Technology
Google-backed satellite to track global oil industry emissions
A new satellite backed by Alphabet Inc's Google and the Environmental Defense Fund group will launch from California on Monday with a mission to pinpoint oil and gas industry methane emissions from space.
The MethaneSAT sattelite will add to a growing fleet of spacecraft in orbit that are meant to help fight climate change by publishing data on emissions of the invisible but potent greenhouse gas.
While the European Space Agency and another satellite-based tracker called GHGSat are already providing methane emissions data, MethaneSAT will provide more detail and have a much wider field of view, its backers say.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) said the data will bring accountability to the more than 50 oil and gas companies that pledged at the Dubai COP28 climate summit in December to zero out methane and eliminate routine gas flaring, and help those preparing to comply with forthcoming methane regulations in the EU and the U.S., including a methane pollution fee.
"We'll be able to see who the laggards are, but hopefully they will use that information in a constructive way to improve their performance," said Mark Brownstein, senior vice president for energy transition at EDF.
MethaneSAT was developed in conjunction with the New Zealand Space Agency and Harvard University, among others, and its data will be available to the public later this year, EDF said. Google Cloud will provide the computing capabilities to process the information.
Methane emissions - which come from oil and natural gas production, agricultural waste, and landfills - are many times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
Oil industry group the American Petroleum Institute said emissions data from third parties should not be used for regulatory purposes without verification.
"The environmental regulator is still going to be paramount here as the authority in terms of validating the data,” said Aaron Padilla, API vice president of corporate policy.
-
Technology16h ago
China prepares to launch Chang'e-6 lunar probe
-
Technology16h ago
Three more Chinese astronauts enter space station
-
Technology22h ago
Limited resources or be your own boss: Why GEN Z is not interested in job?
-
Technology22h ago
TikTok general counsel to move to new role focused on fighting US sale
-
Technology1d ago
How To Use The Meta AI Chatbot In Instagram, WhatsApp Along With Its Hidden Features
-
Technology1d ago
Chipmaker Intel falls as AI competition hurts forecast
-
Technology1d ago
Eric Schmidt and Yoshua Bengio Debate How Much A.I. Should Scare Us
-
Technology2d ago
Alphabet, Microsoft earnings show hefty AI bets are driving growth