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This year is shaping up to be the hottest on record. And while carbon dioxide dominates the climate conversation, another powerful pollutant, methane, requires our urgent attention. In fact, reducing methane emissions is the single most efficient way to limit warming in our lifetimes. This means that as we curb methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, we can not forget to swiftly tackle methane emissions from landfills. At the end of the month, when world leaders meet at the COP28 climate conference, the United States can set an example by putting stronger landfill controls on the agenda to...

A 2-mile-long methane plume in New Mexico. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anew instrument aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has been used to identify more than 50 “super-emitters” of methane — a major step toward slashing global warming. The challenge: To combat global warming, we need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide accounts for the majority of those emissions, and transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy will significantly reduce those. Methane is a much less common greenhouse gas than CO2, but it’s far more potent, with each ton emitted causing 80 times as much warming in...

“Climate change” is in the news daily, with each featured story getting an attention-grabbing sensationalist headline. The frenzy is at its peak now because it’s the time of year for tropical storms and wildfires. However, to appreciate that these stories are pure narratives, it’s a good time to consider the facts behind the so-called “greenhouse gases.” Several atmospheric gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, absorb light in the infrared region. These are collectively known as the “greenhouse gases” because absorbing infrared energy warms up the air—hence the name greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide, on a per-molecule basis, is six...

Explanation: Where else might life exist? One of humanity's great outstanding questions, locating planets where extrasolar life might survive took a step forward in 2019 with the discovery of a significant amount of water vapor in the atmosphere of distant exoplanet K2-18b. The planet and its parent star, K2-18, lie about 124 light years away toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo). The exoplanet is significantly larger and more massive than our Earth, but orbits in the habitable zone of its home star. K2-18, although more red than our Sun, shines in K2-18b's sky with a brightness similar to the...

WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday began a new effort to crack down on methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change. The first-ever White House Methane Summit came at a time of severe heat across much of the U.S., including in Pittsburgh, where temperatures are expected to approach or exceed 90 degrees until the weekend. President Joe Biden established a new methane task force to work with state and local officials to detect leaks and reduce emissions. The White House said billions of dollars of natural gas are lost to leaks every year. In Pennsylvania, methane accounts for...

The Zhuque-2 rocket lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Wednesday China said the rocket completed the flight mission. Wang Jiangbo/Xinhua via EPA-EFE July 12 (UPI) -- A methane-fueled rocket, launched by China, has reached orbit for the first time, beating out potential competitors from the United States and indicating a renewed effort by that nation to land astronauts on the moon with a more powerful spacecraft. Built by Landspace, a private Chinese company, the 164-foot Zhuque-2 rocket lifted off from its Jiuquan launch complex, in China's Inner Mongolia, on Wednesday morning local time, Chinese...

The Russian economy's industrial sector is in decline, according to air-pollution readings from satellites.A Wall Street Journal report showed that the decline may be worse than what Moscow officially reports.Pollution in Russia's industrial regions fell 1.2% in the six months to April, and is 6.2% lower annually.Russia's economy is suffering from an industrial decline as Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine drags on, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing data from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-5P satellite.

French dairy giant Danone said Tuesday it wants to slash methane emissions by 30 percent within seven years, pointing to the way the cows it uses are raised, handled, and milked as ripe for change. AFP reports Danone said it would seek the cuts by 2030 using cow breeds that emit less methane, improving cow diets, prolonging their milking periods and capturing emissions from manure to be used for biogas, for example. The company is also looking at innovative solutions to help reduce emissions including a cow mask that can trap burp gases, the report continues.

A catastrophic leak from a natural gas storage field in Cambria County likely released over one billion cubic feet of the potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The incident demonstrates the importance of tracking — and punishing — methane emissions, a priority recently moved forward by both Congress and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It also shows the urgency of implementing state-level regulations to control methane emissions from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry. Methane is the primary component of natural gas, and is fifty times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. While CO2 grabs the headlines, CH4...

President Biden is expected to announce a proposal for stronger regulations on the oil and gas sector aimed at controlling emissions of a planet warming gas called methane. The stronger methane regulations are part of a slew of climate-related actions that Biden is expected to announce during his trip to the COP27 global climate summit in Egypt. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects that in 2030, the requirements would cut 87 percent of methane emissions from the pollution sources that it regulates when compared to 2005 levels. The proposal strengthens a Biden administration proposal from last year that was expected...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — The Biden administration is ramping up efforts to reduce methane emissions, targeting the oil and gas industry for its role in global warming even as President Joe Biden has pressed energy producers for more oil drilling to lower prices at the gasoline pump. The new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency follows up on a methane rule Biden announced last year at a United Nations climate summit in Scotland. The 2021 rule targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focusing only on new wells as previous EPA regulations have done. The...

