Tag: emissions
Belfast’s Catagen to create 100 jobs as it develops tech to cut emissions
The company is looking for engineers to help it work on technologies to enable the production of green hydrogen and e-fuels.
Read more: Belfast’s Catagen to create 100 jobs as it develops tech to cut emissions
New UN system will track methane emissions from space
The United Nations will launch a new high-tech space system to track the largest methane polluters, announced at global climate conference COP27 on Nov. 11. The UN-monitored platform, called the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), will provide “neutral and reliable” reporting statistics for the climate change causing gas. It’s set to launch in 2023.
Using satellite data, the system will monitor major emission events and publish figures on methane leaks. Governments, companies, and operators emitting the most methane will then be contacted by the international body to reduce their emissions, after which the data will be made available to the public. It’s the “first publicly available global system capable of transparently connecting methane detection to notification processes,” the United Nations explained.
While it’s a great step towards enhanced climate monitoring, there are no enforcement mechanisms to actually make emitters cease polluting beyond reporting. Actors will be encouraged to participate in UN mitigation processes. The system also received initial funding from the European Commission, the U.S. government, Global Methane Hub, and, notably, the Bezos Earth Fund.
Methane is the second biggest contributor to human-caused global warming, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), and one of the most concerning greenhouse gasses, trapping heat on the planet’s surface 28 times more than carbon dioxide does. It’s also steadily increasing in quantity each year, with 2021 setting the record amount of increase in parts per billion since 1983.
Even with such large quantities, discovering the cause of methane pollution isn’t as simple as it may seem. As explained by Mashable science reporter Mark Kaufman, “Methane can come from some disparate, indirect, awfully hard-to-monitor sources… Some elusive methane sources include ‘fugitive gases’ (like leaking methane from oil drilling sites) and methane from remote biological sources (like bacteria decomposing plants in wetlands). Atmospheric scientists can actually identify when methane comes from biological sources, as opposed to fossil fuels. But, scientists can’t easily distinguish between the types of biological sources.”
Scientists used a plethora of techniques to monitor the amount of methane entering the atmosphere. “To track and estimate these emissions, scientists collect emission data from world nations, observe emissions from space, take readings from aircraft, towers, and cars, and more,” Kaufman writes.
The United Nations MARS initiative combines these systems into a single tracking platform, using data from NASA and the European, German, and Italian space agencies. In the future, the system will also include data from private satellite operators, the Associated Press reported.
With the consolidation of several systems to detect methane and the United Nations backing, the MARS program is an optimistic monitoring effort in the upward battle against climate pollution.
U.S. to tighten methane emissions with new rules on oil and gas industry
Scientists Find ‘No Sign’ of Decrease in Carbon Emissions for 2022 – CNET
The Equipment Designed to Cut Methane Emissions is Failing
And yet…
Aerial surveys have documented huge amounts of methane wafting from oil and gas fields in the United States and beyond. It’s a problem the Biden administration has sought to attack in its recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act. One of the law’s provisions threatens fines of up to $1,500 per ton of methane released, to be imposed against the worst polluters. Perhaps most crucially, the law provides $1.55 billion in funding for companies to upgrade equipment to more effectively contain emissions — equipment that could, in theory, help the operators avoid fines.
Yet some of the best equipment for reducing emissions is already installed on oil and gas infrastructure…. And critics say such equipment is failing to capture much of the methane and casting doubt on whether the Biden plan would go far to correct the problem…. “Energy companies have made pledges, but I’ve got to tell you, I haven’t seen anything from a practical standpoint that makes me believe there’s any reality to reductions on the ground,” said Tim Doty, an environmental scientist and former air quality inspector for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “Maybe they’re making progress, but are they making enough progress to slow down climate change? I don’t think so….”
Sometimes, methane escapes because the equipment designed to contain it hasn’t been properly calibrated or maintained. Emissions aren’t immediately stopped once new equipment is installed. Companies must still invest in properly designing the system and continuously monitoring and maintaining the equipment. This requires money and staff, which experts say many companies neglect…. And hydrocarbons like methane, because they are corrosive, inevitably degrade the tanks, pipes and equipment that are supposed to contain them. “All this stuff is going to be prone to leak — that’s just the way it is,” said Coyne Gibson, who spent about two decades as an engineer inspecting oil and gas equipment. “That’s mechanics. And there’s there’s not really any way to avoid it….”
The staffing it would take to continuously survey the nation’s 3 million miles of natural gas pipelines would likely be prohibitively expensive.
“Emissions keep going up. We’re moving in the wrong direction…” Antoine Halff, chief analyst at energy analytics company Kayrros, tells the Associated Press. But he adds that “the potential, the conditions, to change course seem to be here.”
The article points out that America’s Environmental Protection Agency “is writing rules on methane reduction that will further detail what would be required of companies starting in 2024.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
TotalEnergies denies Greenpeace claim it underreported CO2 emissions
Renewables Are Holding Back the Emissions Tide
Global emissions in 2022 are projected to rise just a fraction of the amount they increased by last year, thanks in large part to a surge in renewables installation and electric vehicle use, a major global energy organization said this week.
Mercedes’ F1 team used biofuel to cut freight carbon emissions by 89 percent
Formula 1 isn’t exactly the most environmentally friendly organization, but it’s trying to become much greener. F1 is targeting net zero carbon emissions by the end of the decade and engine makers have been testing sustainable fuels over the last few years. F1 leaders are aiming to only use sustainable fuels in F1 cars by 2026. Race cars are only a small piece of the puzzle, though. Holding two dozen grands prix around the world requires shifting cars, parts and other materials between circuits, which generate more carbon emissions.
The Mercedes-AMG F1 team, however, has experimented with a way to reduce freight emissions. It used hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO 100) biofuel in 16 trucks as it moved operations between Spa, Zandvoort and Monza for the final three European grands prix of the season. Since those circuits are relatively close to each other, Mercedes didn’t need to rely on, say, air freight to ship cars and components. That gave the team a good opportunity to test the biofuel, given a total driving distance of around 1,400 kilometers (870 miles). However, the team noted it needed to use diesel fuel for the last 20km (just over 12 miles) due to supply issues.
An analysis found that using HVO 100 reduced freight emissions by 89 percent. Overall, Mercedes saved 44,091kg (97,204 pounds) of carbon dioxide emissions, compared with solely using diesel for both journeys. It noted HVO 100 is derived from vegetable oils, waste oils and fats and that it’s entirely free of fossil fuels. The fuel also produces less Nox and particulate emissions.
“Sustainability is at the heart of our operations. Trialing the use of biofuels for our land freight is another example of our commitment to embed sustainability in every decision we make and action we take,” Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff said. “We aim to be on the cutting edge of change and hope we can make the adoption of sustainable technology possible as we are all in the race towards a sustainable tomorrow.”
Other biofuels are being tested for use in Formula 1. Teams started using E10 biofuels (which contain 10 percent renewable ethanol) in F1 cars this season as part of the transition to fully sustainable fuels. While that’s some distance away from employing fully sustainable fuels, the use of E10 and HVO 100 are positive steps toward making motorsport much healthier for the environment.