Fuel gas

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…

Gas gathering plant on a hilltop at the Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon storage facility near the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles, in January 2017. Photo: Jae C. Hong (AP)A proposal recently passed by the California Air Resources Board has officially banned natural gas furnaces and heaters. The unanimous decision aims to phase out the sale of natural gas space and water heaters by 2030, NPR reported. California is the first state in the country to pass such a ban.“We need to take every action we…

A huge oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico, which caused a hellish fire in the ocean last year, has been releasing massive amounts of planet-warming methane. Reuters reported last week on satellite data that shows that the Ku-Maloob-Zaap oilfield leaked 44,064 tons of methane into the atmosphere over the course of 24 days in August. That’s the equivalent of 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide—what 653,106 homes emit by using electricity over the course of one year. Researchers with the European Space Agency found that the…

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…

One of the artificial leaves floating on the River Cam near the Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge.Photo: Virgil AndreiWhat if we could copy how plants create their own energy—and use it to power our world?In a study published last week in Nature, researchers say they’ve created a prototype of a device with the potential to do just that. The team from the University of Cambridge described a floating solar “leaf,” which uses the power of the sun and the water to create fuel.“Our artificial leaves work similarly to plant…

Firefighters search in the debris of homes destroyed by a gas incident in Massachusetts in 2018; one person was killed, while more than 80 fires destroyed buildings in three towns.Photo: Charles Krupa (AP)Leaks from the pipelines that supply gas to your home and stove are happening more often than you may think—with deadly consequences. A new report from a group of environmental nonprofits finds that, over the past decade, there were around 2,600 reported cases of methane leaks in the U.S. gas pipeline system, adding up…

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…

Cows on a farm in in Pretty Prairie, Kansas.Photo: Alice Mannette/The Hutchinson News (AP)Hightemperatures in Kansas last weekend killed thousands of cattle, authorities confirmed this week, after footage of rows of cattle corpses was widely shared online.A spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment told multiple media outlets that the agency had gotten reports of at least 2,000 cattle deaths that happened over the weekend of June 11-12 in the southwestern part of the state. The agency said that the…