An empirical analysis of surface-level methane emission from anthropogenic sources in India

Abstract

This study presents an empirical analysis of surface-level methane emission from anthropogenic sources in two major Indian cities. Three categories of sources were considered- (1) fossil fuel exploration and energy production (2) agriculture and livestock farming and (3) waste processing and disposal. In each city, specific sources were identified and mapped to the nearest methane monitoring station. As these sources were active for varying periods, treatment and control periods were designed by partitioning the observation period based on the activity of sources. This experimental design framework was used to formulate and test hypotheses on contribution of these sources to methane emission. Given the limitations and statistical properties (non-normal residuals and heteroskedasticity) of the data a robust alternative to classical analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test three hypotheses. Tests confirmed that these sources contributed significantly to methane emission. Specifically, emission from MSW disposal facilities was substantial as evident from the data in Delhi. In Bengaluru, aggregate emission from following sources was found significant- (1) a diesel-based power plant and a landfill (2) a sewage treatment plant and a landfill. This empirical work compliments previous studies on greenhouse gas emissions, which were based on climate models and satellite remote sensing data. This analysis of natural experiment ends with recommendations to manage methane emission from anthropogenic sources.