Low methane leakage from gas pipelines (original) (raw)

Greenhouse gases

Nature volume 434, pages 841–842 (2005) Cite this article

A switch from coal or oil to natural gas could mitigate climate effects in the short term.

Abstract

Using natural gas for fuel releases less carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced than burning oil or coal, but its production and transport are accompanied by emissions of methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term. This calls into question whether climate forcing could be reduced by switching from coal and oil to natural gas1. We have made measurements in Russia along the world's largest gas-transport system and find that methane leakage is in the region of 1.4%, which is considerably less than expected and comparable to that from systems in the United States. Our calculations indicate that using natural gas in preference to other fossil fuels could be useful in the short term for mitigating climate change.

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Figure 1: Russian pipelines used to transport natural gas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, 55128, Germany
    J. Lelieveld, S. S. Assonov & C. A. M. Brenninkmeijer
  2. Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Wuppertal, 42103, Germany
    S. Lechtenböhmer, C. Dienst, M. Fischedick & T. Hanke

Authors

  1. J. Lelieveld
  2. S. Lechtenböhmer
  3. S. S. Assonov
  4. C. A. M. Brenninkmeijer
  5. C. Dienst
  6. M. Fischedick
  7. T. Hanke

Corresponding author

Correspondence toJ. Lelieveld.

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Competing interests

The Wuppertal Institute receives two-thirds of its revenue from third-party project funding. Donors comprise the European Union, several national and state governments, non-governmental organizations, charities and private customers. The company E.ON Ruhrgas, based in Essen, Germany, and a shareholder of OAO Gazprom, commissioned several research projects from the institute, including the project that produced the results presented.

Contacts with Ruhrgas and Gazprom were necessary for access to data and do not constitute a conflict of financial interest.

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Lelieveld, J., Lechtenböhmer, S., Assonov, S. et al. Low methane leakage from gas pipelines.Nature 434, 841–842 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/434841a

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