Journal article
Assessment of methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas supply chain
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.361(6398), pp.186-188
07/13/2018
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/106890
PMCID: PMC6223263
PMID: 29930092
Abstract
Methane emissions from the U.S. oil and natural gas supply chain were estimated by using ground-based, facility-scale measurements and validated with aircraft observations in areas accounting for ~30% of U.S. gas production. When scaled up nationally, our facility-based estimate of 2015 supply chain emissions is 13 ± 2 teragrams per year, equivalent to 2.3% of gross U.S. gas production. This value is ~60% higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inventory estimate, likely because existing inventory methods miss emissions released during abnormal operating conditions. Methane emissions of this magnitude, per unit of natural gas consumed, produce radiative forcing over a 20-year time horizon comparable to the CO
from natural gas combustion. Substantial emission reductions are feasible through rapid detection of the root causes of high emissions and deployment of less failure-prone systems.
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Details
- Title
- Assessment of methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas supply chain
- Creators
- Ramón A Alvarez - Environmental Defense Fund, Austin, TX, USA. ralvarez@edf.orgDaniel Zavala-Araiza - Environmental Defense Fund, Austin, TX, USADavid R Lyon - Environmental Defense Fund, Austin, TX, USADavid T Allen - University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USAZachary R Barkley - The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USAAdam R Brandt - Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USAKenneth J Davis - The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USAScott C Herndon - Aerodyne Research Inc., Billerica, MA, USADaniel J Jacob - Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USAAnna Karion - National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USAEric A Kort - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USABrian K Lamb - Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USAThomas Lauvaux - The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USAJoannes D Maasakkers - Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USAAnthony J Marchese - Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USAMark Omara - Environmental Defense Fund, Austin, TX, USAStephen W Pacala - Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USAJeff Peischl - NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USAAllen L Robinson - Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USAPaul B Shepson - Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USAColm Sweeney - NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USAAmy Townsend-Small - University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USASteven C Wofsy - Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USASteven P Hamburg - Environmental Defense Fund, Austin, TX, USA
- Publication Details
- Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.361(6398), pp.186-188
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Publisher
- United States
- Grant note
- 9999-NIST / Intramural NIST DOC
- Identifiers
- 99900546983101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article