This summer, the Squeaky Leak Project (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/squeaky-leak–2#home) will drive down every street in Cambridge and Somerville, MA with a high-precision methane analyzer and map all the natural gas leaks in these cities. By October, they intend to post the maps of the leaks so residents and the city governments can
…fix 10 of the worst leaks to save an expected $44,500 per year and the carbon emission equivalent of taking 500 passenger cars off the road for a year.
Map, label and publicize at least 10 trees being killed by the leaks. The clear visual proof of the damage, along with the estimated cost of the total damage to trees in both cities will help persuade both the residents and the municipalities this problem needs to be fixed.
Share the map of the leaks with Somerville and Cambridge so the cities can work effectively with the utilities.Create a national website that allows local groups to find and fix the worst leaks in their communities.
They have a plan, the equipment and the expertise but could use a little more help with the money. They need to raise at least another $20,000 to fix all the Squeaky Leaks and begin the practice of Methane Management.
The groups and individuals behind the Squeaky Leak Project are HEET [Home Energy Efficiency Team] (http://www.heetma.org) which has been organizing weatherization parties and energy educating since 2008, Green Cambridge (http://www.greencambridge.org) which “works to create a more sustainable Cambridge, and to protect the environment for the health and safety of all” with assistance from Sierra Club (http://www.sierraclubmass.org/index.html) and Clean Water Action (http://www.cleanwateraction.org).
BU Professor Nathan Phillips, who has mapped natural gas leaks in Boston and Washington DC with the same equipment Cambridge and Somerville will use, and Bob Ackley, a natural gas expert with 30 years of experience, “have kindly donated $30,000 worth of expertise and equipment toward this project.”
The local gas utility is NSTAR and about 17% of their pipes are cast iron buried in the earth for over 60 years.
Natural gas is primarily methane, a greenhouse gas “34 times more destructive than CO2,” as well as a fuel. Methane is flammable and explosive.
When natural gas leaks into the soil it can kill trees by suffocating their roots. “Brookline estimates the damage to its city trees at over $1 million.”
Conservation Law Foundation figures the cost of natural gas leaks at $38 million per year in Massachusetts.
Fixing the average leak can recoup its cost through saved gas in under three years.
Leaks that are not considered potentially explosive never have to be repaired and so could be leaking wasted gas for decades.
And the utility doesn’t share it’s own leak maps with the cities.
State legislation is currently working its way through the process with Rep Lori Ehrlich leading the way: H.2933 An Act Enhancing Natural Gas Pipeline Safety
H.2934 An Act to Prevent Unnecessary Arboreal Costs Due to Natural Gas Leaks
More information on these proposed laws at http://loriehrlich.com/2013-2014-session-46.html
Previously:
Methane Management: Crowdfunding Natural Gas Leak Monitoring
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/10/1283709/-Methane-Management-Crowdfunding-Natural-Gas-Leak-Monitoring
Methane Cell Phone Sniffers
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/02/1213253/-Methane-Cell-Phone-Sniffers
Towards Zero Emissions: The Methane Cycle
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/05/07/332213/-Towards-Zero-Emissions-The-Methane-Cycle-160
Short Term Climate Forces: Black Carbon, Methane, and Tropospheric Ozone
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/06/1088365/-Short-Term-Climate-Forces-Black-Carbon-Methane-and-Tropospheric-Ozone
Cambridge MA Solar Tool
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/07/1141118/-The-Cambridge-MA-Solar-Tool
Energy Upgrade Parties at the Sustainable Houses of Worship
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/09/1237718/-Energy-Upgrade-Parties-at-the-Sustainable-Houses-of-Worship
The Return of Barnraising: Weatherization
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/08/18/569595/-The-Return-of-Barnraising-160-Weatherization
I applaud this effort and welcome the transparency of this issue. I designed an order management system that managed the pipe network for a utility company and was shocked when I realized how many leaks were in the network that were being “managed”. At no point did the environmental cost come into the equation when deciding which leaks to repair vs just let leak.
I hope this is a short-term effort to put pressure on the utility companies to open their books on leak information and put serious resources behind repairing these leaks. It will also expose to the public how old the pipe infrastructure of the northeast is and lead to a general discussion on addressing the infrastructure.
As I wrote in the post, methane or natural gas is not a bridge fuel to a hydrogen future but a biological product that is always going to be with us. We have to learn how to manage it. I prefer a zero emissions standard as an approachable goal but, whatever standard we use, we can’t continue to let natural gas leak into the atmosphere. It’s wasteful, it’s uneconomic, and it’s a potent greenhouse gas.
The BU report highlights that Boston has over 3000 natural gas leaks. I think we need to admit that we will continue to have natural gas leaks for as long as we are moving natural gas through pipes. There are simply too many joints and too much cast iron (which doesn’t mix well with new england conditions).
Don’t set up the inability to be perfect as a reason to not strive for improvement. There will *always* be some leaking. In the mean time, we can choose to have less leaking.
Mothers Out Font is doing a lot of work on this issue