"More beans, Mr. Taggart?"
Posted on 07/29/2009 3:40:27 AM PDT by Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit
The greater Los Angeles area is emitting more than double the amount of methane than previously estimated, according to a new study.
A greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2), most man-made methane (CH4) emission comes from agriculture -- rice paddies, livestock, and biomass burning are all big contributors. As a result studies have largely ignored the methane coming from urban areas, and regulatory agencies have had to rely on guesswork to fill in the gaps.
Debra Wunch of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and a team of researchers measured greenhouse gas emissions in the south coast air basin, a bowl of smoggy air that hangs over Los Angeles, its suburbs, and some 15 million inhabitants.
According to the latest estimate by the California Air Resources Board, human activity in the basin should only emit about 260,000 tons of methane each year. But after taking readings from August 2007 through June 2008, the team found that the annual rate was much higher: some 600,000 tons.
Much of the area's electricity comes from burning natural gas, which is almost entirely made up of methane. Approximately 10.5 million tons of natural gas was shipped into the south coast air basin in 2006; if two to three percent of that is leaking into the atmosphere, it could account for a large part of the discrepancy.
"If it's coming from a few potent leaks, one could hope to put a plug in it," Paul Wennberg also of California Institute of Technology, and a co-author on the study due to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters said. "This stuff is valuable. If you can get enough of it, you want to burn it."
The excess gas could also be trickling out of cars' exhaust pipes, landfills or sewage treatment plants.
Worldwide, the human activity and natural processes like ocean methane seeps and wetlands decomposition combine to emit approximately 582 million tons of methane each year. If cities around the world have similar methane emission patterns as Los Angeles, the team estimates urban areas could account for as much as 10-15 percent of that total.
"The hope is that the processes operating in California may be happening in other cities around the world," Amy Townsend-Small of the University of California, Irvine said. "If so, this model will be applicable in cities around the world."
Determining how much methane cities give off -- and the sources responsible -- are crucial steps toward controlling emissions in the future. Ultimately, getting a handle on methane emissions could go a long way toward limiting the effects of global warming.
More Taxes!!!
Methane comes from s**t. LA is a s**t hole. Go figure.
Frijoles?
These global warmists could not find their fannys with both hands. That is why they can’t measure methane correctly.
Anyone who believes that this is the only place where guesswork substitutes for valid science raise your rectum and release!
Duh.
The LA basin is a huge oil and gas field, and methane gas seepage has been a known problem for many decades. J Paul Getty had many oil wells there, and made millions from them.
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jul/30/local/me-61056
The Methane Down Below
By EDWARD J. BOYER, TIMES STAFF WRITERS and JANET WILSON, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
July 30, 1999
One witness thought it was “raining fire.” The earth was belching flames through cracks in the pavement, tongues of fire marching in a steady progression across a shopping center parking lot on 3rd Street near Fairfax Avenue in West Los Angeles.
The methane gas explosion that ripped through a Ross Dress for Less store in March 1985 left 24 people injured and forced the closure of stores in the center for several days.
[snip]
The region is dotted with working and abandoned oil wells from Santa Clarita in the north to Newport Beach in the south. And where there are oil wells, there is methane.
Does that mean neighborhoods and commercial developments built on old oil fields face the same risks that have caused so much concern at Belmont?
There is certainly risk whenever explosive gases are present, experts say, but building codes and state agencies have been able to keep that risk at manageable levels for the most part.
When builders follow proper procedures to vent methane, the risk of accidental explosions is virtually eliminated, experts say.
Having pumping oil wells on a site is better than having improperly abandoned wells because working wells vent methane harmlessly into the air, said Richard Baker, district deputy of the state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources.
“livestock...are all big contributors.”
Check for chickens and goats in the backyards of illegals.
Anyone have that old movie Volcano with Ann Heche and Tommy Whats-his-name?
“25 times more powerful in what regard? Calories of energy? Electrical charge? What a ridiculous statement.”
This is why I love FReepers.
Letting me know what questions I should be asking but don’t have a clue to ask.
"More beans, Mr. Taggart?"
They say it is better to "give than receive". So just stay out of the elevator.
Demons put this off I am sure. This is why we need all of the liberals in one place, they will kill us with their mere flatulance.
“25 times more powerful in what regard? Calories of energy? Electrical charge? What a ridiculous statement.”
Yeah, I’m not getting that statement either.
I’m guessing that the guy is simply making stuff up.
What mean wash hands?
Wrong. CO2 does cause some warming due to its chemical properties. If that warming is large enough to affect the overall planetary climate is what is in question. Moreover, a planet on which there is more CO2 might also generate other feedback loops that cause cooling.
It is the climate science which is unsure, as I wrote, the chemistry of applying UV radiation to a CO2 molecule is clear and verifiable.
Even bacteria have standards. That would be asking to much to deal with pols
Although I must admit I could have used language that made my exact premise clearer.
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