To put this in perspective: the US emits 6,673 million metric tons of CO2e* each year [1]. That's 18.2 million per day.
EDIT - I also had some numbers wrong! I was using the total leakage as the daily leakage.
This leak is 110,000 lbs CH4/hr, 50 metric tons CH4/hour, 1200 metric tons CH4 per day, 30,000 metric tons per day of CO2e.
That's .16% of our nation-wide emissions. Or, about as much as a half-million people.
*(CO2-equivalent, abbreviated CO2e, is used to normalize emissions of different gases. They are weighted based on their Global Warming Potential (GWP), which is a measure of how effective they are as a greenhouse gas. CO2 has a GWP of 1; Methane has a GWP of 25.)
[1] http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/usinventoryre...
EDIT - I also had some numbers wrong! I was using the total leakage as the daily leakage.
This leak is 110,000 lbs CH4/hr, 50 metric tons CH4/hour, 1200 metric tons CH4 per day, 30,000 metric tons per day of CO2e.
That's .16% of our nation-wide emissions. Or, about as much as a half-million people.
*(CO2-equivalent, abbreviated CO2e, is used to normalize emissions of different gases. They are weighted based on their Global Warming Potential (GWP), which is a measure of how effective they are as a greenhouse gas. CO2 has a GWP of 1; Methane has a GWP of 25.)
[1] http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/usinventoryre...