Chasing a fossil-fuel fugitive
Monday, January 26th, 2009My Clean Break column today takes a look at “fugitive” emissions — typically methane — from the natural gas and oil sectors in Canada. I like to call them the industry’s dirty not-so-little secret, because when we think of fossil fuels we think mostly about the emissions that result from their combustion. But not as much, if any, public attention has been drawn to the unintentional (i.e. leaks) and intentional (i.e. venting) of methane at processing facilities and along pipeline infrastructure. Fugitive emissions from Canada’s oil and gas sectors in 2006 amounted to the equivalent of about 60 megatonnes of CO2, up 65 per cent since 1990. Surprisingly, this represents nearly 8 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. As you’ll read from the column, the biggest problem is a lack of regulation and ability to detect these emissions. Once that’s solved, often it’s just a matter of tightening a bolt.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
