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Note conversion of C02 into methane. If methane has bigger effect than the same amount of coal within C02 then your argument fails. > While CO2 persists in th

Note conversion of C02 into methane. If methane has bigger effect than the same amount of coal within C02 then your argument fails. > While CO2 persists in the atmosphere for centuries, or even millennia, methane warms the planet on steroids for a decade or two before decaying to CO2. > In those short decades, methane warms the planet by 86 times as much as CO2, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-bad-of-a-greenhouse-gas-is-methane/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-bad-of-a-gree...

lurgburg 6y ago
A somewhat surprising corollary: if you have methane and you can burn it, it's better to do that than vent it directly. (Of course, better still to leave it in the ground, if that's where your methane is coming from...)
- nightski 6y ago
  Natural gas burns cleanly and is very effective at heating homes and water. While there are problems with leakage, it's a huge step up from burning coal & oil.
- lovemenot 6y ago
  @nightski Yes, natural gas is about half as bad as burning oil and one third as bad as coal in terms of energy output per tonne of CO2 emitted. Although methane is usually the largest component, natural gas is typically a mixture of methane, propane and butane. So not quite the came as cow burps.
  - cwal37 6y ago
    Not quite. For a power plant the rate is ~0.059 tons CO2 per MMBtu of natural gas, coal is ~0.105 tons per MMBtu (different for bit, sub, etc.), and oil is around ~0.081 (although, like coal, it varies). Now, in a power plant context, modern gas plants are going to be more efficient and have better heat rates than their coal and oil equivalents, so you do generally need less total MMBtu input to get an equivalent amount of generation out. But if you’re burning the same amount in terms of energy content, the difference when it comes to only CO2 is not as large as you’re saying.
zests 6y ago
Do you find it strange that an article about methane does not mention what percentage of the greenhouse gas effect that methane accounts for? I'd ask everyone to read this article, write down what percentage you think methane accounts for and then read the wikipedia page on greenhouse gasses. This is to say nothing other than that more nuance is needed when discussing the environment. It is important to reduce our emissions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect#Greenhouse_gases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect#Greenhouse_g... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions#List_of_emission_sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions#List_of_emis...

lurgburg 6y ago

A somewhat surprising corollary: if you have methane and you can burn it, it's better to do that than vent it directly. (Of course, better still to leave it in the ground, if that's where your methane is coming from...)

nightski 6y ago
Natural gas burns cleanly and is very effective at heating homes and water. While there are problems with leakage, it's a huge step up from burning coal & oil.
lovemenot 6y ago
@nightski Yes, natural gas is about half as bad as burning oil and one third as bad as coal in terms of energy output per tonne of CO2 emitted. Although methane is usually the largest component, natural gas is typically a mixture of methane, propane and butane. So not quite the came as cow burps.
- cwal37 6y ago
  Not quite. For a power plant the rate is ~0.059 tons CO2 per MMBtu of natural gas, coal is ~0.105 tons per MMBtu (different for bit, sub, etc.), and oil is around ~0.081 (although, like coal, it varies). Now, in a power plant context, modern gas plants are going to be more efficient and have better heat rates than their coal and oil equivalents, so you do generally need less total MMBtu input to get an equivalent amount of generation out. But if you’re burning the same amount in terms of energy content, the difference when it comes to only CO2 is not as large as you’re saying.

zests 6y ago

Do you find it strange that an article about methane does not mention what percentage of the greenhouse gas effect that methane accounts for? I'd ask everyone to read this article, write down what percentage you think methane accounts for and then read the wikipedia page on greenhouse gasses. This is to say nothing other than that more nuance is needed when discussing the environment. It is important to reduce our emissions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect#Greenhouse_gases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect#Greenhouse_g... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions#List_of_emission_sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_emissions#List_of_emis...