Geology Methane Paper - Christian Strawmier - December 5th, 2022
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
University of Maryland, College Park *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
123
Subject
Geology
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
5
Uploaded by ConstableHeatCrow15
Christian Strawmier
Geology Final Paper
December 5th, 2022
Introduction
Methane, or CO2, is a greenhouse gas that is created through the seeping of underground
deposits, the decay of human and plant waste as well as other factors that produce the gas.
The greenhouse gas effect is a natural process that allows for the earth to maintain heat to
sustain life.
However, in recent years, humans have offset the balance that the earth had
originally put into place.
This is causing more heat to be trapped within the planet rather than
the amount that would normally be trapped, causing issues such as ozone decay, ice cap melt,
as well as the warming of the planet.
According to National Grid, “human activity has displaced
the natural balance. Large amounts of methane is released by cattle farming, landfill waste
dumps, rice farming and the traditional production of oil and gas”(Reflection on Greenhouse
Gases).
Methane gas is viewed as one of the most deadly greenhouse gasses because “Over a
20-year period, it is 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide”(Chang, 2021).
Throughout the University of Maryland, methane is very prominent within the sewage system
due to the waste of humans on campus. The methane output can also be traced to buildings
that would use oil, coal or anything related with livestock.
Due to the greenhouse gas effect,
methane consumption on campus produces emissions that may harm the ecology.
This causes
certain places around the campus to produce higher levels of methane than others based solely
on the location of the pipeline.
This would relate to buildings that would have humans living
within them; causing emissions to be higher because of human waste.
The pipeline’s release of
methane is hypothesized to be directly related to the location and time of the release of
methane.
Results
The results of the experiment show that there are sections and buildings within the University
of Maryland that have much higher rates of methane emissions than others.
These results also
show that certain sections and buildings produce higher and lower emissions based on the time
of day.
The results show that methane emissions rise and fall with the regular times of the day
that people consume food. This can be visualized with
Figure 1
.
Methane Emissions on the University of Maryland
Figure 1
Within the figure, blue dots are scattered throughout the campus of the University of Maryland.
These red dots represent areas where methane was collected.
The size of the dots reflects the
concentration of the methane at the specific location at which it was drawn from.
One of the
biggest concentrations found within the experiment was the Paint Branch Trail sewer.
This dot
can be found on the map furthest to the right.
This site seems to peak in concentrations at
around 9-10 am/pm as seen in
Figure 2
.
Figure 2
The highest concentration found at this site was 287.9 ppm.
This peak was at around 10pm.
One of the next largest concentrations would be the dot directly to the left of the previous Paint
Branch Trail dot beforehand.
This site, called the Kim Building or Engineering Building, seems to
peak at around 11 am and 5 pm.
The highest concentration found at this location is 413.76
ppm.
This reflects the smaller amounts of emissions given throughout the rest of the day,
unlike the Paint Branch Trail dot.
All the data given shows that methane emissions rise and fall
based on location and time.
The reason for the large circles around certain areas on the map is
due to them being high traffic locations.
These high traffic locations cause higher methane
emissions due to human waste as well as the possible use of fossil fuels within the building. The
largest concentration of circles appears on the east side of campus which is located next to a lot
of residential buildings as seen in
Figure 1
. This is where most bathrooms are located.
Therefore, due to the increase in sewage within the buildings there is a spike in methane
release.
Overall, the dots around campus focus around residential areas or places where most
people on the campus would live or exist for a certain amount of time to produce waste.
Discussion
Overviewing the data, a pattern is clearly shown throughout the set of coordinates given.
The
data shows that buildings that have people living within them have the highest amount of
methane emissions.
This is due to human waste causing methane emissions within the pipeline
on campus.
This specifically relates to the Paint Branch Trail that had the highest amount of
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
emissions compared to every other location.
This corresponds with the fact that people live
very close to the sewer manhole in the apartment buildings.
This would correlate with the high
emissions due to people living within the building.
Spikes in the data indicate that methane
emissions rise and fall as people go on throughout their day.
These spikes directly correlate
with the times in which most people would be using their apartments; breakfast, lunch and
dinner.
While these spikes are sharp, there are still remnants of methane after the spike as well
as beforehand due to most people going at around the same time and not all at once.
This
correlates to when people are most likely to be actively doing things within their apartments.
The data reflects similar patterns in other locations that are close to other buildings that would
have residents living in them.
Most notably is the emissions from the sewers near the dining
halls on campus.
These concentrations are very high when most people consume meals.
This is
very similar to the sewers close to the apartment buildings around campus.
Statement
The production of methane seemingly must occur for humans to live on the planet.
A way to
use this methane in a productive way would be to implement a way to capture the methane
emissions and convert it into energy.
This would allow for the emissions to create a positive
impact on society and would allow for humans to gain more from their emissions rather than
simply warming the planet.
This would also allow for more green ways for humans to live their
lives.
This would correlate with electric cars producing far less emissions than a gas powered
car.
A method to recapture these methane emissions would allow the warming of the planet to
slow and would possibly allow for the effects of climate change to possibly reverse.
This would
allow for ecosystems on the planet, specifically in colder climates, to possibly be able to return
to how they originally were.
This energy source would
allow for less fossil fuels to be used due
to the reuse of the methane emissions and would benefit not only the planet but humans as
well.
Chung, Tiy. “Methane Emissions Are Driving Climate Change. Here's How to Reduce Them.”
UNEP
, 20 Aug. 2021, https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/methane-
emissions-are-driving-climate-change-heres-how-reduce-them#:~:text=Methane%20is
%20also%20a%20powerful,keeping%20began%20in%20the%201980s.
“Reflections on Greenhouse Gases.”
National Grid Group
,
https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/what-are-greenhouse-
gases#:~:text=Greenhouse%20gases%20(also%20known%20as,greenhouse%20gases
%20in%20the%20atmosphere.