Methane
noun
A colorless, odorless gas that is used as a fuel.
Methane is the main component of natural gas used in many homes for heating and cooking.
Often appears as...
- methane gas
- methane emissions
Usage tips
Technical
noun
A greenhouse gas that is produced by plants and animals, and also by human activities like farming and fossil fuel extraction.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
Often appears as...
- methane levels
- methane concentration
Usage tips
Academic
noun
A colorless, odorless gas that is used as a fuel.
Methane is the main component of natural gas used in many homes for heating and cooking.
Often appears as...
- methane gas
- methane emissions
Usage tips
Technical
noun
A greenhouse gas that is produced by plants and animals, and also by human activities like farming and fossil fuel extraction.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
Often appears as...
- methane levels
- methane concentration
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Home Uses
Methane is often mentioned when talking about domestic energy and utility services.
Many households switch to methane for an affordable heating solution.
Pro Tip 2/3Industrial Fuel
In industrial contexts, methane is commonly referred to as a primary fuel source for various processes.
Factories often utilize methane to power large-scale machinery.
Pro Tip 3/3Odor Added
Though naturally odorless, a smell is added to methane for safety so leaks can be detected.
The distinct odor of methane in our home alerted us to a gas leak.
Pro Tip 1/3Home Uses
Methane is often mentioned when talking about domestic energy and utility services.
Many households switch to methane for an affordable heating solution.
Pro Tip 2/3Industrial Fuel
In industrial contexts, methane is commonly referred to as a primary fuel source for various processes.
Factories often utilize methane to power large-scale machinery.
Pro Tip 3/3Odor Added
Though naturally odorless, a smell is added to methane for safety so leaks can be detected.
The distinct odor of methane in our home alerted us to a gas leak.
Pro Tip 1/3Home Uses
Methane is often mentioned when talking about domestic energy and utility services.
Many households switch to methane for an affordable heating solution.
Pro Tip 2/3Industrial Fuel
In industrial contexts, methane is commonly referred to as a primary fuel source for various processes.
Factories often utilize methane to power large-scale machinery.
Pro Tip 3/3Odor Added
Though naturally odorless, a smell is added to methane for safety so leaks can be detected.
The distinct odor of methane in our home alerted us to a gas leak.
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Video examples
Jonathan Foley: The...
or from all the world's planes, trains and automobiles. Most agricultural emissions come from tropical deforestation, methane from animals and rice fields, and nitrous oxide from over-fertilizing. There is nothing we do that transforms the world more than agriculture. And there's nothing we do that is more crucial to our survival. Here's the dilemma
Video examples
Avoiding desertification...
you respond to someone who says that that can't be a healthy way to go really there are three issues that come up the amount of methane put out by livestock whether or not carbon can be absorbed in the vast grassland soils of the world that are our grain producing source
Video examples
Nathalie Cabrol: How...
It has helped to understand the past climate of Mars and its evolution, but also its habitability potential. Our most recent rover on Mars has discovered traces of organics. Yeah, there are organics at the surface of Mars. And it also discovered traces of methane.
Video examples
Uranus 101 PIPE National...
is a worldwide ocean of ices made of water, ammonia, and methane, the chemical behind the planet's cool blue color. This icy composition prevents Uranus from emitting much heat compared to other planets, making the blue world the solar system's coldest.
Video examples
How a single-celled...
carbon dioxide, and methane. Almost all oxygen was locked up in molecules like water, not floating around in the air. The oceans were populated by anaerobic microbes. Those are simple, unicellular life forms that thrive without oxygen
Video examples
What’s in the air you...
which contains a world of possibilities. This small slice of air is composed of numerous small particles including pollen, fungal spores, and liquid droplets, alongside trace gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
Video examples
TIL: Life Could Exist on...
anywhere on earth that we find liquid water and other sources of nutrients and energy we find life so we're studying bubbles of methane that are coming out of the Earth's crust in the deep sea
Video examples
Chasing Microbes: The...
there are places all over the world where methane is coming out of the seafloor this is kind of concerning because methane is a very strong greenhouse gas we think a lot about carbon dioxide
Video examples
The mysterious origins...
Elements and compounds essential to life include hydrogen, methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, phosphates, and ammonia. In order for these ingredients to comingle and react with each other,
Video examples
Filming Inside a Cave...
long as it would usually and it stinks to high heaven up there when you take your mask off you get this overpowering smell of methane and ammonia
Video examples
Jonathan Foley: The...
or from all the world's planes, trains and automobiles. Most agricultural emissions come from tropical deforestation, methane from animals and rice fields, and nitrous oxide from over-fertilizing. There is nothing we do that transforms the world more than agriculture. And there's nothing we do that is more crucial to our survival. Here's the dilemma
Video examples
Avoiding desertification...
you respond to someone who says that that can't be a healthy way to go really there are three issues that come up the amount of methane put out by livestock whether or not carbon can be absorbed in the vast grassland soils of the world that are our grain producing source
Video examples
Nathalie Cabrol: How...
It has helped to understand the past climate of Mars and its evolution, but also its habitability potential. Our most recent rover on Mars has discovered traces of organics. Yeah, there are organics at the surface of Mars. And it also discovered traces of methane.
Video examples
Uranus 101 PIPE National...
is a worldwide ocean of ices made of water, ammonia, and methane, the chemical behind the planet's cool blue color. This icy composition prevents Uranus from emitting much heat compared to other planets, making the blue world the solar system's coldest.
