Natural gas leaks and explosions can result in deadly and destructive crisis situations for homeowners, businesses, and entire communities.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund, “In the vast web of natural gas pipes beneath America’s streets, leaks are a persistent challenge, with significant implications for our climate. Major leaks are typically fixed promptly. But when sufficient resources aren’t provided for repairs, other leaks can go on for months or years.”
Who can forget that in September 2018, excessive pressure in natural gas lines caused a series of explosions and fires that impacted or destroyed 40 homes in three Massachusetts towns.
One networking and edge technology company based in New Hampshire has announced it has partnered with Heath Consultants on the development and roll out of natural gas leak detection solutions leveraging LoRaWAN networking.
With over 6,000 miles of aging, leak-prone infrastructure, Massachusetts bears a disproportionate share of the country’s leak-prone gas pipelines. The state has some of the oldest natural gas infrastructure in the country, with pipes that leak methane—a potent greenhouse gas. The state, however, has also led the nation in transparency of gas leaks reporting and in prioritizing repair of higher environmental impact leaks.
Salem State University professor Marcos Luna, and Dominic Nicholas, a director at HEET (a Massachusetts-based nonprofit seeking to reduce carbon emissions) examined over 25,000 Massachusetts gas leaks in relation to demographic groups, and have published their findings in Energy Policy.
These challenges are not only being seen in New England. Across the entire United States and around the world, the risk to people and the planet are intensifying as infrastructure ages.
Senet, a growing cloud-based software and services platform provider that enables global connectivity and on-demand network build-outs for the Internet of Things (IoT), and Heath Consultants, a leading methane detection equipment manufacturer, developer and service provider to the natural gas industry, are working together to provide natural gas leak detection products, consulting services, and managed LoRaWAN network services to utilities and other natural gas stakeholders in the United States.
To address the demand for safety and efficiency enhancements throughout the gas distribution infrastructure, Heath Consultants and Senet reportedly are working with utilities and industry solution providers to support pilots and full-scale deployments of commercially available network-connected AMI residential methane gas alarms for in-building environments. Heath Consultants works with system providers nationwide to offer natural gas utilities the DeNova Detect remote methane detector to enhance public safety. LoRaWAN networks from Senet can be deployed in public or private configurations, providing extreme flexibility based on the individual needs of the utility or building management organization.
“LoRaWAN has emerged as the leading open global standard for secure, carrier-grade low power wide area connectivity and it’s an excellent technology choice for connecting gas alarms designed to alert occupants of a potential safety hazard well before any possibility of an incident,” said Paul D. Wehnert, EVP and CMO, Heath Consultants, “Senet is a recognized leader in designing, deploying, and managing LoRaWAN networks in the utility sector and we look forward to collaborating to drive adoption in this important market segment.“
Recently, Heath Consultants and Senet partnered with New Cosmos USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of New Cosmos Electric, which has a 70 percent market share in the residential gas alarm market in Japan and has sold more than 70 million residential gas alarms worldwide. Heath Consultants is the exclusive distributor of New Cosmos USA’s DeNova Detect AMI residential methane gas alarms, and New Cosmos USA and Senet are currently engaged in field trials with large multi-utility service providers to identify use cases that improve safety and reliability in residential and commercial properties.
“There is a growing demand from utilities, municipalities, and state regulators to improve public safety and reduce the risk of potential deadly incidents through the application of new and innovative sensor-based technologies,” said Bruce Chatterley, CEO, Senet. Leveraging the combined world-class skills and capabilities of each organization, this effort delivers cost-effective, secure, and flexible network options, along with the most advanced gas sensing devices and experienced field services on the market.”
