METHANE EMISSIONS FROM NORTH AMERICAN NATURAL GAS SYSTEMS: THE STATE OF THE SCIENCE

Natural gas has been proposed as a more climate-friendly replace-ment for coal and oil in near-term greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. In addition, its flexibility and efficiency as a fuel for dispatchable electric power means that natural gas will likely be useful for firming of grids with high renewable power fractions. Recent studies of leakage from natural gas systems have called into question these beneficial uses, as high leakage rates can result in significant near-term climate forcing from leaked methane. This presentation will describe the results of a comprehensive review of scientific studies of natural gas leakage at all scales, including direct measurements at devices and atmospheric measurements of ambient methane concentrations.

Speaker: Dr. Adam Brandt, Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University