Orbio Earth is giving satellites a new purpose: reducing methane.

The big idea:

• Energy companies are a huge emitter of methane but have very little understanding of where their methane emissions specifically come from
• This is because its hard to identify and build data around methane leaks or other sources of outsized emissions
• Orbio uses satellite imaging technology to be able to accurately assess exactly where methane emissions are coming from and formulate a plan on how to deal with them

How it works:

• Orbio’s analytics model generates data based on using eight different satellites to look at an energy asset every four days
• They then reconcile that specific data against emission benchmarks
• This allows Orbio to give an energy company a detailed look into exactly where their emissions are coming from, how it compares to energy standards and how to reduce it

Why it matters:

• The push towards net zero has put enormous pressure on energy companies to actively address their methane emissions
• Eliminating the methane emissions of energy producers would have as much positive impact on the environment as removing all vehicles globally
• There are more than ten million energy assets across the globe that currently produce methane, so the scale of potential impact is enormous

Going deeper:

• Orbio, who is backed by Y Combinator, is one of the many new startups emerging to tackle methane emissions
• Methane mitigation is an under funded area of climate tech, with roughly 2% of all climate based venture funding going to startups working on reducing methane

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