Gas
The first natural gas find in Australia was at Roma in 1900 as a team was drilling a water well. The first gas pipeline in Australia was 435 km in length and was opened on 17 March 1969 by Bjelke-Petersen. It connected the Roma gasfields to Brisbane for commercial and domestic use, a first for a capital city in Australia. The pipeline was extended by 756 km in 1996 to connect with gasfields at Ballera. Another pipeline, which was completed in April 1998, travels north from Ballera to Mount Isa.
Natural gas is extracted from both the Cooper Basin and Eromanga Basins. Natural gas is delivered directly to homes in the cities of Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Maryborough, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Gladstone and Rockhampton.
At some coal mines waste mine gas is collected and used to generate small amounts of power. At Moronbah North coal mine a 45 MW power station generates base load power and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Oaky Creek coal mines collect enough mine gas to generate 20 MW of power.
Read more about this topic: Energy In Queensland
Famous quotes containing the word gas:
“Shielded, what sorts of life are stirring yet:
Legs lagged like drains, slippers soft as fungus,
The gas and grate, the old cold sour grey bed.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“When we can drain the Ocean into mill-ponds, and bottle up the Force of Gravity, to be sold by retail, in gas jars; then may we hope to comprehend the infinitudes of man’s soul under formulas of Profit and Loss; and rule over this too, as over a patent engine, by checks, and valves, and balances.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“A new father quickly learns that his child invariably comes to the bathroom at precisely the times when he’s in there, as if he needed company. The only way for this father to be certain of bathroom privacy is to shave at the gas station.”
—Bill Cosby (20th century)