This would be Spinner's group, see if you can spot him ..
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.
If there was only a way to capture and store this potential “Green” energy source...
Ahhhhnollddd should check into this...
They delayed the re construction of L.A. High School for years because of the methane leaking to the surface.
It never hurt a kid for 74 years or so in the current school but according to the enviro whackos it was going to kill the now.
I am not a professional chemist or physicist, so I do not feel myself qualified to comment on the tests results that have led to this conclusion. But, since it is not a commentary on climate change, but rather on the fundamental behaviour of substances when exposed to Electromagnetic radiation, I do not see how it can be a political issue. It is something that can be easily tested and reproduced in a laboratory according to the scientific method.
~ The only bad air around here is you guys fartin' around.~ Roy Neary
Snort.
Damn! I was reading that and laughing out loud so my wife came in to see what I was laughing at. She started laughing and we both had tears rolling. I forwarded it to my kids. Thanks for a really good laugh.
By not recognizing the difference between science and politics you are doing the work of those who wish to portray deniers as ignorant bumpkins for them.
Do you not understand that science can test, measure and verify that when a given substance is exposed to electromagnetic radiation it behaves in a certain manner i.e. it reflects or absorbs heat?
To claim that this substance has a certain affect on the global climate when present in a certain amount is something completely different because it cannot be tested, verified or reproduced idenpendently.
By claiming that an independently reproducable scientific result is political and or junk, you are showing you have very little understanding of science and are merely taking your climate change position based on political persuasion and not on any real thinking you have done about it.
That’s the reaction it always gets. It really came from a buddy in Texas years ago and every so often I’ll pull it out and laugh exactly like you did.
Drilling the oil reduces the seeps BTW.
Show me the science. All the enviromentalist have is a computer model. The can not and will not show science that backs up the claims.
Stating that because UV radiation warms CO2 does not prove that man has increased CO2. Where did the CO2 come from?
Additionally was the sun cycle taken into account, ie did the sun cause more CO2?
Science is to hard for the warmers to use, they just want to use Polotics and fear.
They can not and will not show the science that backs up the claims
This just in from La Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara:
The methane generation situation is caused by many unknown bacteria species (Generic Name: Bacterium Tacophilium) that use as their host Tacos, Burritos, Frijoles Refritos, Enchiladas, Chalupas, Arroz, y Cerveza Dos Equis, which are activated in the human lower intestine and when released, silently or otherwise, then combine with the exhaust gases from lead-boostered LA Gas burned in a carburetted, oil-burning Chevy 350 from 1972, emitted from low-riding modified vehicles onto hot asphalt.
Any one who has ever visited our quaint and colorful neighbors to the south in their homeland will recognize the aroma immediately. Next time you are in Mexico City or even Tijuana, open the window, and if you dare, take a deep breath. ¡Es México! This low-level gas attack is a small, but key part of the The Big Plan .,,,,Aztlán!
Send my Nobel Prize for Chemistry out with my next SS Check. I promise to share it with my collaborators South of the Border.
Remember, the fact that CO2 warms the planet is clearly established. ................
Denying the basic science behind the chemistry is akin to claiming the earth is flat.
This would be Spinner's group, see if you can spot him ..
There is a recession....we need more grant money
Estimates based on pulling numbers from your butt can be refined by more butt searching
Maybe it it all that SMUG coming from the Hollywood elete. Remember, SMUG producers farts don’t stink!
Gee, the mecca of the ‘green’ movement has more methane than estimated? A lot of jokes come to mind. Maybe it’s the La Brea tar pits, and they can relax.
You beat me to it! I was thinking the same thing.
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