Today, Maxar’s methane emission measurement technology was named to Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas list as an honorable mention in the Climate category, which recognizes sustainable designs, innovative products, bold social initiatives and other creative projects that are changing the way we work, live and interact with the world.
Maxar’s methane emission measurement technology precisely detects, quantifies and localizes methane emissions anywhere in the world from space to within a five-meter radius of the source. Using Maxar's world-class satellites that can image thousands of square kilometers at a time (for example, WorldView-3 imaged the entire country of Qatar in a single collection, which was about 11,500 sq km or slightly smaller than Connecticut), and a new proprietary algorithm developed by Maxar data scientists, this solution can help businesses and governments more easily achieve global methane reduction ambitions. By pinpointing methane emissions with Maxar’s solution, businesses can save time locating the emissions, focus efforts in the field on repairing them, and reduce safety risks to field crews. Businesses can also ensure they’re meeting environmental regulations, in compliance with industrial standards and making informed decisions about their mitigation efforts. Meanwhile, governments can receive similar insights at a regional or industry level, which can aid in establishing measurement baselines and objectives for new regulations.
Maxar’s methane emission measurement technology represents a significant, unique tool that can be used to help mitigate one of the biggest accelerants of global warming.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that methane gas can trap up to 80 times more greenhouse gas emissions than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its release. Over the past few years, emissions have continued to increase, in part because methane is a notoriously difficult-to-monitor gas. Because methane isn’t visible to the naked eye, automatically detecting methane emissions or leaks, locating their source and quantifying their size has historically been difficult to do without expensive sensor-based monitoring systems.
For this year’s World Changing Ideas Awards, a panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 2,200 entries across a wide range of categories. See the full list.
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