Certified or differentiated natural gas — an upgrade from the old “responsibly sourced gas” — is on the rise. More and more producers, pipeline companies, gas utilities and LNG exporters and buyers want their gas to be certified as having a lower emissions profile, and for a variety of reasons, chief among them achieving their ESG goals and winning over ESG-minded investors and customers. But while there’s a consensus that methane and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can and should be reduced significantly, there are differing views about the best ways to monitor wells, pipelines and other infrastructure for methane leaks, measure total emissions, and ensure that emission reductions are real and sustainable. In today’s RBN blog, we continue our deep dive on certified/differentiated gas with a look at the approaches the leading certification/differentiation entities and others are taking in emission monitoring, measuring and scoring.
The Canadian NATGAS Billboard is a weekly, early morning email and report that’s designed to keep physical and financial participants informed of the various fundamental components that make up the complex Canadian natural gas market. This service saves readers time and confusion by compiling all the most critical data points into one clear and concise report.
As we said in Part 1, the global push to reduce stray methane emissions from natural gas-related operations — from production wells to end-users — and to certify or differentiate gas as having a lower emissions profile has been accelerating and broadening. It now seems possible that within the next two or three years the majority of gas produced in the U.S. will be certified/differentiated regarding its methane intensity and other environmental qualities, and that large numbers of gas buyers will be buying certified/differentiated gas, or at least moving toward doing so. Further, a liquid certified gas market is developing, as are tracking systems to ensure that the certified gas sold is legit and fully accounted for, with no double-counting or fuzziness.
In all of our blogs about certified or differentiated gas — market participants usually prefer one term or the other — we like to point out a couple of important realities: (1) Methane (CH4) is a particularly potent GHG, with more than 80 times the atmospheric heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the short term (five to 20 years); and (2) For either certified/differentiated or plain-old natural gas, the volumes of CH4, CO2, and other GHGs generated from the production wellhead to the point where the gas is to be burned pale in comparison with the massive volumes of GHGs released by the combustion of that gas by end-users.
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About the song
“Time Has Come Today” was written by Joe and Willie Chambers and appears as the fifth song on side two of the Chambers Brothers’ debut album, The Time Has Come. Joe Chambers wrote the lyrics for the song after attending a lecture at UCLA by counterculture philosopher Timothy Leary. The song is a call to action in the fight for social justice during the tumultuous times of the late 1960s. It was originally recorded by the band in 1966, clocking in at a short 2:27 in length. The band re-recorded it in August 1967, with the full-length album version lasting just over 11 minutes. This version features a high hat with tambourine attached and a cowbell as the main percussive instruments in the song. It presents a lysergic whirlwind of sounds that includes heavy use of tape delay and reverb. The midsection of the tune has fuzzed-out guitar that sounds like angry hornets, amidst howling and screams, all drenched in tape delay that would have put Sam Phillips on a different astral plane with his experiments with slap back tape echo at his studio at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis in 1955. Did someone say, “more cowbell?”, well alrighty then ... my soul has been psychedelicized!
Released as a single (at 4:45 running time) in December 1967, it went to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. The full 11:06 LP version was a staple of progressive FM radio stations in the late 1960s, only rivaled by “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” for deejays in need of a bathroom break during airtime. The song has appeared in multiple motion pictures and television shows and has been covered by many artists over the years. Personnel on the record were: Lester Chambers (vocals, percussion), Joe and Willie Chambers (guitars), George Chambers (bass, vocals), and Brian Keenan (drums, percussion).
The Time Has Come LP was recorded in Los Angeles between August 1966 and August 1967, with David Rubinson producing. The album was released in November 1967 and went to #4 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Two singles were released from the LP.
The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band originally from Carthage, MS — they relocated to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s. They started their career playing folk and gospel music but switched to electric guitars and an edgier rock and soul sound in the Vietnam era. The group in its prime consisted of brothers George, Joe, Lester, and Willie Chambers, along with Brian Keenan. They have released seven studio albums, seven live albums, 10 compilation albums and 10 singles. The band still plays occasional shows in the Los Angeles area. Drummer Brian Keenan died in 1985 at the age of 42. Bassist George Chambers died in 2019 at the age of 88.
