From Watts Up With That?

By Timothy Nash Anthony Storer Bob Thomas Tom Rastin

Natural gas is a critical, abundant, reliable, and clean source of energy for the American economy, both commercially and environmentally. Beyond its well-known role in electricity generation, natural gas is central to the heating and cooling of homes, businesses, assembly lines, and laboratories across the country. For most Americans, natural gas is the reason the lights come on, the home stays warm, food stays affordable, and hospitals function safely.

What many Americans do not fully appreciate, however, is the role natural gas plays as a feedstock in producing thousands of everyday products. Fertilizers are essential to food production and security; plastics used in packaging, vehicles, and technology; synthetic fibers for clothing; pharmaceuticals; paints; detergents; shampoos; and even advanced products such as solar panels and wind turbines all depend on natural gas for their existence. From agriculture to health care to consumer goods, natural gas is indispensable to modern industry.

Imagine daily life without fertilizers, synthetic rubber, nylon in clothing and carpets, common medicines, cosmetics, insulation, or PVC piping. In many regions of the country, natural gas is the primary and most cost-effective method to run homes and businesses. Without it, production would not be possible.

A closer look at key categories of daily living shows that dozens of essential goods would either become dramatically more expensive or cease to exist without natural gas as a core input:

Agriculture and food production rely on natural gas to produce fertilizers and pesticides, provide heat for food processing, such as pasteurization, and manufacture materials used in packaging and storage.

Plastics and polymers (including polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, polystyrene, PET, and polyurethane) are all derived from natural gas. These materials are used in everything from water pipes, flooring, and insulation to food containers, bottles, medical packaging, toys, trash bags, and automotive components.

Fabrics and textiles such as nylon, polyester, spandex, and acrylic fibers are made possible through natural gas chemistry. These materials are foundational to affordable clothing, carpets, upholstery, ropes, and industrial fabrics.

Health and personal care products depend heavily on natural gas-based materials and processing. Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, IV bags, tubing, gloves, masks, contact lenses, prosthetics, and hearing aids all require inputs derived from natural gas. So do everyday items like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, deodorant, cosmetics, and diapers.

Building and construction materials, from paints and coatings to adhesives, insulation, roofing materials, vinyl flooring, and concrete additives, depend on natural gas both as a feedstock and as a fuel for manufacturing processes such as kilns and cement production. Even components used in solar panels and wind turbine blades trace back to natural gas-based materials.

Automotive and transportation infrastructure also relies on natural gas for tire production, vehicle components, and the materials used to construct parking lots, roads, and highways.

The conveniences and necessities Americans rely on daily are the product of abundant, reliable, and clean domestic natural gas. Beyond its economic value, natural gas has delivered significant environmental benefits as well.

In practical terms, the shift from coal to natural gas has done more to reduce U.S. power-sector emissions than any single federal climate program to date. Replacing coal with natural gas in power generation roughly cuts carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity in half, while virtually eliminating mercury emissions and dramatically reducing sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. As a result, U.S. power-sector carbon dioxide emissions have fallen to levels not seen in decades.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, roughly two-thirds of the power sector’s carbon dioxide decline can be attributed to increased use of natural gas, while a recent EPA study suggests the number could be as high as 75%. This is clear evidence that natural gas has served as a bridge to a lower-carbon economy. Critics argue that such a bridge, risks becoming a crutch, slowing the transition to zero-carbon energy sources. Yet the reality is that natural gas remains a crucial part of a pragmatic clean-energy strategy, particularly when paired with high-efficiency generation and emerging carbon-capture technologies. A realistic clean-energy policy should recognize natural gas as a foundational part of an energy system that is cleaner, more resilient, and economically viable.

For most Americans, natural gas forms an invisible backbone of modern civilization, enabling processes that touch nearly every aspect of daily life. From the gases that power steel furnaces to those that preserve food, support health care, and enable advanced manufacturing, natural gas has helped raise living standards dramatically over the past quarter-century.

At the same time, most people rarely think about natural gas beyond filling a propane tank for a weekend barbecue. Few recognize that these substances underpin a multi- trillion-dollar global industry that continues to grow as new applications emerge in semiconductors, clean energy, and advanced materials. Recognizing the role of natural gas is about understanding what already works and improving it responsibly as the energy system continues to evolve, especially our vital power grid. Understanding the true role of natural gas helps us appreciate the complex industrial infrastructure that supports our modern, evolving, and increasingly efficient world, led by breakthrough technologies like data centers and AI.

About the Authors

Dr. Timothy G. Nash is director of The Northwood Center for the Advancement of Freedom, Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (NUCAFFE) at Northwood University.

Mr. Anthony Storer is an outstanding student at Northwood University, majoring in finance and economics, and is a student scholar at NUCAFFE.

Mr. Bob Thomas is COO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Tom Rastin is a retired business executive from Ohio.

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.