Natural gas wells in the USA have considerably higher levels of leakage — fugitive emissions — than officials predicted.
Researchers have found that predictions from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are much too low, given the high level of methane that leaks from wells.
Natural gas consists predominantly of methane. Even small leaks from the natural gas system are important because methane is about 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The research found that for natural gas to beat diesel in efficiency, leakage levels need to be even lower than the EPA predictions, which is quite improbable.
Read more at Stanford University, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Michigan