In the United Kingdom, flaring still accounts for around 20 - 25% of all UK offshore emissions.
From a global perspective, flaring releases 350 million tons of carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere every year, with the
UK's share of this believed to be around 1.6 billion cubic meters. As
well as contributing significantly to global warming, flaring is
deemed a complete waste of valuable energy resources, especially
considering the present concerns over diminishing energy reserves.
It allows more harmful gases to be converted into CO2 during the combustion process. Since more than 90% of gas flared offshore is methane (CH4), which is over 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 100 year period, the alternative of simply releasing the methane into the atmosphere without burning and converting it to CO2 would be much more harmful to the environment.
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