Project Team: Central Africa Energy Team
Team Location: Mobile County Health Department, Mobile, Alabama
LCP over a SRTM image of slope and a Landsat 8 tile merged with one of biomass estimated from MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation and Leaf Area Indices in Luanda. Note that (1) the LCP diverts to avoid populous areas, (2) avoids prohibited areas, (3) runs parallel to railroads, and (4) avoids areas of high biomass density. Image Credit: Central Africa Energy Team.
Authors:
Amber Jones, Project Lead (William Carey University)
Charles White (University of Southern Mississippi)
Christopher Castillo (University of South Alabama)
Emmanuel Hitimana (University of North Dakota)
Kenny Nguyen (University of South Alabama)
Shikher Mishra (University of South Alabama)
Walt Clark (University of South Alabama)
Mentors/Advisors:
Dr. Bernard Eichold (Mobile County Health Department)
Dr. Kenton Ross (NASA DEVELOP, National Science Advisor)
Joe Spruce (NASA Stennis Space Center)
James Smoot (NASA Stennis Space Center)
Dr. Maria Kalcic (NASA Stennis Space Center)
Edward Byers (Planet Earth Institute)
Past/Other Contributors:
Dr. Feng Chi Hsu (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA] National Geophysical Data Center)
Dr. Mikhail Zhizhin (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center)
Nadiege Meyo (World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction public-private partnership)
Jason B. Jones (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Research and Technology Solutions)
Abstract:
Much of Central Africa’s economy is centered on oil production. Oil deposits in this region tend to lie below vast amounts of compressed natural gas. The latter is often flared off during oil extraction due to a lack of the infrastructure needed to utilize it for productive energy generation. Though gas flaring is discouraged by many due to its contributions to greenhouse emissions, it represents a waste process and is rarely tracked or recorded in the region. In contrast to this energy waste, roughly 80 percent of Africa’s population lacks access to electricity and in turn uses biomass such as wood for heat and light. In addition to the dangers incurred from collecting and using biomass, the practice commonly leads to ecological change, primarily through deforestation near urban areas.
The objective of this project was to gain insight on domestic energy usage in Angola, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. This was done through a remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based analysis of deforestation, an estimation of gas flared, and a suitability study for the infrastructure needed to realize the natural gas resources. The energy from potential natural gas production was compared to the energy equivalent of the biomass being harvested. A site suitability study for natural gas pipeline routes from flare sites to populous locations was conducted to assess the feasibility of utilizing natural gas for domestic energy needs. Results from an accumulated cost grid and a least cost path (LCP) showed the efficiency of using GIS for mapping a route to multiple destinations when considering geographic and economic variables. Deforestation results from 2002- 2014 demonstrated the decrease in biomass over the years for Angola and effectively located the main areas of deforestation on the central plateau and along the coast. A density raster for gas flares was utilized to accumulate the volume from a flow rate estimated over a year’s worth of data. Analyses, in terms of methods and results, were shared with project partners, as well as this project’s open source approach to assessing components of the region’s energy sector.