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A 10-year-long study of the U.S. oil and gas industry reveals leak of potent greenhouse gas methane amounting to 13 million metric tons per year.
The amount seen in the study is 60 percent higher than the previous estimates given by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency previously placed the methane leaks from the natural gas industry at only about 8 million metric tons yearly.
Essentially. the amount of methane loss due to leakage would have been enough to power 10 million homes in the country.
Natural Gas Vs. Coal Fuel
The findings from the present study could invalidate claims that use of natural gas is friendlier to the environment than the use of coal fuels. In comparison. the environmental effect of these methane leaks in 2015 reached the same level of the climate impact of carbon dioxide emissions from all U.S. coal-fired power plants combined in the same year.
The leak was mostly produced from malfunctioning gas equipment and some of the industry`s abnormal operating procedures.
Colm Sweeney. the co-author of the study and an atmospheric scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration`s Global Monitoring Division. said that the findings recommend devising strategic projects that would end accidental methane seeping.
