What do cows, gas pipelines and landfills have in common? CH4, an organic molecule better known as methane. While the effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions has long focused on carbon dioxide, methane is more than 25 times more potent in its ability to trap radiation, making it potentially the more dangerous greenhouse gas.
As scientists and engineers have improved methods of identifying methane emissions and quantifying their impact on climate warming, recent studies confirm the methane level in the atmosphere is higher than earlier thought. And with continued methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, landfills, agriculture and wastewater, that level is growing at a pace that puts Paris Agreement climate goals out of reach.
Policy and climate activism are catching up to the challenge methane poses as well. Since the launch of the Global Methane Pledge at the November 2021 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, 112 nations have voluntarily agreed to cut global methane emissions 30% by 2030 compared to 2020. Fast action on this methane emissions goal, according to the authors of the Pledge, is the “single most effective strategy to keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5⁰ Celsius within reach.”
In addition to this global focus, methane regulations are emerging at the country and local levels, especially in the oil and gas industry. These regulations include improved technology requirements, disclosure and transparency requirements, incentives for abating methane emissions, and taxes or fees that put a price on the environmental and health costs of emissions. The International Energy Agency offers a roadmap of these efforts, which vary widely across the globe. In the United States, for example, the Biden administration is pressing for adoption of a comprehensive plan to decrease methane emissions across various sectors, including agriculture, landfill management, construction and heavy industry.
As the regulatory landscape shifts, companies are experiencing increased pressure to reduce methane emissions. While reducing emissions may seem challenging, there’s good news: Although it is more potent than CO2, methane remains in the atmosphere for a far shorter period before breaking down. Focusing on rapid reductions in methane emissions can have a magnified near-term impact on slowing climate warming—buying us time for the massive and complex mission of reducing CO2 in the atmosphere.
And there’s even better news: There is plenty that can be done to lower methane emissions immediately—at low or even negative cost. According to the UN Environment Programme, existing targeted control measures in the fossil fuel and waste sectors could reduce more than 30% of methane emissions this decade. Technology—including highly advanced imaging technologies combined with new digital tools, remote sensors, satellite and aircraft tracking, and sensors and valves—can identify methane leaks and other emissions at any point along the value chain. This technology generates data that provides a more comprehensive picture of the problem and where to target the solution.
And with Emerson’s technology and systems—used in places from food service facilities to oil and gas pipelines—methane emissions can be mitigated, reduced or eliminated completely, helping companies meet their emission targets.
One major yet little-known source of methane is food waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States alone sent over 35 million tons of food waste to landfills in 2018, and landfills are the third largest contributor to total U.S. methane emissions. An effort led by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is aiming to decrease food waste 50% by 2030.
Commercial facilities of all sizes can help make a big impact. The country’s largest convention center, McCormick Place in Chicago, installed Emerson’s Grind2Energy system to reduce its methane emissions. The Grind2Energy system processes the center’s food waste into a slurry, which is stored on-site in safely sealed tanks before being transported to an anaerobic digestion facility.
“From our rooftop garden to our onsite recycling programs and excess-food donations to neighborhood charities, a sustainable approach is deeply ingrained in everything we do at McCormick Square,” says Lori T. Healey, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. “Emerson’s Grind2Energy system will help us take these efforts a leap forward.”
Since 2019, the renewable energy created from McCormick Place’s Grind2Energy energy rich slurry is enough to power 12 homes for a month; the amount of CO2 reduced by diverting waste to landfills is the equivalent of 101,000 fewer automobile miles driven; and the potential amount of nutrient-rich fertilizer created is 3.5 tons.
Overall, since 2014, Emerson’s Grind2Energy system has helped colleges and universities, high-capacity stadiums and commercial facilities divert 100 million pounds of food waste from landfills, the emissions equivalent of 83 million fewer automobile miles driven.
In the oil and gas industry, the challenge is to address different types of emissions, such as direct methane from leaks and venting, as well as the carbon dioxide that’s emitted during combustion. Venting is one example of an intentional release of gasses into the atmosphere during operations to help reduce overpressure. Recent environmental regulations in the U.S. and Canada are particularly focused on cutting vented emissions from equipment operated by natural gas, such as direct gas-operated valves and gas-over-oil hydraulics systems.
The problem of methane emissions needs to be addressed urgently, both because of its potency and because it is produced by so many areas of human activity. But the past decade has armed us with much of the information we need to target it, and many of the technological solutions and expert knowledge are already at our fingertips. Solving the problem will be good for both the environment and the bottom line.
