GHGSat Inc.
Measuring Effectiveness
GHGSat, a global emissions monitoring firm based in Canada, has the capability to detect methane emissions at industrial facilities from space. Its growing fleet of satellites provides data and actionable information on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to an increasing number of emitters and regulators. This insight allows companies to identify trends in emissions and track when emissions are reduced or eliminated.
Additionally, GHGSat informs oil and gas operators when leaks have been detected, and oil and gas operators are able to track methane and other GHG emissions reductions through continuous monitoring. Once leaks are repaired, those sites no longer emit GHGs.
Collaboration with Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COISA)
Since 2015, GHGSat has been working with Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) to
measure GHG emissions from challenging sources in oil sands operations in Alberta,
Canada.
The project will develop a modelling system that will allow COSIA members to use GHGSat’s innovative satellite technology to measure fugitive emissions in the atmosphere above two tailings ponds and one mine face. COISA members will calculate emissions rates based on those measurements and compare them with more conventional technology measurements.
The technology being tested could replace the current method used to estimate area fugitive emissions from oil sands operations. This is expected to improve the accuracy of the estimates and potentially increase the frequency at which estimates are made. The project also has the benefit of avoiding safety risks associated with making ground-based measurements, and the cost of conducting measurement campaigns could likely be lower as well.
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Monitoring Shale Gas Basins in Cooperation with Major Operators
Natural gas production from shale formations (“shale gas”) has grown rapidly in recent years.
Satellite measurement is an ideal method for monitoring methane emissions from shale gas
operations that are spread out over vast territories. Without any on-site equipment, GHGSat’s high-resolution satellites can identify super-emitters through periodic
surveys of all shale gas operations, at a fraction of the cost of current methods.
As of 2019, GHGSat aircraft measurements will provide very high-resolution measurements of shale gas plays to complement GHGSat satellite measurements. These measurements from GHGSat aircraft sensors will enable detection of smaller leaks and localize those leaks within a facility to facilitate repair. GHGSat aircraft sensors will leverage the same post-processing toolchain used by its satellites, thereby cross-validating results and providing cost-effective aircraft services.
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Using Satellite-based Remote Sensing to Monitor GHG Emissions from Hydro Reservoirs, Including Lom Pangar Dam, Cameroon
GHGSat is working with several customers to demonstrate the use of satellite-based remote sensing technology to monitor GHG emissions from hydro reservoirs.
For example, GHGSat conducted demonstrations with hydro operators that included measurements of dams, reservoirs and reference sites over a full year. Analytics included both point-source and area emissions estimates, and variations over time/seasons. Coincident measurements were generally limited to water sampling, over a short period of time.
GHGSat has publicly released a satellite measurement of methane emissions from the Lom Pangar Dam in Cameroon. The full dataset is available, free of charge, upon request at info@ghgsat.com.
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International Collaboration to Address Methane Emissions
Environment and Climate Change Canada is working to establish collaborative relationships with several international partners in this effort anticipated to take place between 2017 to 2022.
Vietnam
Canada
is providing $1M over the next three years to mitigate short-lived climate
pollutant (SLCP) emissions from Vietnam’s municipal solid waste sector as a means
of supporting the implementation of Vietnam’s nationally determined contribution
(NDC) and ultimately helping the country achieve its commitments under the Paris
Agreement.
Partners: ECCC, Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Association of Cities of Vietnam (ACVN), and Government of Vietnam (MONRE and MOC).
How Canada is Measuring Effectiveness
The project's effectiveness will be reflected in capacity building and technical assistance related to supporting NDC implementation in each countries' respective waste sectors.
Expected Outcomes
This project is expected to help Vietnam realize their objectives and targets articulated in NDCs, as it relates to the waste sector, thereby helping each country achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement.
Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire
Canada
recently launched a $2.12 million bilateral NDC project with Côte d’Ivoire
and Senegal, over three years, that aims to support methane emission reductions
in the solid waste sector.
