Methane pollution has economic and effective solutions that are not used

And since methane is invisible and odorless, it can be difficult and expensive to monitor him and prevent him from going out. As a result, environmental researchers and activists say that the industry is probably releasing much more than the official government estimates show.

Methane also extinguishes from the coal mines – more methane, in reality, than is released during the production of natural gas, which after all is mainly methane. EMBER, a Think Tank of clean energy, put this together Great interactive visual showing how this happens.

The short version is that the methane is incorporated into the coal deposits and while the miners dig to expose the charcoal seams, the gas escapes and continues to do so long after a coal mine reaches the end of its operational life. Since coal miners focus on the extraction of coal, they often do not keep track of how much methane are emitting, nor the regulators pay close attention.

According to EMBER, methane emissions from coal mines could be 60 percent higher than official counts. The abandoned coal mines are particularly harmful, emitting more than oil wells and abandoned gases. Added, the methane emitted by coal mines all over the world every year has the same heating effect on the climate of the total emissions of anDronedia annual carronage of India.

Alarmed by gaps in the data, some non -profit organizations have taken responsibility for trying to obtain a better picture of methane emissions on a global scale using ground sensors, air monitors e also satellites. In 2024, the environmental defense fund launched Methanesat, which transports tools that can measure the production of methane from small and discreet sources on a large area.

Ritesh GautamThe main scientist of Methanesat explained that the project revealed some important neglected methane emitters. From the launch, Methanesat has discovered that in the United States, most methane emissions do not come only from some large oil and gas perforation sites, but by many Small wells that emit less than 100 kilograms At that time.

“Marginal wells produce only from 6 to 7 percent [oil and gas] In the United States, but represent almost 50 percent of emissions related to the production of US oil and gas in a disproportionate way, “said Gautam.” These structures only produce less than 15 barrels of oil equivalent per day, but then there are more than half a million of these just scattered in the United States. “

There are ways to stop methane emissions, but we are not using them

The good news is that many of the tools to contain methane of the energy industry are already available. “About 70 percent of methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector could be avoided with existing technologies, often at low cost”, according to the report of methane IEA.

For the oil and gas industry, this could mean something simple as the use of best fittings in conduct to limit the losses and the installation of methane acquisition systems. And since methane is a fuel, the sale of saved methane can compensate for the cost of updating the hardware. Letting go to the atmosphere is a waste of money and a contribution to heating.