Although the majority of Americans know very little about liquefied natural gas (LNG), it has been an important part of the nation’s energy mix for almost 100 years.  LNG has been used in this country since 1912, when the first facility was built to store natural gas in its liquid state in West Virginia. 

Currently, there are more than 100 production, transport and storage facilities across the country.  When LNG is returned to its gaseous state, it is used across the residential, commercial and industrial sectors for purposes as divergent as cooking, fueling vehicles, generating electricity and manufacturing paper, metal and glass.

HOW LNG IS USED TODAY

LNG is an efficient and safe way to transport natural gas across long distances and store it near consumers. 

Natural gas supplies our nation with much of its energy.  According to the Department of Energy, in 2001, natural gas accounted for:

• 45% of the residential sector's energy needs 
  • 64 million people used natural gas to heat their homes
• 36% of the industrial sector's energy needs 
  • Natural gas is a dominant fuel for paper, metal, chemical, petroleum, stone, clay, glass, plastic and food processing industries
• 19% of electricity generation
  • In the last several years, more than 90% of the new power plants built in the United States use natural  gas because it is a clean-burning fuel
• 40% of the commercial sector's energy needs
  • Hospitals, schools, office buildings, restaurants, stores and other commercial establishments rely on natural gas for things like space-heating, water-heating, cooking, air conditioning, dehumidification and on-site power generation. 
• 3% of the transportation sector's energy needs
  • Nearly 130,000 transit buses, taxi cabs, package delivery trucks and other vehicles operating in the U.S. are fueled with cleaner-burning natural gas, according to the Natural Gas Vehicle Association.  More than one of every 10 transit buses in the U.S. are fueled with natural gas, according to the American Public Transit Association