"Fugitive emissions" refers to pollution or gases that escape or are released accidentally from industrial equipment, such as pipes or vents, instead of being properly contained or controlled. These emissions can contribute to air pollution and have harmful effects on the environment and human health.
Full definition
The mega-leak has drawn attention to the broader problem of
fugitive emissions from natural gas production, processing, pipeline and storage infrastructure across the country.
Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by replacing inefficient wood - fired stoves with renewable, efficient biogas stoves, and by
reducing fugitive emissions of methane from the manure.
In many ways this is a similar problem to
fugitive emissions in fracking operations, except instead of methane escaping into the atmosphere you have poo's bitumen contaminating the forest and killing wildlife.
That's another strike against those, including a Cornell academic, who argue that so -
called fugitive emissions from unconventional natural gas production offset the emissions advantages natural gas has over coal in power generation.
California's Bay Area Air Quality Management District changed its approach after studies showed leaks from oil refineries in the area — known
as fugitive emissions — were likely underrepresented in emission factors.
Emissions are falling as industry develops technologies and methods to
capture fugitive emissions — which can be used to power field equipment or that can be marketed.
Our analysis shows that even after adjusting
for fugitive emissions, which is around 0.4 % for the US (EDGAR 4.1 / 2005 estimate), there is a difference of more than 100 million tons between IEA and UNFCCC numbers for the year 2006.
«We'd be lucky to get you five,» partially because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may further clamp down on
such fugitive emissions, reducing their value as offsets.
Robert Howarth, a researcher at Cornell University who has been critical of natural gas because of fears
about fugitive emissions, released a statement saying the study showed that natural gas could not bridge the gap between coal - fired power and renewables.
The real problem in
weighing fugitive emissions from gas and oil wells and pipelines is that there is simply no reliable source of data — at all.
Fugitive emissions like methane challenge pollution control experts, because they do not come from a more easily controllable «point source», like a smokestack or process pipe, which could be fitted with technology to capture or clean up the gas.
The greenhouse gas inventory it filed with the UN
suggests fugitive emissions from the oil and gas sector made up a third of its total footprint in 2014.
In 2018, BC will expand its carbon tax to
cover fugitive emissions and forest slash - pile burning and raise the tax by $ 5 per year.
The tar sands in Canada are an environmental disaster in other ways, but the incremental emissions of greenhouse gases are small compared to the far greater threat of massive coal expansion in China, or
potential fugitive emission of methane from fracking, or massive deforestation in Indonesia and Latin America, or any number of other major sources of greenhouse gases.
Hydrogen sulfide is a toxic pollutant, and it is also highly corrosive, so it can corrode drilling equipment and
increase fugitive emissions of other pollutants such as methane.
Avoiding unnecessary flaring,
reducing fugitive emissions, and avoiding the dirtiest sources altogether would help minimize shale oil's emissions.
And it remains to be seen whether natural gas delivers environmental benefits — such as reduced emissions of carbon dioxide when burned — given that it in itself is a potent greenhouse gas if it escapes during drilling or pipeline operations, so -
called fugitive emissions.
In addition to vented emissions, methane losses can occur from leaks (also referred to
as fugitive emissions) in all parts of the infrastructure, from connections between pipes and vessels, to valves and equipment.
We value feedback and constructive criticisms from experts like you, and accordingly we have taken a look at the adjustments to UNFCC's CO2 numbers for IPCC Categories IB1 and IB2
for fugitive emissions.
In the near term, we are working to increase energy efficiency while reducing flaring, venting and
fugitive emissions in our operations.
«We decided, based on that information, that we needed additional ways to better identify
fugitive emissions and to shine a bright light on those fugitive emissions,» says Eric Stevenson, the district's director of meteorology, measurement and rules.
He estimates that
fugitive emissions are only 10 percent of what Howarth and Ingraffea maintain, and that shale gas would indeed be a good replacement for home heating oil and for coal used in power plants.
«This research supports other recent findings suggesting that
fugitive emissions from fossil - fuel industrial activity actually are the largest methane source.
Fugitive emissions: Unintended leaks of gas from the processing, transmission, and / or transportation of fossil fuels.
But SoCal Gas is under no such obligation, because the Porter Ranch plume is comprised of «
fugitive emissions», which are «those emissions which are unintentional and could not reasonably pass through a stack, chimney, vent, or other functionally - equivalent opening,» according to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which oversees the state's cap - and - trade system.
Even assuming no leakage from
fugitive emissions, EOR produces 1.41 tons of CO2 emissions for every ton injected underground.
«There are ways to capture
those fugitive emissions and I quite agree that we should,» he told the Tyee.
Yes I can say Muller misstated the difference in emissions between coal, oil and gas, because the other components of life cycle emissions (such as
the fugitive emissions you referred to) are small compared with emissions from fuel combustion.
Anthony Hobley, CEO Carbon Tracker: «
Fugitive emissions are on the run in the U.S. — regulators, investors and industry leaders are all out to ensure gas can demonstrate it has a climate advantage over coal»
These «
fugitive emissions» must be kept below 3 % for gas to maintain its climate benefit over coal, so minimising them should be a high priority for the industry.
It can deliver better outcomes than coal, but gas must continue to work on reducing
its fugitive emissions and there is a possibility that if it reaches too large a share of the energy mix then in the longer run this could still be incompatible with a 2 ⁰ C outcome,» said Mark Fulton advisor to Carbon Tracker and a co-author of the report.
«
Fugitive emissions are on the run in the U.S. — regulators, investors and industry leaders are all out to ensure gas can demonstrate it has a climate advantage over coal,» said Anthony Hobley, CEO of Carbon Tracker.
It can deliver better outcomes than coal, but gas must continue to work on reducing
its fugitive emissions and there is a possibility that if it reaches too large a share of the energy mix then in the longer run this could still be incompatible with a 2 ⁰ C outcome»