DOE Project Targets Methane Emissions in Fossil Fuel Sector

The Department of Energy said it will invest up to $35 million in a new program aimed at advancing technology to reduce methane emissions in the sectors of oil, gas and coal.

DOE’s funding opportunity is part of Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a Department of Defense-inspired program tasked with promoting the research and development of advanced energy technologies.

The Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year program will finance easily replicable projects that can help reduce methane accumulation and slow down the effects of climate change, DOE said.

“Methane is the second-largest source of greenhouse gases, many times more potent than carbon dioxide—that’s why it’s crucial we develop solutions to decrease these emissions at their source,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm explained.

While methane is considered a “short-term climate forcer” that has a relatively short lifespan of 12 years in the atmosphere, its ability to trap heat in the atmosphere is more than 30 times greater than that of carbon dioxide, according to Global Methane Initiative.

GMI projects global anthropogenic methane emissions in 2030 to increase by nearly nine percent over 2020 levels if emission management efforts do not keep up proportionally.

Granholm said that REMEDY will address three sources of methane: exhaust from natural gas-fired lean-burned engines, flares used for operating oil and gas facilities and coal mine ventilation air methane from underground mines.

DOE said REMEDY will address more than 50,000 engines, 300,000 flares and 250 mine shafts emitting methane.

Funding will be spread across two phases over three years, DOE said. The first phase will be focused on confirming the feasibility of proposals, while the second will address the scalability of the selected projects.