Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see::Google will use satellite data, AI, and its computing power to map methane emissions around the globe. The transparency marks a new era in climate accountability.
Sounds good for the world. Curious to know what else is being captured.
Yep, with Google it’s 10% good and 90% evil profits.
“we can hide your leak for a modest subscription fee”, probably
If it were Yelp putting out these maps, that would be their business model.
Let’s not delude ourselves. Google is totally getting something out of this. Not sure if they just want some good press for a change or if it’s something else though.
Was prob just built by a guy or small team that was given the freedom to build something in a month or two. Don’t worry, though, they’ll be laid off soon.
The article says something about this tech being used to find any leaks that happen so that they can be patched and or used for methane collection. The collected methane can then be sold. Google would probably make money from selling this service to these fossil fuels companies.
That’s 10% better than most though
The 10% is purely by chance
Collateral damage…
Shades of grey I guess
Don’t be evil more than 90% of the time.
ambiguous wording
at least 90% of the time, don’t be evil
or
at least 10% of the time, don’t be evil
Haha fair I meant the second one.
Fuck me, Google is doing something good.
They realized that biosphere collapse wouldn’t be profitable in the long run.
They will fuck this up / drop it. History ensures this.
They remembered their old moto for a split second.
It’s hard to trust in companies now. I bet the news in the following months is “Methane increasing green house gasses more than fossil fuel. Look at this colorful, interactive map from Google!”
But… Methane is fossil fuel?
Cane here to see how people were gonna spin this as a bad thing. Was not disappointed.
The visualization of the data, while interesting and informative, is created by pooping out a shitload more carbon. So it’s like Leo using a private jet to fly to COP to tell everyone to fly less.
Aside from Googles claims that they’re carbon neutral and only use/purchase renewable, how much carbon is this going to create?
Yeah, Google aint carbon neutral. Carbon credits are fake. You can’t pay another country to add your emissions to theirs and say that you’re neutral. That’s greenwashing. Good question though about the carbon emissions. I don’t have any data to draw on, but it would be some kind of function of how many PCs/server racks are responsible for processing the data.
Carbon credits are fake.
Carbon credits should instead be a tax - one that every major corporation has to pay based off their carbon emissions, and the funds should be used exclusively to fund renewable energy sources, renewable goods manufacturing, and to repair the damage done by traditional fuels.
Carbon credits should instead be a tax
Money being fungible, its all functionally the same. But our business-friendly government officials tend to be stingy with taxes and generous with credits. So its politically more expedient for the legislature to offer large bounties on plugged pipes than to pass a large penalty on unplugged ones.
That’s because of a little thing called “kickbacks” which keep the whole engine of publicly funded commerce running. My carbon capture credit becomes your campaign donation becomes next years “My rival punched a baby” screamer news ad plus hush money for the mom of the baby I punched six months ago.
They’ll need to start consuming all that extra electricity to power LLMs to analyze climate change data🤔
Soon they’ll be selling methane credits to the oil companies.
So it’s like Leo using a private jet to fly to COP
No. It’s like Leo using a cheap little 20 lb drone to find a BP oil rig explosion, report it back to the company, and tell them to plug the leak.
The supposition currently is Russia is a huge emitter, especially Siberia as the permafrost melts.
These positive feedback mechanisms are the sleeping giant.
It will be very useful to track this over time.
Siberia isn’t the permafrost melting - those emissions correlate to known Oil and Gas Wells, that mostly have been just left open, so that they can be used easily again. Melting permafrost is still releasing relatively little.
I work in O&G and my own firm just spent the last three years hunting for and patching pipe leaks by looking for methane emissions.
This is something they’ve been crowing about for a while, but its been a problem for decades that only got treated as something worth fixing when the cost of aerial reconnaissance dropped. Its a classic negative externality that energy companies simply don’t want to acknowledge until the price is right.
If you think this is the only case in which lax regulation has left the lid off Pandora’s box, don’t ask what was up with the BP oil rig explosion or look to hard into the number of gas leaks polluting the Mississippi river or… really… ask any questions at all about the state of safety and soundness of O&G infrastructure.
Yep…makes Synthetic fuels an even more no-brainer for me personally. Granted, it doesn’t for those companies and lobbyists because it’s going to be a lot more expensive initially, but if there’s really a will to do something against climate change, the first thing to do should be taxing those companies doing this shit willfully and knowingly to hell and back. A few wind turbines with some electrolysis machines suddenly become a lot cheaper.
And it’s a Win-Win for everyone - lots of people keep their jobs, execs keep getting money and I can keep driving ICE - and no extra co2, methan or other gasses are being released. And with these Satellites, there’s actually a way to keep companies from being shit.
But that may very well be a bit too utopian…
Before you get excited, farts have on average about <0.01% methane. Its mostly hydrogen sulfide.
Party pooper
Just means I need to make more. I’m gonna get on the map, just you wait.
Finally some good news from Google!
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The partnership between Google and the Environmental Defense Fund
I interpret that to mean that Google is getting paid for this work. They’re not doing it out of kindness.
ETA: So, yes, PR BS.
It seems like media spin more than PR BS. The EDF should be the company being recognised as they appear to be accountable for the program and the article quotes the EDF directly.
I expect google probably is better click bait.
Isn’t media spin PR BS?
Not as bullshit as you give it credit for. This is tech Google already needs to deploy for its generic roll in data collection / land surveying. Now they get to show off a degree of granularity, flex for the public so they can improve their image, AND provide a lucrative service to the cash-rich O&G industry looking for a cheap way to rack in tax credits.
It is more just convenient.
Google detecting farts from space.
Adds your fart map to your monthly gmaps timeline!
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GIS nerds unite!
But seriously, great way to see the technology used and data distributed. One day I can only hope to grasp a more complete understanding of the software and how to apply it to do shit like this.
Reminder: “The Nord Stream gas leak emitted up to 500,000 tons of methane : NPR”
That written looks way more impressive than 0.5 Mega tons, or 0.0005Gt, which is how global emissions are often noted.
Now I’m curious how it ranks in scale with other emissions
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A satellite that measures methane leaks from oil and gas companies is set to start circulating the Earth 15 times a day next month.
The partnership between Google and the Environmental Defense Fund, which in March is expected to launch its satellite known as MethaneSAT, marks a new era of global climate accountability.
Scientists say slashing emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow the climate crisis because methane has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a decade.
“We think this information is incredibly valuable for energy companies, researchers, and the public sector to anticipate and mitigate methane emissions in components that are generally most susceptible,” Maguire said.
The satellite launch comes as countries and oil and gas companies aim to drastically reduce methane emissions by 2030 to tackle the climate crisis.
During the UN climate summit in Dubai last year, companies accounting for 40% of global oil and gas production promised to nearly eliminate methane leaks from their own operations this decade.
The original article contains 736 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
The irony would be thick if this satellite were launched on a next-Gen methane fueled rocket.
(That is the trend now, kerosene and hydrogen are out, methane is in.)
Curious to see how this will flame the “China making up all the bad gases” data simplification while it will omit everything else in that regard as they won’t be its business.
Great, now I have to worry about this every time I order a curry
