Methane Leaks Wipe Out Any Climate Benefit Of Fracking, Satellite Observations Confirm
Satellite observations of huge oil and gas basins in East Texas and
North Dakota confirm staggering 9 and 10 percent leakage rates of
heat-trapping methane. “In conclusion,” researchers write,
“at the current methane loss rates, a net climate benefit on all time
frames owing to tapping unconventional resources in the analyzed tight
formations is unlikely.”
In short, fracking speeds up human-caused climate change, thanks to methane leaks alone. Remember, natural gas is mostly methane, (CH4), a super-potent greenhouse gas, which traps 86 times
as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year period. So even small leaks in the
natural gas production and delivery system can have a large climate
impact — enough to gut the entire benefit of switching from coal-fired
power to gas.
Back in February, we reported
that the climate will likely be ruined already well past most of our
lifespans by the time natural gas has a net climate benefit. That was
based on a study
in Science called “Methane Leaks from North American Natural Gas
Systems” reviewing more than 200 earlier studies. It concluded that
natural gas leakage rates were about 5.4 percent....
http://cwifl.com/methane-leaks-wipe-out-any-climate-benefit-of-fracking-satellite-observations-confirm/
