August 19, 2024
2 min learn
New Satellite tv for pc Will Monitor Methane Tremendous Emitters
Tanager-1 is the primary in a collection of satellites that goal to pinpoint main emitters of carbon dioxide and methane, main greenhouse gases
Pure fuel is flared off throughout an oil drilling operation within the Permian Basin oil discipline on March 12, 2022 in Midland, Texas.
CLIMATEWIRE | A brand new satellite tv for pc that may pinpoint greenhouse fuel tremendous emitters took off from California on Friday, including one other software to world efforts to sort out the drivers of world warming.
Tanager-1, which launched alongside SpaceX’s Transporter 11, can detect main emitters of carbon dioxide and methane, a extremely potent fuel that’s 80 instances more practical than CO2 at trapping warmth within the ambiance. It was deployed by a coalition involving Carbon Mapper, Planet Labs and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with funding from teams equivalent to Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Youngsters’s Funding Fund Basis.
The satellite tv for pc will give attention to amenities that spew out greater than 100 kilograms of methane an hour and can assist establish the supply of these emissions, equivalent to a pipeline leak or flare from an influence plant, in keeping with Carbon Mapper. It’s the primary of many such satellites the nonprofit hopes to launch, with plans to make the ensuing information publicly accessible on-line.
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Tanager-1 is seen as a complement to MethaneSAT, a satellite tv for pc supported by the Environmental Protection Fund and Google that helps find and quantify emissions at a wider scale, equivalent to a complete oil and fuel basin.
Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper’s co-founder and chief government, in contrast Tanager-1 to a telephoto lens that’s designed to zoom in and establish the origin of emissions inside 100 ft, making it simpler to see tremendous emitters that may go undetected.
“Tremendous-emitters are potential low hanging fruit for motion,” Duren stated. “There is a comparatively small variety of them. And if the place they’re, you may detect them and you may notify facility operators and notify the regulators — and significantly in instances the place there are malfunctions, then there’s the potential to take motion.”
Many international locations see chopping energy-related methane emissions as among the many quickest methods to stop world temperatures from rising. Whereas methane is stronger than carbon dioxide, it stays within the ambiance for a shorter time.
Greater than 150 international locations have signed onto a pledge to collectively cut back methane emissions by 30 p.c by 2030 and dozens of main oil and fuel firms agreed ultimately yr’s COP28 local weather talks to almost zero out methane emissions by 2030 and finish routine flaring.
The White Home included Carbon Mapper’s satellite tv for pc plans in a current truth sheet outlining authorities help for motion to curb local weather tremendous pollution.
The Tanager-1 satellite tv for pc will prioritize areas the place methane emissions are identified to happen, equivalent to oil and fuel fields, refineries and landfills. Carbon Mapper says that data may also help firms establish and patch leaks and assist international locations select pure fuel imports from suppliers with the bottom emissions.
The nonprofit additionally sees its position as a watchdog, permitting researchers, regulators and inexperienced teams to find out whether or not industries live as much as their emission discount commitments.
“By enhancing confidence within the precise methane leakage charges or intensities of world provide chains, we will put strain on oil and fuel producing international locations to scale back their methane footprint,” Duren stated.
Reprinted from E&E Information with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E Information supplies important information for vitality and setting professionals.