European natural gas inventories rose by +16 BCF over past week. EU nat gas storage 96% full. Current inventories at 3667 BCF.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — The war-inspired natural gas boom is undermining already insufficient efforts to limit future warming to just a few more tenths of a degree, a new report says. Planning and build-up of liquified and other natural gas — due to an energy crisis triggered by Russian’s invasion of Ukraine — would add 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (1.9 billion metric tons) a year to the air by 2030. The sheer amount of liquified natural gas projects in the pipeline for construction shocked the analysts, Hare said. The report calculates that if everything planned goes...

President Joe Biden (D) snapped at a young woman who attended a political rally that he hosted on Sunday at Sarah Lawrence College in New York for gubernatorial candidate Kathy Hochul. “No more drilling. There is no more drilling,” Biden snapped at a young woman in the crowd. “I haven’t formed any new drilling.” “There are at least five more years of offshore drilling,” the woman shouted back. “— in the Atlantic or the Pacific but in the Antarctic and off the gulf of New Mexico.” “That was before I was president,” Biden responded. “We’re trying to work on that...

Germany could be completely out of gas by February, the country’s gas agency has said, with some experts saying that the country needs to cut consumption by 30 per cent to make it through the crisis intact. A reduction in gas consumption of up to 30 per cent may be required if Germany wants to make it through the coming winter intact, some experts have claimed, while the country’s gas agency has expressed concern that the nation could run out of the hydrocarbon by February.

Trillion Energy International Inc. (CSE: TCF) (OTC: TRLEF) (Frankfurt: Z62) is a company in the right place at the right time as it is poised to bring on desperately needed natural gas production within weeks to the European market. With energy prices going parabolic, gas supplies cut off and the Ukraine War drags on with no end in sight, Europe is facing a long cold winter and a decade of sky-high energy pricing. Russia has indefinitely shuttered the Nord Stream Pipeline, thereby cutting off much of Europe’s natural gas supply, in retaliation for Western sanctions. The pipeline won’t flow again...

This winter may see Europeans freezing to death, unable to heat their homes as natural gas supplies dwindle. Unemployment and bankruptcies will soar, as companies find themselves unable to cover their costs due to high energy prices. Germany’s vaunted chemical industry, heavily dependent on natural gas feedstock, is likely to wither on the vine. An economic and social disaster reminiscent of the 1930s is possible. The word “deindustrialization” is becoming real.And yet, as Bloomberg reports:Beneath the windmill-dotted marshlands of the Netherlands lies Europe’s largest natural gas reserve. The sprawling Groningen field has enough untapped capacity to replace, as soon as...

China told state-owned natural gas importers like Sinopec and CNOOC to halt LNG sales to Europe, per Bloomberg. The order to halt resales comes as Beijing looks to protect domestic gas supplies for the winter. China has been a crucial supplier of gas to Europe as the region faces a Russia-driven energy crisis. Beijing has reportedly told state-owned natural gas importers to halt resales of cargoes to buyers in Europe and Asia, to make sure China has enough supply for domestic needs this winter. The National Development and Reform Commission has spoken to Chinese energy giants PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC...

The sitting US Secretary of State very recently declared in an official press conference that the NS1 and NS2 pipeline sabotage will have “no impact on European energy resilience”… We should assume that Secretary Antony Blinken was referring to the timely supply of US LNG substitute equivalent to pipeline nat-gas now theoretically available (not) which would save the European day. With a clear smile, Blinken considered it to be a “tremendous opportunity” for the US to help Europe wean off of Russian energy… with the USA ready to be “the leading supplier (of dirty fracked seaborne LNG) to Europe”. And...

If Europe was a school student, last week it sat its first exam in Energy Savings 101. It failed. And that doesn’t bode well for much tougher tests to come in January. Despite strong imports of liquefied natural gas to replace Russian shipments, Europe needs to reduce gas consumption — by a lot — if it’s going to make it through the winter. Extra supply won’t be enough. Conservation is absolutely paramount. The exact amount varies from country to country, but on average, the European Commission has suggested a 10%-15% demand reduction. Germany and a few other nations, which in...