Natural Gas Infrastructure?

• Explosion Levels 2 houses damages dozens

If you actually read carefully the above article with newspaper article quotes there are actually 2 different occasions reported on with about many building damaged in a natural gas explosion, one in Indiana and the other in Massachusetts. Also there was a gas main explosion in California a few years ago in San Bruno that I didn't report on in the article . In the one further down the page a couple died in their home and many were injured. In the most recent one it was a Gentleman's club and many other businesses that were damaged or destroyed. It also speaks of how the firemen and police were gas venting the establishment when they realized an explosion was immanent and so hid behind a vehicle to protect them from the blast. This means a leak was discovered but while venting the gas away that there was an explosion.

I'm thinking that this likely has more to do with an aging infrastructure within the U.S. regarding natural gas in general more than anything else. As we move to more efficient forms of energy it is important to realize that natural gas has been in homes through pipes since the 1800s when the technology likely came over from Europe. (I haven't studied this in detail yet so I'm not sure about this part of the history). So, as (sexier) forms of energy come into play like (solar energy) and (wind power) the oldest forms of power (wood, coal and natural gas) might not get the infrastructure replacements and modifications that they deserve.

And the most potentially dangerous of these three is Natural gas piped into homes and businesses. With a strong and safe infrastructure natural gas can be very safe. But, if infrastructure is lagging these types of explosions could become much more commonplace, especially in older homes, businesses or neighborhoods where infrastucture of natural gas lines and safety equipment hasn't been updated, is obsolete or rusty or where lines have been sanded down where they come into buildings to the point where the metal is too thin and rusting and venting occurs. So, likely just like our roads and bridges have not been renewed, our natural gas pipelines and have not been renewed either and so explosions of non-updated equipment in regard to natural gas all over the U.S. might become more frequent over the next 20 years until it is updated. Also, possibly some equipment is not installed correctly or parts might be defective as well. And also, the third possibility is arson, or willful negligence which in the case of natural gas might be difficult to prove.

Begin quote:

History - NaturalGas.org

www.naturalgas.org/overview/history.asp

Natural gas is nothing new. In fact, most of the natural gas that is brought out from under the ground is millions and millions of years old. However, it was not until ...
 end quote from above word button.

So, the ancient Greeks worshipped the natural Gas coming out from ground lit by lightning and built a temple around it.

Then the Chinese also discovered it and used bamboo poles as pipes in 500 B.C. to pipe the natural gas to the ocean to boil salt water to be able to separate the salt from it for drinking water.

Then in 1785 Britain was the first place to commercialize it by using natural gas from coal to light houses and streetlights.

So, this makes more sense when instead of natural gas to light upper class and middle class homes in the U.S. we switched to electricity from Thomas Edison and others during the late part of the 1800s starting on the East Coast. 

Here is some stuff regarding 2010 San Bruno, California Gas explosion:

1. 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion

   Jump to Pacific Gas and Electric Company‎: The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is the owner of the pipeline. On September 10, PG&E's ...
   

   Explosion and fire - Response - Investigation - Litigation

2. Videos for san bruno gas explosion

    

3. ► 3:04► 3:04 San Bruno Fire Caused by Gas ... youtube.com Sep 10, 2010

   ► 1:42► 1:42 How To Find a San Bruno Gas Pipe ... youtube.com Sep 18, 2010

   ► 15:00► 15:00 San Bruno Explosion, September 9 ... youtube.com Sep 9, 2010

4. San Bruno blast: PG&E denies wrongdoing - SFGate

   www.sfgate.com/.../San-Bruno-blast-PG-E-denies-wrongdoing-3894...

   Sep 25, 2012 – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. dismissed nearly all of state utility ... the 2010 San Bruno gas-pipeline explosion as an exercise in scapegoating, ...

5. Images for san bruno gas explosion

    
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