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
One thing I learned in research for my issue brief is that methane has a much higher social cost than carbon dioxide (EPA). I assumed the main reason we focus on CO2 is because those emissions are far larger by comparison so reducing them has a bigger impact. I did not realize how much more effective methane was at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
While it is true that most people are unwilling to do anything about climate change unless it affects them, we must try to ensure that everyone pitches in. Climate change effects everyone, some more than others, and people need to be educated about this. I appreciated that you included the harmful effects of methane, so people have more context and a better idea of why this should matter to them.
It is realistic but somewhat pessimistic to focus on finding ways to reduce the impact of emissions without people changing their lifestyle. The best technological innovations or other solutions would find ways to decrease the economic cost of decreasing emissions. However, we cannot wait until this technology develops further to start cutting back on emissions, and (particularly in developed countries) we must persuade people to sacrifice economic gain in the short run to prevent long term economical and sociological damage. It is so crucial to keep global warming under 2°C and limiting global warming to 1.5°C has much greater benefits (ScienceNews); the 0.5°C difference has a larger impact than scientists originally thought. Limiting global warming to this amount cannot be done without considerable changes to the energy industry of the largest emitters.
Finally, I found it fascinating that emissions from the oil and gas industry could be reduced by 50% just by monitoring and holding them accountable. Companies could ignore regulations and other laws if there was not an easy way to find evidence, they were breaking them. This satellite should be well worth the investment.
https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange/social-cost-carbon_.html
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/global-warming-limit-degrees-ipcc-climate-change
Emily, you’re so right about the misconception people have about CO2. I always thought it was the most detrimental and most effective because it’s really the only one talked about. I think it’s so important that the other three ARE talked about because they are still major contributors to climate change, and maybe by making people more aware of their effects (because they may not know that their lifestyle is contributing those gases) they can try to change their lifestyles.