Atmospheric methane

Earlier this week, a new satellite launched to track methane as it emanates from oil and gas fields across the world, hoping to expose major producers of the greenhouse pollutant and hold them accountable for their commitment to lower emissions.Prime Day Ain't That 'Green'MethaneSAT launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Monday as part of the Transporter-10 rideshare mission, along with 52 other payloads. The emissions monitor is designed to detect methane from 300 targets worldwide, which account for 80% of global…

Texas could add tens of thousands of jobs if the state seriously commits itself to driving down its methane emissions, finds a report from the Texas Climate Jobs Project released Wednesday. But state leadership has thus far refused funding from the federal government for anti-methane measures.Prime Day Ain't That 'Green'Methane lasts for less time in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but it’s much more intenseand can do some serious damage while it’s around. As we increasingly run out of time to right the ship and keep…

Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.Wastewater treatment plants are typically overlooked when it comes to reducing greenhouse gasses, but new research from Princeton University reveals the plants emit twice as much methane as previously thought.Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas and the treatment plants should be part of any plan to reduce emissions, according to the study released last week.“Wastewater treatment…

Nord Stream Pipelines 1 and 2 were likely sabotaged, according to the results of a preliminary Swedish investigation, which found evidence of the use of explosive devices. The pipelines cross the Baltic sea, delivering natural gas from Russia to Germany. Four suspicious leaks appeared in the pipelines at the end of September, and now Sweden’s findings bolster the widely held view that the pipelines were intentionally damaged.“We can confirm that there have been detonations at Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Swedish economic…

A gas flare at the Shell Chemical LP petroleum refinery in Norco, Louisiana.Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)The oil and gas industry may be seriously undercounting its greenhouse gas emissions. A technique used to burn off methane during production may be getting rid of less of the greenhouse gas than previously thought, a new study finds—which could mean that emissions from flaring could be as much as five times higher than previous estimates.A study published Thursday in Science looks at the efficiency of a process…

A leak from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, September 28.Photo: Swedish Coast Guard (AP)The war between Europe and Russia may be responsible for a new horror: a shockingly large release of damaging greenhouse gas.Earlier this week, three leaks in two natural gas pipelines, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Poland were discovered by officials, with monitoring stations logging big spikes in methane from the leaks. On Thursday, Swedish officials said that they…

Among all the other destruction war brings, there are also the environmental consequences. As conflict rages, nations intensify their focus on weapons and political strategy over climate mitigation and ecological regulation. And Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine is no exception.European Union sanctions and Russian retaliatory export bans seem to have left a Russian natural gas plant burning off its supply in mass quantity. Instead of exporting the fuel as liquified natural gas to Germany like usual, the plant at Portovya is…

It seems like magic: In millions of operations scattered around the globe (some big, some very small), waste is transformed into energy. Landfilled garbage, sewage, and farm effluent are processed into burnable biogas, which can be used as a substitute for natural gas, a fossil fuel. Unlike natural gas,which sits in limited supply deep underground, biogas is considered a renewable source of energy. As long as humans continue to poop and make trash, there can be more biogas. But, though it’s been hailed as an…