How many...
Rose Bowl's of hot air is emitted in the House of Commons on a daily basis?
Can el Reg put an FOI in for this?
We're delighted to report that Phys.org has adopted the "Rose Bowl" standard for quantifying improbably large amounts of gas. In this report on the Aliso Canyon gas well blow-out which spewed vast quantities of methane into the Californian atmosphere, before finally being capped on 11 February, the website explains that at the …
Good job there's no such thing as a greenhouse gas in El Reg land, because you wouldn't want stadiums full of one that's up to 100 times more greenhousey than CO2, released into the atmosphere.
Don't worry, there is still a need for even more stadiums. Estimates of gas leakage from the Texas Barnett Shale region are about 60,000 kg/h over 25,000 wells. A little more than the California leak at its peak. Then there is the Eagle Ford Shale which probably leaks about the same per well. At about two and a half years to build each stadium I predict a bright future for this industry.
Shouldn't there be some indication of pressure as well? One Rose Bowl in space is not a lot of gas while one Rose Bowl at the pressure of a standard ??? What is the El-Reg standard for Pressure?
A Derived value for 1 atmosphere is 1430.87 Norris per nanoWales*
Or have I just inflated the importance of the pressure in this situation
* If my maths is correct! Oh look! It's Weekend o'clock.
No question it was A Very Bad Thing, and - yes - we should strive to reduce methane emissions as a top priority since they've got such a large multiplier over CO2. Such things must be discouraged. Etc. Etc.
But reportedly its impact is clearly insignificant on the global scale. Mostly because it was a relatively short term source (as opposed to endless). It doesn't begin to compete with other methane sources in the long run. Reportedly...
If you dislike paragraph 2, then please reread paragraph 1.
Time to be a pedant. Its not a 'gas well', its a 'gas storage facility'. Big difference. We use these facilities to store fuel during slack periods so that its available for peak periods.
Think of it as a set of giant subterranean gasholders.
All the fuss happened because the gas was standard odorized gas like you get coming through your meter so people noticed it. Individual bores have failed before, they do so every decade or two, but this one was noticeable because someone had parked an upscale housing development on its doorstep. These homes were sold on the bucolic lifestyle overlooking the San Fernando Valley with absolutely no mention of the facility (or a rather large landfill) being 'just over the ridge'.
Big cities need big infrastructure.
As mentioned above, the obviously imperial measurement, the 'Rose Bowl' (stupidly-shaped-football stadium) is marginally bigger than your average gran's 'rose bowl' (yes gran, they're lovely...) This could cause great confusion, especially when considering climatic wobbliness and the granhouse effect (usually very warm unless the gas price vs pension ratio is too high ...)
El Reg must stick to its already well defined standards - The Wembley Stadium, Mellenium Dome or Blue Whale and, on the smaller side of the equation, the bathtub, fruit bowl, kettle or mug (teacups are so pre-decimal!)
doing thousands of times more environmental damage than all of the clean VW Diesel engines in the world. Neither the EPA nor CARB have not threatened any of the gas companies with billion dollar fines as they have VW. Why is this? Reports indicate there are at least dozens of serious methane leaks throughout the U.S.