Observing System for Meauring Methane Emissions
Funded by the California Energy Commision (CEC), the SUMMATION Project aims to detect, quantify, and monitor Methane (CH4) emissions across multiple scales in Kern county. Identifying and monitoring methane super-emitters is an efficient way to enable mitigation efforts if individual sources can be identified to the relevant stakeholders in a timely fashion. The project team includes Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Stanford University, University of California Riverside (UCR), the Central California Asthma Collaborative (CCAC), and other partners.
Project Benefits
- Lower costs: reduced upstream and downstream natural gas product losses.
- Greater reliability: Identification CH4 super-emitters will enable mitigation effort and improve resilience of California’s natural gas system.
- Increase safety: early detection and mitigation of methane emissions could reduce risk of catastrophic events.
- Environmental benefits: Early detection of methane fugitive emissions and hence reduced emissions of greenhouse gases.
- Public health: Detection and mitigation of methane emissions will protect the public from exposure to gases and odorants.
- Consumer appeal: Improved transperency and reduced fugitive emissions can improve public trust of utilities and the energy industry in general, allowing for greted public support of upgrades and expansion of energy infrastructure.
- Energy security: By detecting gas leakage at an early stage, our framework could prevent potential disruptions to California’s natural gas system
What this means for our climate
SUMMATION is part of a global effort to slash methane emissions by 30% within this decade.