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METHANE EMISSIONS FROM THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY VOLUME 8: EQUIPMENT LEAKS
Citation:
Hummel, K., L. Campbell, AND M. Harrison. METHANE EMISSIONS FROM THE NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY VOLUME 8: EQUIPMENT LEAKS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-96/080h (NTIS PB97-142996), 1996.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
The 15-volume report summarizes the results of a comprehensive program to quantify methane (CH4) emissions from the U.S. natural gas industry for the base year. The objective was to determine CH4 emissions from the wellhead and ending downstream at the customer's meter. The accuracy goal was to determine these emissions within +/-0.5% of natural gas production for a 90% confidence interval. For the 1992 base year, total CH4 emissions for the U.S. natural gas industry was 314 +/- 105 Bscf (6.04 +/- 2.01 Tg). This is equivalent to 1.4 +/- 0.5% of gross natural gas production, and reflects neither emissions reduction (per the voluntary American Gas Association/EPA Star Program) nor incremental increases (due to increased gas usage) since 1992. Results from this program were used to compare greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel cycle for natural gas, oil, and coal using the global warming potentials (GWPs) recently published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The analysis showed that natural gas contributes less to potential global warming than coal or oil, which supports the fuel switching strategy suggested by the IPCC and others. In addition, study results are being used by the natural gas industry to reduce operating costs while reducing emissions.