Natural Gas: Powering Homes And India

The kitchen is the heart of the home, where a good meal can work miracles.

And nowhere is this more apparent than in places such as India, where food is at the centre of everyday life, from massive weddings to smaller family religious rituals such as shraadhas.

While the country grows and changes, the role of food has not – but how it is cooked has.

More and more Indians are switching away from traditional fuel sources – such as wood and coal – to cleaner, more efficient sources, such as liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and piped natural gas.

India is now the world’s second-largest consumer of LPG, with more than 270 million people able to access the gas, thanks to the government’s push to support cleaner cooking fuels.

In urban India, cleaner-burning natural gas is gaining popularity as the cooking fuel of choice.

This switch is also helping Indians breathe easier. Just moving completely to gas in the kitchen could help India meet its national air-pollution targets, reducing air particulate matter, and save lives lost due to long-term exposure to polluted air.

But cooking apart, natural gas is used for a multitude of other facets, such as heating and cooling, and even plays a role in generating electricity, enabling power plants to switch from coal to gas.

The use – and potential – of natural gas goes well beyond the kitchen, and even the home.

The majority of gas, nearly half of what India consumes, is used as feedstock to power industry, refineries and large manufacturers that produce everything from steel to cars and food.

The second-largest consumer of natural gas is the agricultural sector, which uses it to make fertilisers, crucial for growing the crops that feed India.

Discover how India’s gas use goes well beyond the kitchen and is helping to power the future of the country.