Most of the Natural Gas New York City Loses Is Burned, Not Leaked
Most of the natural gas New York City loses to the atmosphere was burned incompletely, not leaked from pipes, according to a study published Sept. 14 in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
Yuwei Zhao, Róisín Commane and colleagues at Columbia University report that the New York metropolitan area loses 1.7 ± 0.6% of the natural gas delivered to it, equivalent to about $300 million a year of unused gas. Incomplete combustion was the primary natural gas signal in their measurements, leading the team to conclude that future mitigation planning should prioritize inefficient consumption rather than the distribution network.
The figures come from long-term measurements of methane taken from towers around the metropolitan area and compared with reported gas consumption. Emissions followed a strong seasonal cycle, peaking in the winter heating season and again in the summer cooling season, with natural gas dominating the methane in both.
The researchers compared the result against the pipeline upgrades cities have made: despite extensive upgrades, methane reductions have stayed far smaller than expected, pointing to emission pathways that are being missed.
The paper lists the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration among its funders.
