Gas Monitoring Holds Key to Addressing ‘Last Mile’ of UK Methane Hotspots, Says Expert

With new emissions analysis revealing a number of methane hotspots across the UK, an environmental technology expert is highlighting the potential for specialist gas monitoring to help address this challenge.

The analysis, conducted by The Guardian and Watershed Investigations[1], was based on emissions data from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) and Watershed pollution map. It identified 100 hotspots, including landfill sites, farmland, and the UK’s last active coal mine as major sources of methane emissions.

Following this development, James Jones, Head of Gas Analyser and Detection Products at QED Environmental Systems, is calling attention to how gas monitoring technology can help legacy sites take control of emissions hotspots that may otherwise go under the radar.

He said: “As a colourless and odourless gas, it is rather easy for methane leaks to go undetected without the proper equipment. However, with a global warming potential 84 times higher than that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, it is critical that landfills, farmland and other applications such as power stations have both full visibility and control of their methane emissions.

“This is best achieved through specialist gas monitoring equipment, deployed as part of a comprehensive emissions monitoring programme. Given the significant global warming potential of this gas, this will not just be critical to meeting the UK’s target of slashing methane emissions by a third by 2030, but to achieving wider Net Zero targets as a whole.”

According to the UK’s latest greenhouse gas emissions figures, methane made up 14% of the UK’s total carbon footprint in 2022, making it the second largest polluter behind carbon dioxide[1]. However, with methane emissions often far more diffuse in nature, assessing the true scale of the challenge, and in turn addressing it, can often be difficult.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/03/uk-methane-hotspots-landfills-last-coalmine