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> US managed to do more about their CO2 emissions than Europe. That's because thanks to fracking the US move a large share of their energy generation towards na
by sampo 3y ago
> US managed to do more about their CO2 emissions than Europe. That's because thanks to fracking the US move a large share of their energy generation towards natural gas, which burns 'cleaner' than oil and coal
The climate benefits of the lower CO2 emissions from burning gas, instead of coal and oil, are partially offset be the greater methane emissions. Then again, you can't compare natural gas CO2 + CH4 emissions to only CO2 from coal, as coal production also releases CH4.
As long as methane leaks from the natural gas supply are below 4% or 5%, gas is better than coal.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-90839-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-90839-7
- antupis 3y agoMethane stays only 12 years in the atmosphere versus CO2 which stays 300 to 1,000 years.
- danans 3y agoHowever, it has 28x the global warming potential of CO2.
- cesnja 3y agoMethane breaks down into CO2.
- tsimionescu 3y agoOver those 12 years, methane "decays" to CO2 and water vapor, both greenhouse gases in their own right. And before it decays, it has a much stronger warming effect than either. So a ton of methane is strictly worse than a ton of CO2 in absolutely every way.
- gambiting 3y agoSure but in those 12 years it does an incredible amount of damage(and then it decays into CO2 anyway). Methane is a huge problem.