And since methane is not hidden and odor, it can be difficult and expensive to monitor it and prevent it from getting out. As a result, researchers and environmental workers say the industry is potentially releasing more than the government’s estimates.
Methane also goes out of coal mines – compared to the release of natural gas, more and more methane, which is mostly methane. Amber, a clean energy think tank, placed this great visual interactive together in which it shows how it happens.
The short version is that the methane is embedded in coal reserves, and as soon as the miners need to expose the coal sevenments, the gas escapes, and the coal mine lasts for a long time after reaching the end of its operating life. Since coal miners are focused on extracting coal, they often do not look at how much methane they are leaving, nor regulators pay more attention.
According to Amber, the emissions of coal mines can be 60 % higher than the official stature. The abandoned coal mines are particularly harmful, which is more excluded from abandoned oils and gas wells. In addition, every year, coal mines around the world have the same effect on the climate of methane, as India’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.
In panic to the gaps in the statistics, some non -profit people have tried to get a better picture of ground -based sensors, aerial monitors, and even satellites. In 2024, the Environmental Defense Fund launched methanestics, which contains devices that can measure methane output from small, unprecedented sources in a wide area.
Ritesh Gautam, the central scientist at Mathenees, explained that the project has revealed some major neglected methane amators. Since the launch, methanesty has found that in the United States, most of the emission of methane does not come from just some large oil and gas drilling sites, but also from many small wells that are excluded less than 100kg per hour.
“Minor wells produce only 6 to 7 percent (oil and gas) in the United States, but they account for about 50 percent of the emissions related to US oil and gas production,” Gautam said. “These facilities only produce less than 15 barrels of oil daily, but then more than half a million of them are scattered around the United States.”
There are ways to prevent methane emission, but we are not using them
The good news is that many tools to keep methane from the energy industry are already available. According to the IEA Matheen report, “about 70 70 percent of methane emissions from the foam fuel sector can be avoided by existing technologies, often at a low cost.”
The oil and gas industry can mean, meaning as easy as using better fitting in pipelines to limit leaks and install the methane capture system. And since methane is fuel, sales of rescued methane can meet the cost of upgrading hardware. Giving it into the environment is a waste of money and aid in warming.
