While methane only makes up 0.00017% (1.7 parts per million by volume) of the atmosphere, it traps a significant amount of heat, helping the planet remain warm and habitable. But as methane emissions increase, they accelerate climate change. Today, methane’s concentration in the atmosphere is around 2.5 times greater than pre-industrial levels, and it is growing.

The International Energy Agency says two characteristics determine the impact of different greenhouse gases on the climate: the length of time they remain in the atmosphere and their ability to absorb energy. Methane has a shorter atmospheric lifetime than CO2 (12 years compared with centuries), but it absorbs more energy while in the atmosphere, making it a potent greenhouse gas. How potent? Based on the global warming potential metric, which puts a ton of greenhouse-gas emissions into CO2-equivalent terms, methane rates 28x-36x over 100 years, but 84x-87x over a 20-year timeframe. Mitigating methane is seen as a high-priority step in the battle to limit global warming.

The war on methane is targeting the oil and gas industry and its production and transmission operations. Locating methane leaks by flying helicopters and airplanes over producing basins, gas processing plants, and pipeline hubs has now been expanded to include the use of satellites. As satellites become more accurate, they can be used to detect leaks in remote areas more effectively.

Tracking leaks this way is costly, requires extensive processing time, is infrequent, and can be disrupted by cloud cover. Installing low-cost sensors onsite that can trigger alarms when leaks develop is a more effective leak detection method. Sealing leaks captures lost output for sale rather than being lost to the atmosphere. The oil and gas industry should embrace constant leak monitoring than intermittent and less effective surveillance tools. The war on methane leaks is winnable and can be profitable for the industry.

For this Company Spotlight, we interviewed Earthview’s CEO (Bear Givhan) and CFO (Mike Minyard) about how their emissions sensor technology and data platform are enabling accurate and cost-effective continuous emissions monitoring. Earthview’s BluBird Continuous Environmental Monitoring System uses advanced sensors that send data to its cloud-based monitoring platform for visual analysis of emissions events at the production site or facility, helping customers in the oil & gas, waste, and agriculture industries detect, locate, quantify, and repair leaks at a fraction of the cost of competing offerings. For more information on Earthview, please visit earthview.io.

Background: Before co-founding Earthview in August 2019, Bear Givhan piloted research aircraft serving the oil & gas, waste, and agriculture industries. During his time there, he realized the inefficiencies, safety risks, and limitations the process of flying research aircraft over potentially…. READ MORE

Based in Greenville, South Carolina, Lincoln Terminals (“Lincoln”) is a leading provider of terminal services with an entrenched position in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, providing throughput and storage solutions for renewable fuels. Lincoln’s transloading facilities are located across four states which are uniquely focused on reducing carbon emissions through automation, and driver and transportation efficiency.

Related Press Release: Ara Partners Acquires Majority Interest in Lincoln Terminals

Exergy Energy, LLC (“Exergy”) is a software and asset management firm, that installs, owns and operates backup generator sets sized to power 100% of a facility’s load during times of power outages and peak utility usage. The Cummins, Inc. (“Cummins”) – Exergy partnership allows for the installation of Cummins power system solutions such as generator sets, energy storage systems, and switching equipment at the customer location to power the entire operation during grid outages or times of peak usage with no upfront capex investment by the customer.

Related Press Release: Cummins, Inc. Makes Minority Investment in Exergy Energy, LLC.

Jupiter Power (“Jupiter”) is a leading battery energy storage infrastructure platform with deep trading, analytics, development, finance, operations, and construction capabilities and unparalleled intellectual property in dispatch optimization. Jupiter is backed by EnCap Investments L.P., Yorktown Partners, and Mercuria Energy, and has offices in Austin and Houston, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois. Jupiter has a 655 MWh portfolio of commercially operating utility-scale battery energy storage projects, 340 MWh of projects currently in or near construction, and a pipeline of over 11,000 MW of new projects in active development.

Related Press Release: EnCap Investments Sells Jupiter Power to BlackRock

SitePro, Inc. ("SitePro") is a technology company focused on providing solutions and services for managing critical infrastructure operated by customers in the water and energy markets. SitePro's patented technology is based on a no-code software framework that allows complicated tasks to be done easily and remotely by a wide range of users, from on-site operational personnel to executive management team members, uniting everyone in one simple, easy-to-use platform. The $16 million round includes $5 million in growth capital to pursue business development and product marketing initiatives in two new verticals in which SitePro has established early traction in, the municipal/water utility market and the ag/irrigation market.

Related Press Release: SitePro, Inc Announces Closing Of $16 Million Financing Round

Founded in 2016, Solugen applies industrial biotechnology and green chemistry principles to re-design the production of a variety of end-use and novel chemicals. The Series D funding was led by climate tech investors Kennivik, Lowercarbon Capital, and Refactor Capital. The $200 million Series D funding allows Solugen to break ground on its second facility and start working on 3, 4, and 5 in the US and abroad. Additionally, the Series D financing will allow Solugen to significantly grow and advance its new molecule pipeline to enable an even wider range of carbon negative and low carbon solutions for its customers and for its end consumers.

Strata Clean Energy, LLC ("Strata") is a vertically integrated solar and storage development, engineering, procurement, and construction and operations & maintenance company. Strata has deep utility experience with more than 170 projects in operation, nearly 8 gigawatts of PV solar and 25GWh of standalone storage in development, and 4.2GW under management across the United States. Crossover Energy Partners supports renewable energy initiatives and decarbonization goals for municipalities, co-ops, community choice aggregations, investor-owned utilities, and large industrial entities by developing and executing innovative renewable solutions exceeding economic and sustainability objectives. The acquisition will enhance Strata's robust growth, leveraging key Crossover relationships with numerous clients.

Related Press Release: Strata Clean Energy Acquires Crossover Energy Partners

Syzygy Plasmonics (“Syzygy”) is a deep-decarbonization company that builds reactors that use light instead of heat to electrify chemical manufacturing and power a cleaner, safer world. Utilizing technology licensed from Rice University and novel engineering, Syzygy is commercializing a universal photocatalytic reactor platform. The Series C financing was led by Carbon Direct Capital with participation from Aramco Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, LOTTE CHEMICAL, and Toyota Ventures. The $76 million Series C funding will fund further development and delivery of all-electric reactor systems that eliminate fossil-based combustion from chemical manufacturing and reduce the carbon intensity of hydrogen, methanol, and fuel.

iRestore, is a no-code mobile workforce management platform company serving energy utilities. iRestore's mobile development team has built easy-to-use mobile applications for field operations from storm response to vegetation management, in use by North American utilities serving more than 25 million customers. Urbint is an AI platform company that predicts threats to workers and critical infrastructure to stop incidents before they happen. By leveraging real-world data and artificial intelligence, Urbint's software delivers a clear picture of risk up to a week in advance, and enables decision makers to take action in the right place, at the right time, before an incident occurs. Urbint’s acquisition of iRestor brings together incident prevention technology with best-in-class mobile field applications, increasing the adoption and effectiveness of AI for operational risk reduction.

WeaveGrid is a software company focused on building data products that enable the electric transportation transition. The $35 million Series B investment was led by Salesforce Ventures, with participation from new investors Activate Capital, Collaborative Fund, Emerson Collective, and MCJ Collective. The new funding will accelerate the development of WeaveGrid's product roadmap while continuing to improve the charging experience for EV drivers.

Energy Technology Musings

Seeking Methane Leaks – The Evil Cousin of CO2