Natural Gas Leaks: Automating Visualization to Drastically Reduce Leak Detection Costs

Event Status
Scheduled

*Note: This talk will be presented remotely via Zoom and on the Energy Institute's YouTube channel. See access details after the bio.

Bio: Dr. Brandt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University. His research focuses on reducing the greenhouse gas impacts of energy production and consumption. This includes the life cycle assessment of petroleum production and natural gas extraction, with a particular emphasis on unconventional fossil fuel resources such as oil sands, oil shale and hydraulically fractured oil and gas resources. Dr. Brandt also researches computational optimization of low emissions technologies, such as carbon dioxide capture, solar thermal, and solar photovoltaic output prediction. Dr. Brandt received his Ph.D. from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

AbstractUsing infrared cameras to visualize methane plumes has a variety of advantages compared to other leak detection options. Such cameras are widely used in industry today, and it is believed that automating the detection of methane plumes from imagery or video signals is possible and feasible at scale using current technologies. Automation will speed the detection process and greatly reduce labor costs, making detection at least 10x cheaper than current EPA methods. The components needed to build this system are available and commercial, or have been open-sourced from the academic community. In this talk, Dr. Brandt will outline a plan for developing such a system and talk about possible pitfalls and challenges.

Note: This talk will be presented remotely via Zoom Webinar and on the Energy Institute's YouTube channel. If using Zoom, viewers must register for an account with Zoom and log in to Zoom using that registration in order to use the meeting link and participate. Faculty, students and staff of UT, please use your personal UT Zoom account. 

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https://utexas.zoom.us/s/91742797303

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Date and Time
Sept. 29, 2020, 5:15 to 6:15 p.m.
Location
Online via Zoom Meeting and YouTube livestream
Event tags
UT Energy Symposium