Darren Arnold lights the burners on a natural gas stove at a testing facility near Portland, Ore. He’s using a new, lower-carbon gas mixture for NW Natural, a gas utility that serves 770,000 customers across the region. “For a cooktop burner, we’re looking for a nice blue flame, nice little peaks on the tips of the flame,” he says. “So everything looks really good. We’ll also check the oven.” Though it’s burning a different fuel mixture, it still works like a regular gas stove. That’s a key part of his company’s plan to lower its carbon output, with an eventual goal of being a carbon-neutral gas system by 2050. More >>
