Evaluating net life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions intensities from gas and coal at varying methane leakage rates
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15545871 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Deborah Gordon (0000-0001-7767-1740, Brown University, corresponding author), Frances Reuland (0000-0001-9463-7931, Rocky Mountain Institute), Daniel J Jacob (0000-0002-6373-3100, Harvard University), John R Worden (0000-0003-0257-9549, Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Drew Shindell (0000-0003-1552-4715, Duke University), Mark Dyson (Rocky Mountain Institute) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 084008-084008 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ace3db |
| OpenAlex | W4383065805 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 27 |
The net climate impact of gas and coal life-cycle emissions are highly dependent on methane leakage. Every molecule of methane leaked alters the climate advantage because methane warms the planet significantly more than CO 2 over its decade-long lifetime. We find that global gas systems that leak over 4.7% of their methane (when considering a 20-year timeframe) or 7.6% (when considering a 100 year timeframe) are on par with life-cycle coal emissions from methane leaking coal mines. The net climate impact from coal is also influenced by SO 2 emissions, which react to form sulfate aerosols that mask warming. We run scenarios that combine varying methane leakage rates from coal and gas with low to high SO 2 emissions based on coal sulfur content, flue gas scrubber efficiency, and sulfate aerosol global warming potentials. The methane and SO 2 co-emitted with CO 2 alter the emissions parity between gas and coal. We estimate that a gas system leakage rate as low as 0.2% is on par with coal, assuming 1.5% sulfur coal that is scrubbed at a 90% efficiency with no coal mine methane when considering climate effects over a 20 year timeframe. Recent aerial measurement surveys of US oil and gas production basins find wide-ranging natural gas leak rates 0.65% to 66.2%, with similar leakage rates detected worldwide. These numerous super-emitting gas systems being detected globally underscore the need to accelerate methane emissions detection, accounting, and management practices to certify that gas assets are less emissions intensive than coal
Coal · Coal mining · Enhanced coal bed methane recovery · Fossil fuel · Greenhouse gas · Methane · Natural gas · Waste management · Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics · Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols · Chemistry · Coal Properties and Utilization · Engineering · Environmental Science · Environmental Engineering · Geology
Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Electricity Generated from Conventionally Produced Natural Gas
Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Coal‐Fired Electricity Generation
Key factors for assessing climate benefits of natural gas versus coal electricity generation
Hazardous air pollutants in transmission pipeline natural gas
Empirical quantification of methane emission intensity from oil and gas producers in the Permian basin
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |