Subject: Re: 10 million cubic feet of gas released in Langley
Date: June 22, 2001

Letter to the Editor of the Langley Times

Dear Sir,

I have just read your story about BC Gas losing ten million cubic feet of gas in 28 minutes in the 25200 block of 48 Avenue in Aldergrove last week. It's just as well it didn't explode!

Natural gas is often sold as "clean", and good for the world's climate. In case anyone believes this, I have just crunched some numbers, based on the knowledge that natural gas is 85% - 90% methane, and that over 20 years, methane is 62 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The results are mind-blowing. If you wanted to produce as much negative climate impact from driving in those 28 minutes as this gas escape has just done, you would need to drive over 2 million cars - 2,259,927 cars, to be precise.

It is in this careless way that we chip away at our planet's fragile ecosystems - in this instance, the atmosphere. The sooner we shift to a global energy system based on solar, wind, and hydrogen, the better it will be for all of us. The numbers work - there is enough solar, wind, geothermal, tidal and wave energy to meet all our needs, as well as to manufacture the hydrogen we'll need for transport.

PS: For members of Number-Crunchers Anonymous: 1,000 cubic feet of gas weigh 42.28 lbs, so 10 million cubic feet weigh 191.78 tonnes, which (times 62) is the carbon equivalent of 11,891 tonnes of CO2. A car that does 25 mpg travelling at 50 kph will cover 23.33 kilometres, (14.5 miles) burn 58% of a gallon, and release 11.6 lbs of CO2. To release 11,891 tonnes (26,215,164 lbs) of CO2 in 28 minutes, you'd need 2,259,927 cars all driving at once. Technically, this should be increased, because while natural gas is 85% methane, the remaining 15% consists of various alkanes, which have a higher carbon content that methane.

Sincerely,

Guy Dauncey
395 Conway Road
Victoria V9E 2B9
(250) 881-1304