Regulating methane, which is leaking faster than thought

Methane has been in the news this week:

1. Methane Leaks in Natural-Gas Supply Chain Far Exceed Estimates, Study Says

“A little-noted portion of the chain of pipelines and equipment that brings natural gas from the field into power plants and homes is responsible for a surprising amount of methane emissions, according to a study published on Tuesday. Natural-gas gathering facilities, which collect from multiple wells, lose about 100 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, about eight times as much as estimates used by the Environmental Protection Agency … The newly discovered leaks, if counted in the E.P.A. inventory, would increase its entire systemwide estimate by about 25 percent.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/science/methane-leaks-in-natural-...

2. Methane Leaks May Greatly Exceed Estimates, Report Says

“A device commonly used to measure the methane that leaks from industrial sources may greatly underestimate those emissions, said an inventor of the technology that the device relies on.”

The report found that the Bacharach Hi Flow Sampler, the methane sensor in use around the world, can greatly underestimate methane levels in some situations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/science/methane-leaks-may-greatly...

3. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas (causes more global warming) than carbon dioxide. 30 times more, by one measure. Over half of the methane released into Earth's atmosphere is anthropogenic, not natural. Within anthropogenic methane emissions, the two biggest contributors are livestock and the energy industry, and the latter is growing, because of the natural gas industry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_methane

4. E.P.A. Announces New Rules to Cut Methane Emissions

“The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed the first federal regulations requiring the nation’s oil and gas industry to cut emissions of methane as part of an expanding and increasingly aggressive effort to combat climate change. … The rules were designed to ensure that oil and gas companies reduced waste and sold more gas that would otherwise be lost, while protecting the climate and the health of the public. … The proposals — which would require drillers to stop leaks and capture lost gas even in wells intended to extract only oil — would cost the industry up to $420 million to carry out by 2025, but that there would be savings, including reduced waste, of as much as $550 million during that period, bringing a net benefit of as much as $150 million. …

The administration has set a goal of reducing methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. The latest proposed regulations are expected to reduce methane emissions by 20 to 30 percent. … Oil and gas companies oppose the proposals, calling them unnecessary and costly, while environmental advocacy groups say they do not go far enough because they apply mainly to new wells and not most existing ones.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/us/epa-announces-new-rules-to-cut...

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MJ on August 21, 2015 at 3:56pm

Not to worry paul  - I have installed bunson burners on the asses of all of my livestock - no worries.  I am trying my darndest to be "green".  Cant do much with the woodland creatures though.  You get the O/G companies to stop damaging the environment and maybe we all can be greeny wenies together!  Do you even know what it takes to live off the land?  Talk to an amish family.  Get away from your glowing rectangular devices and  try it squinty boy. 

Permalink Reply by Joe on August 22, 2015 at 1:01am

That's not very nice.

Permalink Reply by craig on August 22, 2015 at 2:00am

If you knew paul's long history of posting here, you would understand.

Permalink Reply by Barry D on August 22, 2015 at 1:47pm

Are you you saying that we would understand that he is a radical leftist nut job ?

Yeah, well we already knew that.

Permalink Reply by MJ on August 23, 2015 at 1:25pm

What is not very nice is "educated" individuals like paul using selective media to promote an agenda that is entirely not true and convinces fresh minds that O/G is destroying our planet.  This is our young people who will take over as caretakers of our country and our world - minds poisoned with the false hope that wind and solar energy can replace fossil fuels right now.  I sincerely hope that will happen in the near future - but it NOT ECONOMICAL at this time and people need to be made aware of that as it is their tax dollars that have been used and are being spent on ridiculously expensive alternative energies.  I encourage you  and anyone else with some common sense to watch the films "gasland" and "fracknation" for a synopsis of what has been going on in the media as far as O/G and Americas energy independence is concerned.

IMHO

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on February 15, 2016 at 1:57pm

That's WAY nicer than Pauline deserves

Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on August 24, 2015 at 1:44am
On those Bunsons MJ - are there Methane sensors, solar panels, battery packs and electronic spark ignition included ?

Wondering how often you have to charge tha batteries MJ especially at night and on cloudy days ?

What power source do you plug into when charging up your battery packs ?

The grid (supplied by Natural Gas burning generators) or perhaps you've a waterfall on your property and water driven turbines you can use ? Windmills may get you over a few humps in the event of no sun or waterfall - but the wind doesn't blow all the time either does it ? Seems to me you need the grid for standby no matter what.

Hmmmmmmm - tuff nuts to crack.
Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on August 24, 2015 at 9:01pm
Maybe if you would build miniature windmills in a wagon hitched to each head of livestock that they each would pull along behind them to recharge their battery pack ? Oh yeah, forgot that would only work when the wind was blowing - thought (for awhile) I was on to something big.
Permalink Reply by Barry D on August 24, 2015 at 3:46pm

MJ,

This was a great reply.

Ever since I read it I have had this image of livestock with little burners on their butts. Like the old coal lamps on the helmets of coal miners.

Hilarious!

I can't get the image out of my mind.

At least it's enjoyable.

Permalink Reply by Barry D on August 24, 2015 at 3:51pm

MJ,

How about the image at night?

A dark pasture, all is quiet. The stillness broken only by the occasional flare and associated whooft!.

Ah Ha, ha, ha, ha, hee, hee, hee, ho, ho, ho etc.

Thanks MJ

Thanks Paul

Permalink Reply by Harry E. Rose on August 25, 2015 at 3:01am
Hey Guys, Can you vision down the road when the government passes a law that humans have to stick a tube up their but to pipe the gas to a burner that hangs on their belt buckle so you can see where you are going at night in order for them two pass another LAW to do away with flashlights to eliminate the need for batteries because they contain acid which causes corrosion.
Permalink Reply by craig on August 22, 2015 at 2:18am

There are too many variables not being taken into account for anyone (or any computer model) to come close to understanding the whole picture of methane releases. Great strides have also been made in the last few years in capturing fugitive methane at gas wells and infrastructure. The information is out there if one is so inclined to round out their education. 

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28898223

There is nothing wrong with holding the industry's feet to the fire, but both sides of any story need to be studied to understand the subject. Paul doesn't see it that way though. He is as bad as the gas companies were 15 years ago in being closed minded.

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