Please join Case Associates on Tuesday, March 24th from 9-10:30 am at Muriel Finegold’s home at 72 Mount Vernon Street in Boston to learn about the methane leak problem in Boston.
We will have two fabulous experts explain the problem and together we will discuss possible solutions. Feel free to invite others you think might be interested and please RSVP to Ana Maria Camargo at ania.camargo@gmail.com, or telephone her at 617-227-1711 so we know how many people are coming.
Methane Leak Issue:
Natural gas pipes buried under the streets can begin to leak as they age. The natural gas that seeps out is potentially dangerous, kills trees, wastes the ratepayers’ money, releases volatile organic compounds hazardous to human health and is a potent greenhouse gas.
The Boston Globe recently reported that: “the amount of methane leaking from natural gas pipelines, storage facilities, and other sources in the Boston area is as much as three times greater than previously estimated — a loss that contributes to the region’s high energy costs and adds potent greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The leaks would be enough to heat as many as 200,000 homes a year and are valued at $90 million a year, the Harvard study authors said.”
Our speakers:
Audrey Schulman, HEET Co-founder and President
HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team) is a Cambridge-based non-profit organization with a mission to catalyze community engagement and develop hands-on educational opportunities to advance energy efficiency skills and clean energy knowledge to achieve climate stability and create resilient communities. In 2014, Heet organized the “Squeaky Leaks†project to map natural gas leaks along public streets in Cambridge and Somerville. HEET recruited Bob Ackley of Gas Safety USA, a professional with 30 years experience, to do the mapping. Ackley drove down every street in Cambridge and Somerville with a GPS- enabled high precision methane analyzer (natural gas is 95% methane), recording any elevated levels of atmospheric methane. The data was mapped to Google Earth. They found 780 leaks with released methane that damages the climate more than the combined emissions of all the cars driven in the two cities.
Joel Wool, Clean Energy Campaign Organizer for Clean Water Action
Joel joined Clean Water Action in 2011 to support work on clean energy. He now serves as a campaign organizer focusing on energy efficiency, natural gas infrastructure and coal phase-out. An alumnus of AmeriCorps and the JOIN for Justice Fellowship, Joel believes strongly in amplifying the voices of communities. Joel worked on Mayor Walsh’s campaign for mayor advising him on sustainability issues.