Partners: ECCC, UNEP, and Governments of Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
How Canada is Measuring Effectiveness
The project's effectiveness will be reflected in capacity building and technical assistance related to supporting NDC implementation in each countries' respective waste sectors.
Expected Outcomes
This project is expected to help Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire realize their objectives and targets articulated in NDCs, as it relates to the waste sector, thereby helping each country achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement.
Chile
Canada
is providing $7 million over four years to support the implementation of
Chile's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The
Canada-Chile Program, deployed between 2017 and 2021, focuses on providing capacity
building and technical assistance to support clean innovation and reduce emissions
from landfills, while exploring opportunities to divert organic matter from landfilling
hence avoiding the generation of methane in landfills.
Partners: ECCC, Arcadis Canada, Government of Chile (MMA), Chilean municipal governments, public and private financial intermediaries, and other industry stakeholders.
How Canada is Measuring Effectiveness
The project's effectiveness will be reflected in capacity building and technical assistance related to supporting NDC implementation in each countries' respective waste sectors.
Expected Outcomes
This project is expected to help Chile realize their objectives and targets articulated in NDCs, as it relates to the waste sector, thereby helping each country achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement.
China
Canada provides strategic support to China to accurately baseline, measure, report,
verify and reduce their methane, black carbon and volatile organic compound (VOCs)
emissions from oil and gas production.
Partners: Carleton University, University of Alberta, Canadian clean tech firms, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Ecology and Environment and their science academies (China Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP), and National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC).
How Canada is Measuring Effectiveness
Emissions factors, calculation tools, guidance documents, monitoring programs and/or emission assessments that are developed through the course of of the project will all promote success. Training programs, workshops and/or study tours may also be key components of project effectiveness, along with best practices are developed and/or transferred for potential application to other jurisdictions and introductions facilitated between Canadian technology vendors and Chinese industrial, commercial, and institutional end-users or Chinese marketing representatives.
Expected Outcomes
This project is expected to help China advance activities in achieving its environmental performance targets to reduce black carbon and VOC emissions, and improve air quality, as identified in its 13th 5-Year Plan, and creating market opportunities for Canadian clean technologies and methodologies.
Mexico
Environment
and Climate Change Canada is providing $7 million over four years to
support the implementation of Mexico's nationally determined contributions (NDC)
under the Paris Agreement. The Canada-Mexico Bilateral Initiative's (CMBI) primary
objective is to develop a comprehensive package of measures for the sector supporting
NDC implementation with the aim of leveraging climate investments from public and
private sources. More recently, the CMBI received additional funding from Natural
Resources Canada ($2 million) to support black carbon measurement elements, bringing
the total contribution to $9 million.
Partners: Government of Mexico (National Institute for Ecology and Climate Change (INECC), Secretariat of Energy (SENER), Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT); Mexican Petroleum (PEMEX), Secretariat of Finance), Clearstone Engineering Ltd. (implementing partner), Carleton University, public and private financial intermediaries and other industry partners.
How Canada is Measuring Effectiveness
Mitigation actions and/or identified opportunities will relate to supporting NDC implementation in Mexico's oil and gas sector.
Expected Outcomes
Realizing objectives and targets articulated in Mexico's NDC, thereby helping Mexico achieve their goals under the Paris Agreement.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) FlareNet Strategic Network: Global Research Initiative to Address Flare Generated Pollutant Emissions from Unconventional Oil and Gas Processing
FlareNet is an NSERC Strategic
Network with an objective to provide a quantitative understanding of flare generated
pollutant emissions critical to enabling science-based policy, accurate pollutant
inventories, understanding of climate forcing and health implications, and engineering
design and assessment of mitigation strategies to minimize environmental impacts in the
energy sector.
Flaring is the most commonly deployed approach to reduce methane emissions from gaseous waste streams. Recently published work in FlareNet (Tyner & Johnson, EST, 2018), has also shown that flaring and incineration are likely to increase significantly as new methane regulations are implemented. Since the start of serious discussion of methane regulations from 2016-2018, reported flaring is trending up at (oil/bitumen/gas batteries, gas gathering systems and gas plants) with a year over year increase of 8 percent.
