Methane is almost thirty times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2. SRON researchers therefore scan the entire globe for large methane leaks. A landfill in Buenos Aires turns out to emit tens of tons of methane per hour, comparable to the climate impact of one and a half million cars. They also detect large emissions from landfills in India and Pakistan, identifying new low-hanging fruit in the battle against climate change. Publication on August 10th in Science Advances.
Methane is the second largest anthropogenic contributor to the greenhouse effect, after CO2. This is due to its large Global Warming Potential (GWP-100): over 100 years, methane is per ton almost thirty times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. When methane is released through human activity—oil installations, coal mines, cattle sheds, or landfills—it can be made less harmful by flaring it and thereby converting it to CO2. Even better, if you capture it you can put it to good use in your boiler or stove. Researchers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research have now used satellite data to locate a number of landfills that are low-hanging fruit in the fight against climate change. Four landfills in Argentina, India, and Pakistan emit several or even tens of tons of methane per hour.
The SRON methane research team used the Dutch space instrument Tropomi to identify cities with high methane emissions. Buenos Aires, Delhi, Lahore, and Mumbai stood out, with urban emissions on average twice as high as estimated in global inventories. Next, the team asked the Canadian satellite GHGSat to zoom in, which revealed that landfills are responsible for a large fraction of emissions in these cities. The landfill in Buenos Aires emits 28 tons of methane per hour, comparable to the climate impact of one and a half million cars*. The three other landfills are responsible for resp. three, six and ten tons of methane per hour, which still amounts to the impact of 130,000 to 500,000 cars.
‘Methane is odorless and colorless, so leaks are notoriously difficult to detect,’ says lead author Bram Maasakkers (SRON). ‘But satellites are ideally-suited for this. With Tropomi we detect super-emitters that pump large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. That is painful to watch because you can solve it with relatively little effort. You could for example separate and compost the organic waste, which would drastically reduce methane production. And even in the case of mixed waste, you can still collect or flare the methane produced. Methane has a lifetime of only about ten years in the atmosphere, so if we act now, we will quickly see results in the form of less global warming. Of course, reducing methane emissions is not enough, we also need to limit CO2, but it does slow down near-term climate change.’
*Based on the estimate from the American Environment Protection Agency (EPA) of 4.6 tons CO2 that a typical passenger vehicle annually emits. LINK
Original Article: Methane satellites find landfills with the same climate impact as several hundred thousand cars
More from: Netherlands Institute for Space Research
The Latest Updates from Bing News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Methane satellites
- Methane Detection Takes a Leap Forward with AI-Enhanced Satellite Technology
Climate change intensifies and now Kyoto University and Geolabe, U. S., have invented a new AI-based method to observe methane detection emissions from all over the globe. This paper written and ...
- Global methane emissions automatically detected in satellite imagery using AI
As global temperatures rise to record highs, the pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions has intensified. Methane is particularly targeted because its significant global warming potential in the ...
- From iPods to Space: Tony Fadell's quest to combat methane
ARMENPRESS. Over the past two decades, discussions on global warming have increasingly emphasized the critical need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, ...
- AI to help curb greenhouse gas emissions (IMAGE)
Methane plume emitting from oil and gas facility. AI to automatically detect global methane emissions in satellite imagery.
- STRIVE project to study ozone, atmospheric layers among finalists for next-generation NASA satellite
A project led by the University of Washington to better understand our atmosphere’s complexity is a finalist for NASA’s next generation of Earth-observing satellites. STRIVE will receive $5 million to ...
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Methane from landfills
- Washington implements methane reduction regulations for landfills
In 2022, the Washington Legislature set a target to reduce the amount of organic materials landfilled by 75 percent by 2030. The legislature also directed the Department of Ecology to adopt ...
- You Can Now Power a Jet Airplane With Gas Leftover From a Landfill
One man's trash is another man's....jet fuel? The post You Can Now Power a Jet Airplane With Gas Leftover From a Landfill appeared first on MotorBiscuit.
- Marathon Co. Solid Waste plans to turn harmful methane gas into a renewable energy source
Have you ever driven by a landfill and gotten a big, stinky whiff? It actually doesn’t smell that way most of the time.
- New Energy Vision Report Offers First Data-Driven, Cost-Effective Roadmap for Cutting U.S. Methane Emissions 30 Percent by 2030
The non-profit Energy Vision published its report, “Meeting the Methane Challenge: How the U.S. Can Reach Its 2030 Goal.” The title refers to the Global ...
- Landfills release millions of tons of carbon dioxide. Washington State is responding with new regulations.
Landfills generate millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. The Washington Department of Ecology announced new regulations on landfills on Monday.