Methane is one of the four greenhouse gases, the second largest emitter. Since it is so abundant, it’s a popular and an attractive source of energy, one that can be extracted below ground and under the sea floor. While natural gases, like methane, burn cleaner than other fossil fuels, their environmental impact can and is still detrimental.
Where methane has proven substantially impactful is natural gas leaks, which happen during its production, delivery, and use through fracking and other exploration sights, as well as faulty pipes. It’s more powerful than carbon, and is responsible for about a fifth of human induced climate change. When a methane leak occurs, it traps 80 times the amount of heat carbon dioxide does into the atmosphere. It impacts all ecosystems, as well as human health. Not only does it directly affect these groups, but it indirectly affects them as well through its constant heating of the atmosphere. And we all know about the detriments of the rising global temperature. What I’ve noticed time and time again is that people seem to care more about the environment when it is affecting them. So human health wise:
minor exposure to methane can cause: dizziness, nausea, heavy breathing, and fatigue.
major exposure to methane can cause: suffocation, loss of consciousness, memory problems, lack of coordination, and more.
It can also hurt us economically through paying for these large leaks. Also, though a bit of a reach, the decrease in wildlife decreases amounts of jobs in hunting and fishing, which hurts consumers like supermarkets and restaurants, and so on.
Onto the effects on wildlife and ecosystems: they’re mostly affected by leaks, noise and light disturbances, road construction, and networks of pipelines. Species such as bald eagles, prairie dogs, and deer specifically have shown the greatest decline due to this greenhouse gas.
Though there are methane leak detectors present as of now, they aren’t as effective as they could or should be given that that leaks are still a substantial contributor to climate change. So is there a solution? well kind of… we’re still getting there. Scientists and engineers have created a prototype satellite that can detect methane leaks from space way faster than the technology used for it now can.
It is known as the MethaneSAT, which the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) scheduled for release by 2021. This satellite will scope the entire globe for methane leaks, and if successful, can reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industries by 50%.
A major problem with our knowledge of methane emissions now is that companies either don’t disclose how much methane they release, or are dishonest about how much of it they release, making it harder to know how much we actually have to reduce our use. Only about 3% of companies involving methane use out out a public quantitative report about their usage. If more companies are transparent about the methane usage, the MethaneSAT will be even more effective in locating and detecting methane leaks.
As of now, it will be able to regularly oversee the 50 major oil and gas stations, accounting for more than 80% of the production. With a little more time and money, we are looking at some monumental changes. And though it is a multimillion dollar project, most of the funds have already been raised considering this satellite is “entirely feasible”.
I just think this is super fascinating. We like in a technological world, and I feel like so much of the time we take advantage of what we can do with technology. There are so many useless things created when the parts and funds can be allocated to life and world changing machinery like the MethaneSAT. Reading about this on the rise product gave me a little bit of hope, and I think reading about something that’s so helpful and so feasible may encourage more people to be on board with it. The more we can find ways to reduce the impacts of climate change while maintaining a similar lifestyle and economy, the more people will support them.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/12/new-satellite-to-spot-planet-warming-industrial-methane-leaks
https://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Misc/Methane%20Fact%20Sheet_updates.pdf
https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/chemicals-and-contaminants/natural-gas
https://www.edf.org/climate-impacts-methane-emissions