A Zero-Cost Solution For The Oil Industry’s Methane Problem. According to Oil Price, “As the spread of the novel coronavirus disrupted industries around the world, the rate of global greenhouse gas emissions took a big dip. BP’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy, released Thursday, compiles data showing that the 2020 global health crisis resulted in falling rates of primary energy and carbon emissions at levels unseen since World War II. World energy demand plummeted by an estimated 4.5 percent and global carbon emissions resulting from energy use dropped by 6.3 percent -- historically massive contractions. But the real headline is that, even with these dips in emissions, net emissions of carbon dioxide and methane -- two of the most potent greenhouse gases that are influencing climate change -- surged in 2020. Even though the rate of growth slowed, not even a global pandemic could keep emissions from rising in the end. The pandemic did save us from having the biggest annual rise in emissions in history, but it was still a doozy of a year according to data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ‘The global surface average for carbon dioxide (CO2), calculated from measurements collected at NOAA’s remote sampling locations, was 412.5 parts per million (ppm) in 2020, rising by 2.6 ppm during the year,’ the government report read. ‘The global rate of increase was the fifth-highest in NOAA’s 63-year record, following 1987, 1998, 2015 and 2016.’ Methane emissions also ‘showed a significant jump,’ which is particularly worrying. Methane is far less abundant in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but is 28 times more potent when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere.” [Oil Price, 7/13/21 (+)]

 

Three Central Florida Landfills Rank Among Nation’s Top Emitters Of A Potent Greenhouse Gas. But The Numbers May Be Garbage. According to WMFE-Radio, “A single flip-flop. An empty Chick-fil-A sandwich bag. A mattress. A sneaker, navy with a white sole. A little orange bouncy ball. Garbage is strewn among thigh-high drifts of dirt, used to bury the filthy, weather-worn items at the Orange County Landfill and prevent the intrusion of insects, rats and pigs. Bulldozers smooth the dirt into place while tractor trailers deliver ever more trash. Vultures and seagulls circle above. A bald eagle lands nearby. ‘Anything you will see out in the real world you’ll see it here,’ says David Gregory, manager of the solid waste division of the Orange County Utilities Department. ‘Because when people throw things away, this is where it comes.’ According to the Environmental Protection Agency, landfills like this one on the edge of Orlando are among the nation’s largest sources of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide and a major contributor to global warming. A seminal United Nations report published in May found that immediate reductions in methane emissions are the best, swiftest chance the planet has at slowing climate change. Landfills emit methane when organic wastes like food scraps, wood and paper decompose.” [WMFE-Radio, 7/13/21 (=)]