The need for action on methane emissions is urgent
With the world’s focus on cutting the main greenhouse gas emissions to slow the global warming, cutting down on methane emissions is often overlooked. However, with more potential to warm our planet in the short term, it is time to tackle methane gas emissions urgently.
According to the New York Times, “if methane is not burned off when released, it can warm the planet more than 80 times as much as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period “.
Methane is the main component of natural gas, and it is constantly being produced. The majority of methane emissions come from the production of oil & gas and waste materials in landfill. As the global population increases, so does the amount of waste we produce. Other sources of methane, including forest fires, agriculture, livestock farming, wastewater treatment plants and other industrial practices, also lead to higher concentrations of greenhouse emissions in the atmosphere.
This year’s Queen’s Speech reaffirmed the UK government’s commitment to meet the 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target, paving the way to fight climate change. The objective is to meet the Paris climate agreement target.
Net-zero requires significant abatement of greenhouse emissions across all sectors of the economy. Deeper cuts in potent methane gas, large-scale investments and innovation are required to provide technologically viable and economically competitive alternatives to intensive technologies in all industries. To be on track on delivering the net-zero greenhouse emissions, it requires significant change in how industries produce goods and consume energy. A more comprehensive effort of all industrial sectors is essential to drive decarbonisation.
In biogas production plants, for example, there are several areas where monitoring levels of gases is crucial. For safety and environmental purposes, methane analysis is required throughout the plant to ensure no unwanted leaks into the atmosphere. Methane also poses health and safety risk for workers on-site in terms of asphyxiation and gas poisoning, as reported by BiogasWorld.
The technology needed is already available to monitor and reduce methane emissions. Gas Data provides a variety of fixed and portable gas analysis solutions for both, methane and carbon dioxide that can be integrated into biogas generating plants, enabling easy monitoring and real-time data accessibility. You can view our solutions below. If you have any questions, please get in touch with a member of our team. We would be delighted to assist you with a fit-for-purpose Gas Data solution to meet your unique requirements.
