new study published in the Journal of Remote Sensing has revealed that current satellite systems underestimate total CO₂ emissions from U.S. thermal power plants by 70% (±12%).
WTF ? How to “reduce” emissions, don’t count some 70% of your coal power plant emissions, job done /s
Can someone explain why we need satelites to estimate the CO2 emmissions of a power plant burning coal? Shouldn’t it be a pretty trivial and accurate calculation to get that number either from the weight of the coal that you burn or by the megawatt hours you generate?
Yes, but that relies on reporting by the power plants themselves. Obviously that’s not the most accurate thing.
Satellites offer an independent way to measure CO2 emissions not just from power plants but from all sources, all over the planet. So in that way it makes sense.
There are other ways to measure and those should be done as well, that way the data can be validated.