Turn that frown upside down: bringing emissions inventories closer to reality
September 26, 2024
Anna Hodshire
Hosted by Jeff Pierce
Abstract
Emissions inventories of atmospheric pollutants such as greenhouse gases (GHGs) are used to identify emissions reduction targets, inform regulatory and policy action, and as inputs to broader chemistry and climate models. Methane is a potent but relatively short-lived GHG with an atmospheric lifetime of ~12 years, making it an attractive target for immediate emission reductions for climate action. Methane emissions from oil and gas (O&G) operations contribute to approximately 1/3 of global methane emissions. Since methane emissions from O&G are due to a combination of intentional engineering designs and unintentional engineering failures, reducing O&G methane emissions is the lowest hanging fruit for methane emissions reductions. Emissions inventories of methane from O&G operations underpin regulatory and business decisions made around which engineering designs and failures to target for emissions reductions but measurement campaigns over the last decade indicate that methane emissions inventories do not match emissions realities. Most often, studies find that emissions inventories likely underpredict total methane emissions from O&G.The CSU Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center (METEC) group is heavily involved in several areas of improving methane emissions inventories, from measurement validation to field campaigns and statistical scaling for understanding region-wide emissions. I will highlight key projects and tools from METEC, with an emphasis on how we can combine “next-generation” measurements with “old-school” statistical modeling to improve emissions inventories. For example, by statistically incorporating known super-emitter events - rare but large emission events that are seldom if ever reported in traditional emissions inventories - we can predict their contribution towards total emissions while bringing the inventories closer to reality.