North America Methane Leaks Higher Than Previous Estimates

Despite the higher levels of methane emissions than previously estimated, using gas to generate electricity versus coal still reduces the total greenhouse effect over 100 years, as coal burning releases a significant amount of carbon dioxide and mining coal releases methane.

The analysis’ most surprising find was that fueling trucks and buses with natural gas instead of diesel probably raises global temperatures. For natural gas to beat diesel, the gas industry would have to reduce leaks to less than the EPA’s current estimate, which the analysis finds “quite improbable.”

The non-profit organization Novim, formed in 2007 by scientists and engineers with the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, funded the research through a grant from the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. The foundation asked Novim to examine 20 years of methane studies to explain the wide variation in existing estimates, Marilu Hastings, sustainability program director at the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, said in a Feb. 13 press release.

“Hopefully, this will help resolve the ongoing methane debate.”

The analysis does not attribute percentages of excess emission to gas, oil, coal, agriculture, or landfills as emission rates for most sources are uncertain.

Natural gas flaring has attracted growing attention in the United States as unconventional oil and gas drilling in plays such as the Bakken in North Dakota as resulted in a surge of gas flaring. North Dakota oil production hit a record high in September 2013, Reuters reported.

Producers are flaring gas due to lack of pipeline infrastructure. From May 2012 to May 2013, North Dakota producers flared off approximately 30 percent of gas coming out of the ground, Scientific American reported in September 2013.