[Fts-research] Fwd: [Ffa-research] Methane emissions from fertilizer production much higher than estimated (US - Cornell study)

[flip]

Hi,

I am forwarding this interesting email that Katie has sent two months
ago to the FFA research list

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
A Cornell-Environmental Defense Fund research team equipped a Google
Street View car with a high-precision methane sensor and found methane
emissions from ammonia fertilizer plants to be 100 times higher than the
fertilizer industry’s self-reported estimate.

Emissions of methane from the industrial sector have been vastly
underestimated, researchers from Cornell and Environmental Defense Fund
have found.

Using a Google Street View car equipped with a high-precision methane
sensor, the researchers discovered that methane emissions from ammonia
fertilizer plants were 100 times higher than the fertilizer industry’s
self-reported estimate. They also were substantially higher than the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimate for all industrial
processes in the United States.

“We took one small industry that most people have never heard of and
found that its methane emissions were three times higher than the EPA
assumed was emitted by all industrial production in the United States,”
said John Albertson, co-author and professor of civil and environmental
engineering. “It shows us that there’s a huge gap between a priori
estimates and real-world measurements.”

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/06/industrial-methane-emissions-are-underreported-study-finds
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

This can make our message stronger.

I didn't try to calculate yet how those new figuers would change the
total emission of syntetic fertilizers or industrial agriculture.
Anybody up for giving this a try?

Also the writers of the report acknowledge that this is just about 6
plants in the US. Further research is necessary.

What is not clear to me is if this is methane is leaking during the
production of ammonia or that this happens when ammonia turned into
nitrogen fertilizers. In the first case we could try to measure methane
around the Brunsbüttel plant.

Yara could just say that they are doing it better, like they in general
are saying that they work cleaner and more efficient than most producers
from other parts of the world. It would be nice to be able to counter this.

grtz, Flip


-------- Doorgestuurd bericht --------
Onderwerp: [Ffa-research] Methane emissions from fertilizer production
much higher than estimated (US - Cornell study)
Datum: Tue, 11 Jun 2019 11:23:54 +0200
Van: Katie Sandwell <c.sandwell at tni.org>
Aan: ffa-research at lists.aseed.net

Hi All,

Apologies if this did the rounds already, but some relevant info!
https://earther.gizmodo.com/just-one-tiny-industry-may-emit-more-methane-than-epa-h-1835376030
(popular)

https://www.elementascience.org/article/10.1525/elementa.358/ (the
academic article)

Best,

Katie

-- 
Katie Sandwell
Programme Assistant
Transnational Institute

tel: +31 20 662 6608
mob: +31 6 1775 43 44
--
Visit our website: www.tni.org
Support our work: www.tni.org/support-tni Sign up for our newsletter:
https://www.tni.org/en/page/sign-up-for-our-general-newsletter
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TransnationalInstitute
Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/TNInstitute

_______________________________________________
FFA-research mailing list
FFA-research at lists.aseed.net
https://lists.aseed.net/mailman/listinfo/ffa-research