The EPA Might Have Been Underestimating The Amount Of Methane Emitted By The U.S.

rude gasolene is often touted as what is call a “ bridge fuel , ” an energy germ with a substantially lower C footprint than coal or oil that could help wean us off these higher - foul energy root , while still bringing the benefit and trappings of fossil fuel . It might be true that raw gas emits less carbon dioxide than other fogy fuel , but this brush off the fact that in the U.S. over 40 % of natural gasolene is now derived from fracking , and that its extraction releases the more potent greenhouse gas methane .

Taking all this into account , it now seems that the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) has been grossly miscalculate methane   discharge within the United States . A new studyhas show that while the EPA has been claim that the nation ’s nursery gasolene emission have been decreasing ,   this might not actually be the compositor’s case when all the supererogatory methane released by shale accelerator extraction is taken into score . While methane string up around in the atmosphere for a shorter time period of time compared with carbon dioxide , its impacton climate change is around 25 times gravid   over a hundred - class stop .

“ The EPA has badly underestimate the grandness of methane emissions in general – and from shale gas in particular,”saysCornell’sRobert Howarth , who author the newspaper   published in the journalEnergy Science and Engineering . “ As a outcome , the Union government has been express that entire nursery gas emanation from free energy use in the U.S. have been steady reject since 2008 – which they ascribe to exchanging shale gas for coal for electricity propagation . ”

According to the sketch , the   EPA ’s claim that   greenhouse gas emissions for the   United States in   2013 were around a monumental 6 pentagrams ( 6 billion tons ) was probably a vast underestimation . Using more accurate and up - to - date information on how much methane shale gas wells emit over their entire life , the study find it to be actually somewhere around 9.5 pentagrams being emitted into the standard atmosphere . This new data point could cast doubt on the whimsy of lifelike natural gas   –   specifically that which is derived from fracking   –   being a cleaner , greener bridge deck fuel .

Thisisn’t the first timethe EPA has been caught out miscalculating methane emissions this year either . It turn out that the amount of trash thrown aside by Americans was double what the EPA estimated , and with landfill web site call back to comprise up to 18 % of all methane emissions in the U.S. , they likely massively undervalue their greenhouse gas emissions from this source too .