Methane Growth Shrinks

The good news: The amount of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) produced in fossil fuel production, is down by 2% to 8%.

The bad news: The total amount of methane produced naturally and by us is about 60% to 110% greater than previously estimated, and the amount produced by us is about 20% to 60% greater than estimated.

We’re getting more efficient in the way we process fossil fuels, but that improvement is small when compared to the totals involved. Methane is more powerful than carbon dioxide, but doesn’t persist as long. Its contribution to climate change has been under-estimated, which suggests some revisions in environmental models are due. At least it looks like we’re getting better at controlling it, but we have much more work to do than we realized.

(Click on the photo for the link.)

“Fossil Fuel Methane Dropping” – Ars Technica