Climate Letter #322

The growing problem of methane leakage. This study shows that older piping systems in large cities are leaking at rates well above estimates. For Boston that is equal to 2.7% of all natural gas consumed. Here is the rub: When natural gas is burned the carbon is released as CO2. Unburned, the same amount of carbon per unit is released as methane. As a greenhouse gas, methane is far more potent than CO2—this story says 35 times more potent over 100 years. (For shorter time frames that number will grow, all the way up past 100.) Still more methane, of a similar proportion, escapes when the gas is produced, especially by fracking methods, and transmitted. It looks to me like the immediate greenhouse effect of all that gas leakage is considerably worse than that of what is burned, but that’s only an opinion.

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In the big picture, where does India fit? India is now said to have the worst air pollution in the world. As this story points out, half of that comes from vehicles, mainly trucks that burn diesel. This is a problem that requires a solution of an unusual nature, that will be costly and cannot be put off, actually before the country can do much to grow or modernize the economy with anything other than renewable energy. Prime minisher Modi is seen to be a person with good intentions, but sometimes conflicting..
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Update on the outlook for coal consumption. Small declines are expected in the U.S. for the next few years, but not so for the world as a whole. The initial goal of slowing the growth of CO2 emissions could get a bit of help here, but actual reductions in this sector are still quite a ways off.
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The U.S. is moving along well with solar installations. The numbers are still relatively small, but the pace is excellent.
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What happens to pools of meltwater found on Greenland’s surface? There is new information, somewhat technical. One inference is that the process tends to add heat to surrounding ice at deeper levels, enabling it to flow or degrade more quickly over the long term.
Carl

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