Exclusive: Fixing a leak can be simple and equivalent to closing a coal power station, making lack of action maddening, say analysts
The world’s worst mega-leaks of the potent greenhouse gas methane in 2025 have been revealed by an analysis of satellite data.
The super-polluting plumes from oil and gas facilities have a colossal heating impact on the climate but often result from poor maintenance and can be simple to fix. The assessment found dozens of mega-leaks, each having the same global heating impact as a coal-fired power station.
The researchers said it was “maddening” that such easy action to fight the climate crisis was not being taken, and said people should be angry. Stopping the leaks can even be free, given that captured gas can be sold – methane is the “natural gas” that fires power stations.
The problem will solve itself once fewer fossil fuels are consumed overall, there’s less fuels to transport around and therefore fewer leaks … also the companies are losing money on the leaks so they already have an incentive to fix shit today.
Yeah. It’ll solve itself when the habitability of the planet declines enough to prevent the continuation of a high-tech global economy.
Bro, just let me have my sex bots first
One could argue the quest for sex bots is a root cause
If they had any incentive, they would test regularly for leaks. They don’t and never have.
It’s in the article:
Gas that does not leak is gas that can be sold.
Certainly. I too commented on that. They’re letting profits literally float away. However what those researchers feel is maddening, to the capitalists is justifiable.
Why spend a dollar to retain a kilogram of methane from escaping, when that same dollar could be used to extract ten kilograms of methane? Repairing the infrastructure would be a lower return on investment, and that’s all that matters to them. They serve the bottom line.
If it were more profitable to repair and maintain the infrastructure, the infrastructure would be repaired and maintained. Alas it isn’t, and so the leaks continue.
yeah that makes sense actually
Except greenhouse effect will keep warming the earth for decades after we consume less fossil fuels. It’s like shitting on the rug and saying the problem will solve itself when you stop shitting in the rug.
We have consumed roughly half of the planet’s fossil fuels that are known and not too difficult to access.
If we continue and consume the other half it won’t matter one shit by then if the problem of leaks have ‘fixed themselves’ because most of humanity will be dead, those that remain will live in a world with so much CO2 in the atmosphere that they’re in permanent cognitive impairment.