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Analysis of Methane Leaks in Salem, MA: A presentation for the City of Salem community
(2017)
Abstract
At the end of 2016, National Grid, Salem's natural gas utility, reported 62 unrepaired gas leaks across the city. These were mapped by the Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET).
Between August 28 and September 13, 2016, Bob Ackley and Nathan Phillips collected data on ambient methane concentrations along streets across the City of Salem.
The map displays 79,091 unique measurement locations colored by the date on which they were collected.
The line graph shows methane concentrations for each of the 79,091 observations, in sequential order, across the six days of measurements.
While over 90 percent of all observed values were below 0.15 ppm, maximum daily values ranged from 1.72 to 12.142 ppm, which, on average, was over 100 times the median daily values.
The question raised here is: Which observations represent ‘leaks’? How high is too high?
Disciplines
Publication Date
2017
Citation Information
Marcos Luna. "Analysis of Methane Leaks in Salem, MA: A presentation for the City of Salem community" (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/marcos-luna/56/