In this article, you will read about a surprise compounding benefit of moving away from fossil fuels.

The “win, win, win” of ditching fossil fuels is evident to most people. First, electrifying your energy needs typically saves you money in the long-term. An electric vehicle is 3 to 4 times more efficient than an internal combustion counterpart as well as less expensive to maintain, and a heat pump is 2 to 5 times more efficient than a furnace (depending on the equipment and ambient temperature). Large-scale electricity generation is also moving away from fossil fuels. The least expensive way to produce a steady source of electricity is solar combined with battery storage, leading to a “hockey stick” explosion of solar farms across the globe. In some cases, electrification requires an up-front investment that is paid back well within the lifetime of the necessary equipment, be it an electric vehicle, induction stove, heat pump or electric school bus.

The second win is less obvious. Replacing fossil fuels with clean energy contributes to our health and the health of our local community. Burning fossil fuels produces fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 which settles in our lungs and can even infiltrate our bloodstreams. PM2.5 is particularly harmful to vulnerable people like children, seniors, pregnant women and those with underlying conditions. Heating your home with oil or cooking with gas leads to significantly higher indoor air pollution and higher rates of asthma, particularly in children, as well as other respiratory ailments. Children have negative cognitive impacts from riding in diesel buses. All these negative impacts are reduced or avoided as we move away from fossil fuels.

The third and ever-so-important win is for the planet, by means of reducing planet-warming greenhouse gases (GHGs). The table below shows the direct emissions, in pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent or CO₂e, from combustion of various fossil fuels for the same amount of energy produced (for illustration, we choose 1 million BTUs, the energy in 8.3 gallons of gasoline). Higher emitting fuels are shown in red, medium emitters in orange and low emitters in green. By this measure, natural gas and propane live up to their reputation of being “clean-burning fuels” compared to the others, but all are copious sources of GHGs. This changes, much for the worse, when we consider upstream GHG emissions before the fuel gets to you, the end-customer.

The CURE100 Carbon Tracker is a simple and free application that helps you to understand your household’s carbon footprint and appeals to calculations like those in this table.

When you buy a gallon of gasoline at the pump, do you ever think about how it got there? The journey from an oil well to your gas tank is a tortuous one, with GHG emissions all along the way. It takes about 6% of energy produced, on average, to extract oil and about 25% to refine it, totaling roughly 30%. In other words, to produce ten gallons of gasoline, 3 additional gallons of fuel are burned to produce the necessary energy for extraction and refinement. What is more, transportation of gasoline to your local gas station uses an additional amount of fossil fuel, depending on how far the gasoline must be transported. Over 30% of ships on the open ocean are used to transport fossil fuels, and those ships are powered by fossil fuels.

The emissions incurred in producing fuel are called “embodied emissions” and 30% is a conservative estimate of such embodied emissions. So, reducing your fossil fuel consumption by one gallon saves carbon emissions equivalent to 1.3 gallons! Nice!

Now we come to the surprise benefit! Unburned methane gas leaks into the atmosphere during extraction and refinement of oil and natural gas. About half of this leakage is due to oil extraction (used to make gasoline, diesel, heating oil and aviation fuel) and the other half to natural gas extraction. Natural gas, which is primarily composed of methane, also leaks at compressor stations, transmission pipelines, distribution pipes and end-use facilities. As a fraction of all natural gas deliveries, about 1.4% of the gas leaks.