Tag : Methane

London: According to a recent imperial study, though climate-friendly, biogas and biomethane leak twice more than the methane gas as per the previous estimation of the International Energy Agency. The findings of this study were published in One Earth journal. Although biogas and biomethane remain climate-friendlier than non-renewable alternatives, the researchers call for better monitoring and fixing of leaks to ensure biogas and biomethane continue to live up to their green credentials. Biomethane and biogas are produced from the breakdown of organic matter including food, animal waste, energy crops, grass, or sewage sludge, making them renewable alternatives to natural gas, coal and oil. However, researchers at Imperial College London have identified potential pitfalls in energy supply chains for these climate-friendlier gases, concluding that more efforts should be made to reduce methane leakage. Methane traps around 27 times the amount of heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2) and is responsible for at least a quarter of global warming, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's AR6 report[3]. The new Imperial study, published today in One Earth journal, found that supply chains for biomethane and biogas release more than twice as much methane as the International Energy Agency (IEA)'s previous estimation. It also reveals that 62 per cent of these leaks were concentrated in a small number of facilities and pieces of equipment within the chain, which they call 'super-emitters', though methane was found to be released at every stage. The researchers say urgent attention is needed to fix the methane leaks, and knowing precisely where the majority of them are happening will help production plants to do s ...