I'm so glad this is happening -- I hope this sparks some changes. Some of this big data is terrifying:
Say what you want about oil spills. At least when you're standing in one it's hard to miss.
That's not true of methane spills, which are invisible and -- unless it's a potentially explosive concentration of gas -- unsmellable.
Persistent, low-grade methane leaks are of interest for a couple of reasons. For gas companies, they mean the loss of product that could be heating homes or fueling generators. For everybody, it means climate pollution that nobody’s seeing, measuring or capping.
That's why the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Google Earth Outreach have spent the last two years wiring cars with methane sensors and gradually testing them out in American cities to "see" any leakiness and estimate how much gas is heading skyward. The same methane that heats homes and powers turbines is a strong heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere....Read more in Bloomberg. (Thanks, Julia)
