California and NASA, with the backing of billionaire Michael Bloomberg, unveiled a $100 million effort on April 15 to pinpoint large emissions of greenhouse gases from individual sources like power plants and oil refineries from space.
The partnership between the state, U.S. space agency, satellite company Planet and four other institutions will launch its first two satellites in 2023. The technology could help increase pressure on polluting industries—already targeted by environmental activists and investors for their contribution to climate change—to find and plug leaks.
The initiative is part of the growing use of space-age technology to locate big sources of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its first 20 years in the atmosphere. Scientists say identifying methane sources is crucial to making the drastic emissions cuts needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The coalition is operating under a non-profit organization called Carbon Mapper that is funded by philanthropic groups including Bloomberg's.
The Carbon Mapper satellites will use technology developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to see and measure emissions at the scale of individual facilities for the first time. Other satellite technology has monitored greenhouse gases over larger geographic areas.
The data will be shared publicly, but companies that own and operate emitting infrastructure can subscribe to get access to the data sooner, allowing them to address leaks quickly.
"It will be transformational," Riley Duren, a researcher at the University of Arizona and Carbon Mapper's CEO, said in an interview. "There is significant interest in using this type of technology... to support the leak detection and repair enterprise."
The satellite effort is an outgrowth of surveys JPL completed for the state of California using methane-tracking planes. Those identified small numbers of methane "super-emitters" in the oil and gas, waste and agriculture industries that have an outsized contribution to methane in the atmosphere.
Recommended Reading
Uinta Basin: 50% More Oil for Twice the Proppant
2024-03-06 - The higher-intensity completions are costing an average of 35% fewer dollars spent per barrel of oil equivalent of output, Crescent Energy told investors and analysts on March 5.
Canadian Natural Resources Boosting Production in Oil Sands
2024-03-04 - Canadian Natural Resources will increase its quarterly dividend following record production volumes in the quarter.
Green Swan Seeks US Financing for Global Decarbonization Projects
2024-02-21 - Green Swan, an investment platform seeking to provide capital to countries signed on to the Paris Agreement, is courting U.S. investors to fund decarbonization projects in countries including Iran and Venezuela, its executives told Hart Energy.
Chesapeake Slashing Drilling Activity, Output Amid Low NatGas Prices
2024-02-20 - With natural gas markets still oversupplied and commodity prices low, gas producer Chesapeake Energy plans to start cutting rigs and frac crews in March.
Tellurian, Institution Investor Agree to New Loan Repayment Terms
2024-02-22 - Tellurian reached an agreement with an unnamed institutional investor to pledge its interest in the Driftwood project as collateral.