.)
From the article:
"They would really resist. They just started saying the most amazing things back to me, like, 'But it's natural,' or 'It's green, it's good,'" he said.
I generally try not to talk down to people, but jesus christ how ignorant can these people possibly be? Do they think just because it isn't literally coal that it's somehow beneficial? Who educated them? Absolutely wild.
It's funny to me, because when it was coined, natural gas made SENSE. See town gas, the majority of gas used in cities, was made at gas plants from coal or wood and piped to homes as a clean burning fuel. You'd have gas plants that created the gas. Natural gas, therefore, was just gas that was natural and not made vs the syngas that most people had used. It wasn't some sort of nefarious marketing ploy, it was just an apt description of where the gas came from.
Edit: and to clarify, natural gas was a whole hell of a lot safer than town gas. The ole head in the oven suicide trope was based on town gas having a high percentage of carbon monoxide.
Who educated them?
I think the most common answer for this topic would be, "No one, really." Except maybe energy marketing/ads. You know, the folks that brought us "clean coal" and "fracking is totally safe and will definitely not bork your groundwater."
Not being familiar with all things oil and gas would be pretty common for people not living in areas where it is processed or compressed. It's much like a Linux enthusiast being upset at Windows and Mac users not realizing there are other OSs for computers. Might not be in their realm of thought.
Natural has been a wonderfully misleading marketing term for food products too. There's no regulations in the US on what one calls "natural" ingredients. Most people mistake it for being like organic just as intended. Natural just sounds good. Unfortunately radioactive material can be natural too.
Same people that think "organic" = "healthy"
If you're careful in selecting your samples you can get people to say just about anything.
biodiesel is made from corn
Organic gas
It's a good idea. Words are extremely powerful - by dictating what something is called, you can frame a given narrative as this or that before any education on said narrative has even occured. People think it's nitpicky, but it's not - they pay propagandists a lot of money to come up with words.
If that wording makes a difference, these people should not be in charge of what energy enters their home, or not be in charge period.
Also TIL, the attempt to rename it is not new: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas#Name
Does he think it will somehow get me to turn my furnace off? Because I won't.
Theres no reason to think this would be the case. The hopes is to change the terminology so the conversation can start to happen and policy making can be more effective. I'm certain most politicians for example fall into the same fallacy thinking "natural" means "good".
There are also many alternatives to whole home heating. But they are not widely adopted by builders as policy does not require it. Examples include:
Radiant Underfloor Heating, Solar Thermal, Heat Pumps, Wood Stoves, Space Heaters
Most of these don't require a "subscription model" for purchasing fule, if combined with on-site solar, wind, or geothermal.
I'm with you, but language has a scary amount of influence over how people perceive the world around them.
It's going to be a sad day when I have to replace my gas oven and stove with electric appliances. There's something deeply ingrained in humans that draws us to fire.
reminds me of a personal story - I've been telling my dad to lose weight / eat healthier for years. we go to a fast food joint, and he orders 2 sandwiches and fries.
I tell him that's way too much food.
My mom, points to the fries, and says "these are healthy though, these are SWEET POTATO fries". Straight-faced, unironic, like it completely answered my concern.
People are surprisingly stupid.