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Solving methane mysteries with satellite imagery

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Re: Solving methane mysteries with satellite imagery

#21

Post by jofer »

jofer wrote: post #3
28304283409234 wrote: post #2

Meanwhile: https://cleantechnica.com/2024/05/03/fossil-fuel-companies-b... Looks like another arms race. :-(

That's around flaring, which is a bit different. Energy companies are very likely to buy the same data. Detecting methane leaks is a _good_ thing for them, both from an "avoiding fines" perspective and also from a "this is infrastructure we _want_ to fix" perspective. Banning routine flaring is a very good thing that needs to happen in more places. You _do_ still need to flare. There are lots of time periods where it…

Edit: Apparently that's the airborne equivalent of Tanager, not Tanager. (Same instrument design, but one is on a plane and one just launched into space not-too-long-ago.)

Re: Solving methane mysteries with satellite imagery

#22

Post by Tyr42 »

lucb1e wrote: post #15
techwiz137 wrote: post #6

My car runs on methane, but it's very expensive, only 20% cheaper than gas and soon it might be 1:1. Hard to store (200 bar pressure tank) and tanks have a 20 year lifespan.

Wikipedia says the burning of methane produces CO2 and water, seemingly at a 1:1 ratio between the methane and CO2 molecules (chemistry isn't my strong suit, though). CO2 is a lot better than CH4 afaik, so rather than venting it directly, this makes me wonder why we don't burn all waste methane that is currently just being vented like from these ships Also interesting > Compared to other hydrocarbon fuels, methane pr…

That's called flaring it, and it's discussed upthread. Good intuition though.
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