Unaccounted gas amounts to nearly 2% of US greenhouse gas emissions

Putting together data from here and here.

These documents show:

-Over the last five years the US total annual unaccounted for gas averaged 247 billion cubic feet, which translates to 123 million metric tons of equivalent CO2 (according to my process for calculating shown here for Massachusetts).

-The total US GHG emissions were 6,633 Million Metric Tons.

123/6633 = 1.9%

Greenhouse Gas Potential from leaking Natural Gas in Massachusetts

Here is my calculation for the Greenhouse Gas Potential from the 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas (methane, or CH4) lost each year in the state of Massachusetts:

Convert to cubic meters: 8 x 10^9 ft^3 x 0.028 m^3/ft^3 = 2.26 x 10^8 m^3 CH4

or, 2.26 x 10^11 liters of CH4

assume (accepting a bit of temperature and pressure error) 22.4 liters per mole for an ideal gas at standard temperature and pressure.

2.26 x 10^11 liters x 1 mol/22.4 liters = 10^10 moles CH4

use 1 mole CH4 = 16 grams

10^10 moles CH4 x 16 grams/mol = 1.6 x 10^11 grams CH4

use CH4 25X the Greenhouse Gas Potential of CO2
(ref: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter2.pdf)

= 4.0 x 10^12 g eCO2 = 4 Million Metric Tonnes equivalent CO2 per year in Massachusetts in lost natural gas.

This is about 4-5% of the total state greenhouse gas emissions inventory
(ref: http://www.mass.gov/dep/air/climate/ghg08inv.pdf)

Infrastructure for Idiots

Ever seen these road markings? If you start looking you'll see them everywhere on our streets. Here's what it means: A natural gas pipeline is in-line with the axis of the double arrow (about 5 feet belowground). In this case, the pipe is 8" diameter cast iron (CI). These markings come from the utility in response to dig safe requests, when someone needs to dig and wants to avoid hitting a pipeline.

So if the utility can mark our streets, shouldn't we be able to mark where the leaks are too?

human power in Kimana, Kenya

This fellow is pushing 20, 20 litre water containers, which he bailed himself. In addition to the cart weight, this is 400 litres, or 400 kilograms, or about 880 pounds of water.
















Here is a machete blade sharpener, hacked from a bike. I like the re-purposed car tire seat. They also hack bikes to power bellows for welding (like to fix other bikes):















Lots of people moving themselves and stuff around by bike:















I was reminded of the Netherlands. Even Masaai in their regal traditional clothing are seen on bikes.

opportunivores in the house

Just heard the 'opportunivore' term in the new yorker this week. Expect it in Webster's some day soon. Then I thought: grad student Conor G. raising eyebrows by snagging neighborhood leaf bags on his street - brown gold for home compost - and grad student Meghan Salmon, who left our terrestrial biogeoscience seminar early so she could pedal on over to Somerville, to pick up chicken by-product scraps at a chicken processing facility so as to make her cat's food - and our IT Guru Larry Andrus, who uses old computer hard drives and bicycle wheels to make micro-wind turbines. Opportunivory = sustainability, baby!

Leaking pipes = lost energy, lost money, greenhouse warming, and dying trees

Massachusetts loses 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas each year through leaky pipes, according to leak sleuther Bob Ackley . To the current ratepayer, I calculate that this is about $100 million in money down the drain (or, up in smoke?) each and every year. Not to mention that the escaping methane (the main constituent of natural gas) is a powerful greenhouse gas. Or that it kills trees as it seeps into the root systems of trees, displacing the oxygen roots need to breath (and drying the root systems out too). Here is an example of a badly coupled human-natural system, the opposite of a smart neighborhood. It's not just a Massachusetts problem; its a national problem. Human networks conflicting with natural systems, and needlessly. We can fix this and produce a win-win-win (money, greenhouse gas, trees). Who do you think is paying the price for this lose-lose situation currently?

Bob Ackley (gassafetyusa.com), who has been featured in local and national news, will speak about this issue to the BU Center for Energy and Environmental Studies on Wed. Dec 8, from noon-1pm. All are welcome, but for non-CEES/IREP/GE students, please RSVP with me at nathan@bu.edu so we can make sure we have enough room!

CEES goes hyper-localvorous

Today I happened to see graduate student Conor Gately in our departmental hallway, and asked him how his homegrown chickens were doing. To make a long story short, I said he should sell his surplus eggs; he said, as a matter of fact, they are available in the fridge next to his office; I picked up half a dozen for home.

From the NY Times: "In August 2010, more than 500 million eggs were recalled after health officials traced salmonella bacteria that sickened over 1,500 people to two large egg producers. It was the largest egg recall in history."

Nice to know where your eggs come from!