Natural Gas in Your Backyard

As a survivalist, you should plan for every contingency. Part of this planning is identifying alternate fuels for after TEOTWAWKI. If possible, it is best to pick a retreat location with multiple fuel sources. In a recent blog post I mentioned coal seams . Natural gas wells are another possibility. Noted economist and newsletter writer Dr. Gary North advocates finding a retreat property with an existing natural gas well. Gary is one of the few folks in the country that doesn’t have to worry about running out of fuel for his generators. He has several, all natural gas powered.

Important Note: Generators built to run on propane need to have different jets installed to run on natural gas. Propane and natural gas have differing chemistry. Natural gas runs at lower pressures and uses a larger orifice in burners. If you run propane in a device configured for natural gas without modification, you might experience a most unpleasant fireball!

Most people don’t realize that even their piped (utility) natural gas service is dependent on the power grid. To push gas through the many miles of pipeline, gas companies depend on electrically-powered compressor stations to pressurize the distribution pipelines. It is important to distinguish between local (natural) compression versus long distance grid-powered compression. People living right near gas fields will benefit from the natural wellhead compression and thus will probably have continuing gas service in a long term grid-down situation, whereas those living farther away will not.

OBTW, the U.S. Department of Energy has some useful maps of natural gas producing regions.