Cutting methane
leakage rates from natural gas systems to less than 1 percent of total production would ensure that the climate impacts of natural gas are lower than coal or diesel fuel over any time horizon.
Five of those studies are featured in the following EID graphic illustrating the most prominent research showing low
leakage rates from U.S. natural gas systems.
Unfortunately, I believe that the rest of the world on average will have higher methane
leakage rates from the hydrofracking and transmission operations than for those in the USA; which I believe, will significantly increase methane concentrations in the atmosphere over the next several decades.
Otherwise,
leakage rates from natural gas alone may be overestimated, he said.
Not exact matches
One of the big takeaway
from the big UT Austin / Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) methane
leakage study released today is emissions
rates are actually lower in some parts of the production process than initially thought.
Nevertheless, write the authors,
leakage rates in the production phase vary greatly
from study to study, with one Cornell University Study placing the figure at 9 percent.
Stefan Schwietzke, a research associate at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., said Howarth may be overestimating methane emissions
from shale gas because his 12 percent
leakage rate estimate is based mostly on a single satellite study.
Methane
leakage rates can and probably will be lowered substantially in the future.One study found that 70 percent of total
leakage from 250 wells in Fort Worth, Texas, was occurring at only 10 percent of the wells, suggesting significant potential for low - cost, high - impact intervention.
It takes a far, far higher
leakage rate to completely negate the benefits of switching, and even then you'd wind up coming out ahead
from the switch a few decades after you stop using fossil fuels.
From this value you can show that even at a huge and unprofitable 14 percent
leakage rate, the methane still offers a factor of two reduction in greenhouse effect compared to coal.
However, because of the high global warming potential of methane (CH4, the major component of NG), climate benefits
from NG use depend on system
leakage rates.
And so, it is likely that scientific conclusions about methane
leakage rates will continue to change
from study to study in the next few years.
According to a rough calculation by Stephen Pacala of Princeton University, if all the world's gas producers attained BP's
leakage rate of 0.2 %, instead of an industry average of over 2 %, it would prevent 100m tonnes or so of methane
from entering the atmosphere every year.
The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal today reported on a new study by the University of Texas that found
leakage rates of methane
from natural gas fracking operations are lower than previously stated by US EPA.
Therefore, actual methane
leakage rates into the atmosphere
from natural gas need to be based on the sum of
leakage from all of these sources that include production, transmission, and end use.
Researchers noted during a webinar presentation of the study's preliminary findings in July 2017 that it was the first time long - term continuous sampling of methane
from natural gas activities had occurred, and that most existing studies that use aircraft data only sample for a limited number of days, usually only one to two, and often show a higher
leakage rate.
Estimates of
leakage rates for action under the Kyoto Protocol ranged
from 5 to 20 % as a result of a loss in price competitiveness, but these
leakage rates were viewed as being very uncertain.
Recent standards
from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will substantially reduce
leakage from natural gas systems, but to help slow the
rate of global warming and improve air quality, further action by states and EPA should directly address fugitive methane
from new and existing wells and equipment.
Some of the research found lower
rates of
leakage — though the lowest estimates tended to come
from estimates provided by industry, or
from examinations of the best - performing wells.
Tabulate the CO2 exhalation
rates over the last 15,000 years
from (i) terrestrial and submarine volcanism (including maars, gas vents, geysers and springs) and calc - silicate mineral formation, and (ii) CH4 oxidation to CO2 derived
from CH4 exhalation by terrestrial and submarine volcanism, natural hydrocarbon
leakage from sediments and sedimentary rocks, methane hydrates, soils, microbiological decay of plant material, arthropods, ruminants and terrestrial methanogenic bacteria to a depth of 4 km.