Energy

A bit of history

In a manuscript by the Chinese historian Chang Qu dated 347 B.C. a strange gas is described that can be used for illumination purposes. Approximately 200 years ago, Alessandro Volta “re-discovered” the energy potential of natural gas noticing small gas bubbles which formed when the muddy bottom of the Maggiore lake was stirred. If a lit match was approached, the gas contained in the bubble produced a bluish flame. Between 1840 and 1850 gas lights became common in many American and European cities and changed the lifestyle of citizens: well illuminated streets at night were an obstacle for thieves, ballrooms and clubs flourished even for less well-off people (since gas lights were cheaper than candles). Thos advantages were limited to where the natural gas came to the surface spontaneously, since no adequate technology was available to search for, extract and convey natural gas. For a long time the methane coming out of oil wells was burned by means of a torch when it reached the surface. Several billion cubic metres of natural gas were burnt in the process: the biggest waste of resources in the history of mankind. Italy is one of the few countries where methane has been enhanced as an energy resource since the very discovery of fields in the Po valley and in the Adriatic sea. Natural gas, as a national energy source, remarkably contributed to the industrial development of Italy in the 1950s and 1960s. The exploitation of natural gas is a recent achievement: in Europe it started a little more than 50 years ago thanks to the development of technology which made its extraction economically viable and a pipeline network (i.e. the pipes to convey natural gas from the place of extraction to the place of consumption) to achieve a more efficient distribution. Pipelines currently run across the whole of Europe and make up the ideal transportation system because they have a low environmental impact: they do not increase surface traffic and are invisible, thanks to the restoration of the surrounding area after the digging to lay pipelines. Three gas pipelines reach Italy from the Netherlands (7% of natural gas imports), Siberia (25% of imports) and Algeria (36%). The latter is Transmed, the first trans-Mediterranean gas pipeline beginning in Oued Saf Saf, on the border between Algeria and Tunisia and runs for 370 km in Tunisia and over 1400 km in Italy, crossing the Sicily channel with underwater pipes.