Oil's Hidden Costs: Global Gas Flaring Satellite Survey

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Treehugger.com reports that the survey was conducted over a 12 year period.

From 1995-2006, it was commissioned by the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR), and was carried out by a team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The estimates produced for about 60 countries showed that gas flaring has remained very stable over the last 12 years(About 150-170 billion cubic meters annually) but the 22 mostly lesser developed countries increased its use over that time period. On the other hand, 16 other countries decreased its use.



Oil companies and countries burned close to 170 billion cubic meters of natural gas in just 2006. This is about equal to 27% of total U.S. natural gas consumption or 5.5% of total global production of natural gas.

Another interesting fact is that flaring is responsible for around 400 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

"Gas flaring not only harms the environment by contributing to global warming but is a huge waste of a cleaner source of energy that could be used to generate much needed electricity in poor countries around the world. In Africa alone about 40 billion cubic meters of gas are burned every year, which if put to use could generate half of the electricity needed in that continent,” said Bent Svensson, head of the GGFR partnership.

The scientists used low-light imaging data from the Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program to figure out the volume of gas that was burned during these flares. They are only visible at night, with cloud-free skies.

Aren't you glad somebody is watching this sort of thing? How many people do not even know that this practice exists?