Quote:
Originally Posted by Daradon
It leaks because of the way it's mined. And I can't see anything besides some serious leap in technology that will fix that anytime soon, because of the way it's mined. Can't change that.
If your breaking rock underneath the earth and collecting the gas that pours out, basically in gas form as I understand it. How do you prevent gas from escaping in other areas? It's not like liquid oil that sits in wells.
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Okay, the way this statement is worded makes me want to point out to anyone who may be reading it, that Daradon should not be taken as any source of truth on this particular topic.
Speaking about the way natural gas is "Mined" and how it "pors out, basically in gas form" followed by "as I understand it" is a pretty clear indication that while parts of what he is saying are technically accurate, he does not in fact understand it.
That being said, as for leakage, and monitoring, methane is ~30 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, but considering it produces 50% less CO2 than coal, then we'd have to have a 3-4% leak rate to balance that out. Trust me, at least here in Alberta, we'd know if we were leaking anywhere near that ammount. Beyond that, there are regulations about monitoring for leaks, and it is done, most companies going well beyond what they are required to do.
It certainly isn't perfect, no fuel is, but natural gas has some pretty large advantages over coal, not just from a CO2 emissions standpoint, but also with respect to other envirionmenal impacts (Again, it's not perfect and comes with it's own set of challenges).