METHANE CLOUDS SEEN FROM SPACE: The country’s largest methane “hot spot,” the size of Delaware and verified by NASA and University of Michigan scientists in October, is the most dramatic example of what scientists describe as a $2 billion leak problem: the loss of methane from energy-production sites nationwide. When oil, gas or coal are taken from the ground, a little methane — the main ingredient in natural gas — often escapes along with it, drifting into the atmosphere, where it contributes to climate change. Methane accounts for 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and the biggest source of it — nearly 30 percent — is the oil and gas industry, government figures show. All told, oil and gas producers lose 8 million metric tons of methane a year, enough to provide power to every household in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:31:41 +0000
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