The abundance of new natural gas will increase the share of natural gas–fired generation in the North American power sector.

It will expand the role of natural gas–fired generation technologies to back up renewable power resources—a new role for natural gas.

Natural gas–fired generation consumed 3 Bcf per day more natural gas in 2009 than in 2008 when adjusted for the impact of the Great Recession. Displacement of coal-fired generation contributed significantly to this number. But there is a limited pool of "spare" gas-fired capacity that prevents wholesale displacement of coal with natural gas.

In addition to this fuel switching, the power sector can reduce near-term CO₂ emissions by replacing existing coal-fired plants with new gas-fired plants and converting existing coal-fired plants to burning gas. This would require substantial investment and would result in growth of natural gas use. But power companies would be concerned about longer-term requirements to further reduce CO₂, which would also affect gas-fired facilities.

The power industry has a multiple-decade planning horizon. If the goals include cutting carbon emissions substantially over the long term, such as the often-cited 80 percent reduction by midcentury, aggressive development and deployment of zero-carbon technologies, including nuclear and CCS, will need to take place today.