Video examples
How a single-celled...
carbon dioxide, and methane. Almost all oxygen was locked up in molecules like water, not floating around in the air. The oceans were populated by anaerobic microbes. Those are simple, unicellular life forms that thrive without oxygen
Video examples
What’s in the air you...
which contains a world of possibilities. This small slice of air is composed of numerous small particles including pollen, fungal spores, and liquid droplets, alongside trace gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
Video examples
TIL: Life Could Exist on...
anywhere on earth that we find liquid water and other sources of nutrients and energy we find life so we're studying bubbles of methane that are coming out of the Earth's crust in the deep sea
Video examples
Chasing Microbes: The...
there are places all over the world where methane is coming out of the seafloor this is kind of concerning because methane is a very strong greenhouse gas we think a lot about carbon dioxide
Video examples
The mysterious origins...
Elements and compounds essential to life include hydrogen, methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, phosphates, and ammonia. In order for these ingredients to comingle and react with each other,
Video examples
Filming Inside a Cave...
long as it would usually and it stinks to high heaven up there when you take your mask off you get this overpowering smell of methane and ammonia
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Prince Charles
English Royalty
We need to be realistic. There is very little we can do now to stop the ice from disappearing from the North Pole in the summer. And we probably cannot prevent the melting of the permafrost and the resulting release of methane. In addition, I fear that we may be too late to help the oceans maintain their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
Quote examples
Thomas Friedman
American Journalist
Natural gas emits only half the carbon dioxide of coal when burned, but if methane leaks when oil companies extract it from the ground in a sloppy manner - methane is far more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - it can wipe out all the advantages of natural gas over coal.
Quote examples
James Lovelock
English Scientist
Gas is almost a give-away in the U.S. at the moment. They've gone for fracking in a big way. This is what makes me very cross with the greens for trying to knock it... Let's be pragmatic and sensible and get Britain to switch everything to methane. We should be going mad on it.
Quote examples
Jane Velez-Mitchell
American Journalist
Meat production is one of the leading causes of climate change because of the destruction of the rainforest for grazing lands, the massive amounts of methane produced by farm animals and the huge amounts of water, grain and other resources required to feed animals.
Quote examples
Mark Walport
British Scientist
Of course methane is a fossil fuel, but as long as it is burned efficiently and fugitive emissions of methane gas are minimised, it is a less harmful fossil fuel than coal and oil and is an important way-station on the global journey towards low-carbon energy.
Quote examples
Michelle Lujan Grisham
American Politician
With an investment in our state's energy infrastructure to capture methane, we will create jobs, increase revenue for our schools, and protect the health of workers and communities, all while reducing harmful emissions that are contributing to climate change.
Quote examples
Ramez Naam
American Writer
Whether it's through introduction of the right gut bacteria or direct modification of the genes of cows and pigs, I think we're going to have to introduce something like this into our livestock - a way to consume the methane rather than releasing it.
Quote examples
Sylvia Earle
American Scientist
The sudden release of five million barrels of oil, enormous quantities of methane and two million gallons of toxic dispersants into an already greatly stressed Gulf of Mexico will permanently alter the nature of the area.
Quote examples
Ellen Stofan
American Scientist
Water-based life is very much an Earth-centric view, and we can push the envelope on that here in our own solar system. We have the methane seas of Titan.
Quote examples
Josh Fox
American Director
When you can light your water on fire due to methane contamination in your ground water, what else can you do but laugh?
Quote examples
Prince Charles
English Royalty
We need to be realistic. There is very little we can do now to stop the ice from disappearing from the North Pole in the summer. And we probably cannot prevent the melting of the permafrost and the resulting release of methane. In addition, I fear that we may be too late to help the oceans maintain their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
Quote examples
Thomas Friedman
American Journalist
Natural gas emits only half the carbon dioxide of coal when burned, but if methane leaks when oil companies extract it from the ground in a sloppy manner - methane is far more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - it can wipe out all the advantages of natural gas over coal.
Quote examples
James Lovelock
English Scientist
Gas is almost a give-away in the U.S. at the moment. They've gone for fracking in a big way. This is what makes me very cross with the greens for trying to knock it... Let's be pragmatic and sensible and get Britain to switch everything to methane. We should be going mad on it.
Quote examples
Jane Velez-Mitchell
American Journalist
Meat production is one of the leading causes of climate change because of the destruction of the rainforest for grazing lands, the massive amounts of methane produced by farm animals and the huge amounts of water, grain and other resources required to feed animals.
Quote examples
Mark Walport
British Scientist
Of course methane is a fossil fuel, but as long as it is burned efficiently and fugitive emissions of methane gas are minimised, it is a less harmful fossil fuel than coal and oil and is an important way-station on the global journey towards low-carbon energy.
Quote examples
Michelle Lujan Grisham
American Politician
With an investment in our state's energy infrastructure to capture methane, we will create jobs, increase revenue for our schools, and protect the health of workers and communities, all while reducing harmful emissions that are contributing to climate change.
Quote examples
Ramez Naam
American Writer
Whether it's through introduction of the right gut bacteria or direct modification of the genes of cows and pigs, I think we're going to have to introduce something like this into our livestock - a way to consume the methane rather than releasing it.
Quote examples
Sylvia Earle
American Scientist
The sudden release of five million barrels of oil, enormous quantities of methane and two million gallons of toxic dispersants into an already greatly stressed Gulf of Mexico will permanently alter the nature of the area.
Quote examples
Ellen Stofan
American Scientist
Water-based life is very much an Earth-centric view, and we can push the envelope on that here in our own solar system. We have the methane seas of Titan.
Quote examples
Josh Fox
American Director
When you can light your water on fire due to methane contamination in your ground water, what else can you do but laugh?
Example 1 of 10
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