Natural gas is composed primarily of methane (CH4), which has the highest hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of all fossil fuels. This chemical structure allows for more complete and cleaner combustion compared to other hydrocarbons like coal or diesel fuel. As a result, burning natural gas produces negligible amounts of particulate matter (soot) and other carbonaceous residues. This characteristic of minimum carbon buildup is a significant operational advantage for equipment, such as data center backup generators, as it reduces engine wear and lowers maintenance frequency and costs.

B. Natural gas is known for its clean-burning properties, which result in the least, not the most, carbon buildup among fossil fuels.

C. While prices fluctuate, natural gas is often more cost-effective than petroleum fuels in many markets, so this is not a universal advantage.

D. Being exhaustible (non-renewable) is a fundamental disadvantage of all fossil fuels, not a unique advantage of natural gas.

1. Vanek, F. M., Albright, L. D., & Angenent, L. T. (2012). Energy Systems Engineering: Evaluation and Implementation (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. In Chapter 4, "Fossil Fuels," the text discusses the composition of natural gas and its cleaner combustion characteristics, noting lower emissions of particulates compared to coal and oil (pp. 115-118).

2. Caterpillar Electric Power. (2013). White Paper: Gas vs. Diesel - A Comparison of Gaseous- and Diesel-Fueled Generator Sets (Report No. LECW0011-01). This official vendor document, on page 3, explicitly states that natural gas engines have "significantly lower particulate matter (PM)" emissions than diesel engines, which directly corresponds to less carbon buildup.

3. Thomas, S. (2008). The difference between natural gas and oil and their pricing. OPEC Energy Review, 32(2), 119-140. This academic paper discusses the chemical differences between fuels, noting that the simple structure of methane (natural gas) leads to cleaner combustion with fewer byproducts like soot compared to the complex long-chain hydrocarbons in oil (Section 2.1, "The physical and chemical properties of oil and gas"). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-0237.2008.00151.x