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wili_hybrid, flickr
Methane is a greenhouse gas with a high global warming potential. Methane is more than 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 100-year period. The amount of methane in the Earth's atmosphere has soared in recent times, up by about 150% since 1750.
Slightly over half of methane emissions are attributed to human activity, including landfills, natural gas and petroleum systems, agriculture, coal mining, stationary and mobile combustion, wastewater treatment and industrial processes. Belching commercial cattle alone create 16 percent of the world's annual atmospheric methane emissions. Methane is produced naturally in natural gas fields in the Earth's crust and via fermentation of organic matter and is also concentrated in deposits in the ocean floor.
Methane's abundance and clean-burning qualities make it an important, attractive energy source. It is non-toxic, although it is highly flammable and even explosive when combined with air. Atmospheric methane’s relatively short lifetime, coupled with its potency as a greenhouse gas, make it a candidate for mitigating global warming in the near future.
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