Natural Gas in Bangladesh and the U.S.

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and currently only provides power to about one fifth of its population. The democratic government in the country is only a couple decades old and regulations are extremely hard to enforce on a swelling urban population in cities like Dhaka, its capital. Even with all of these forces working against it, Bangladesh has managed to make a prolific shift in its policy and attitude towards the environment that is a culmination of its long history. The United States of America has had a very different path to its current incarnation. The U.S. led the world in the democratic process and innovation for many years, but now finds itself paralyzed on many national issues by internal politics. The use of natural gas within the country has been central in the monumental changes that have occurred in Bangladesh and the future of the U.S. This thesis examines the path that Bangladesh has taken to reach the present day and uses that journey as a learning tool to assess the current U.S. situation regarding the future of natural gas in transportation.