ABG: Fixing inefficient oil field flaring could be equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road

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GRA

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Fixing inefficient oil field flaring could drastically reduce methane emissions

A fix would be equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road

https://www.autoblog.com/2022/10/01/methane-flaring-environment-study/


. . . Scientists at the University of Michigan, Stanford and elsewhere have discovered that flaring is much less effective than the industry assumes, and puts out five times more methane (a strong greenhouse gas) than predicted.

Companies and governments act on the belief flares are always lit and burn off 98 percent of methane. However, aerial surveys of three US basins (where 80 percent of American flaring takes place) have revealed that the flares aren't lit up to 5 percent of the time, and operate inefficiently when they're active. In practice, the flaring efficiency is just 91 percent. That may not sound like a big dip, but it signifies that there's a large volume of unaccounted-for methane contributing to climate change.

There is an upside to the findings. Flaring's problems are "quite addressable" with better management, lead researcher Genevieve Plant said, and a solution would offer an equivalent emissions reduction to removing 3 million cars. To put it another way, this could be one of the easiest ways to keep methane in check and limit global warming. The challenge is to have companies and governments work in harmony — that's not guaranteed, even if the fix is relatively straightforward.


So, equivalent to removing a bit over 1% of the U.S. auto fleet from the roads.
 
GRA said:
A fix would be equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road.
So, equivalent to removing a bit over 1% of the U.S. auto fleet from the roads.

I wonder how this compares to the scenario where everyone just obeyed the speed limit.
 
I wonder how this compares to the scenario where everyone just obeyed the speed limit.

If you're going to suggest the impossible, then how about the one where everyone runs thee block errands on foot or by bicycle? Or even just keeps their tires properly inflated.
 
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