Quantitative understanding of flare generated pollutant emissions are thus critical for informing appropriate mitigation actions and understanding implications, including impacts of policy and regulatory decisions. This is a key goal of FlareNet.
The FlareNet Network is a 5-year
$6.9M project funded by NSERC ($5.5M over 5 years) with contributions from government
agencies, industry and Canadian universities (NRCan contribution includes $835,000 and
in-kind support). The Network integrates a diverse group of researchers working on research
challenges through collaborative large-scale experiments backed by field measurements.
Experiments occur at two main research facilities — the Carleton University Intermediate-Scale Flare Facility and the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Facility at the University of Western Ontario — as well as at selected measurement sites in the field. Research is organized to tackle key knowledge gaps under five highly integrated themes:
- Flare Emissions during Flowback Operations at Hydrofractured Gas Wells
- Refinery and Upgrading Flares: Effects of Air- and Steam-Assist on Emissions Control
- Effects of Turbulent Crosswinds on Flare Emissions
- Properties of Black Carbon (BC) and Other Particulate-Phase Species Emitted During Flowback and Routine Flaring Operations
- Development and Application of Novel Technologies for Field Measurements
How Canada is Measuring Effectiveness
FlareNet has over a 130 specific research milestone metrics that span over the 5 integrated themes. Embedded within those research milestones are specific mitigation strategies for reductions in methane emissions and black carbon – the two most critical short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs).
Key indicators of progress include increasing publication outputs, national and international conference presentations, invited consultations, and collaborative contributions to technical standards, policy decisions, and regulatory development.
- FlareNet is working closely with the World Bank Zero Routine Flaring team and Petroamazonas (Ecuador) to implement a large, demonstration flare mitigation project in Ecuador, intended to achieve directly quantified black carbon emissions reductions.
- Large-scale collaborative experiments, combining resources and expertise from a range of institutions are also underway, with the key goal of producing new peer-review emissions data and models necessary to backstop more aggressive policy and regulatory actions.
- FlareNet has also committed to continued technical contributions to standards development for flares through the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).
- Internationally, FlareNet is participating in ongoing discussions of EU black carbon action committee, where flares are understood to have important effects on Arctic environments.
- FlareNet is developing and deploying field-measurement technology that can be used to baseline emissions and build stronger business cases for specific mitigation actions.
Expected Outcomes
Key outcomes will include improved emissions inventories, quantitative emissions data and models to assess cost-benefits of specific mitigation actions, technologies to predict and measure emissions in the field, and technical support and analysis to enable emissions reduction projects.
Partners: Matthew Johnson, FlareNet Director and Canada Research Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Energy and Emissions Research Laboratory and Flaring Research Laboratory, Carleton University
Research Efforts to Control Greenhouse Gases Emissions from Livestock
Since
2013 Canada has four ongoing efforts to deal with Greenhouse Gas emissions from livestock.
Researchers associated with the University of Alberta are quantifying GHG emissions from 60
ranches in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. They are investigating the use of 5 adaptive
multi-paddock grazing approaches on GHG emissions.
Researchers associated with the University of Manitoba are investigating the impact of stacking BMPs as opposed to using them in isolation on GHG emissions on whole farm GHG emissions.
The University of Saskatchewan research team is investigating how to improve the nutritional value of grazed forages and the impact of non-bloat legume pastures on enteric methane production.
The University of Lethbridge is investigating the impact of adding biochar to feedlot beef cattle diets on GHG emissions from enteric fermentation and manure management.
How Canada is Measuring Effectiveness
Effectiveness is measured by how the results of the four research teams can be applied to promote sustainable agricultural production and mitigation information and technologies.
Expected Outcomes
Canada aims to promote sustainability of agricultural production in Canada and make Greenhouse Gas mitigation information and technologies available to farmers.