German Beer Festival emits 10 times more greenhouse gases than the city of Boston

Recent research suggests that methane emissions at Oktoberfest are 10 times greater than Boston's methane emissions.

According to Guaridan, for millions of tourists visiting Munich each year, Oktoberfest is a monumental festival of German beer, music and sausages.

But recent research by scientists shows that the 16-day festival is also a huge source of methane - a gas that causes the greenhouse effect that causes the Earth to heat up, contributing to climate change. Queen.

Scientists at Munich Technical University walked and cycled around the festival area last year. On their bicycles fitted with mobile sensors and these devices show that the Oktoberfest event produced nearly 1,500 kg of methane - 10 times the amount of this type of gas released in Boston, Massachusetts. , in the same time.

One of Munich's famous beer huts is packed with Oktoberfest during this year's festival season.(Photo: AFP).

The team believes that most of Oktoberfest's methane emissions come from incomplete leakage and incineration of cooking and heating appliances . A significant increase of this, equivalent to 10%, comes from the flatulence, belching of the digestive system after drinking beer.

"The recorded methane concentration can only be explained by biological sources. We have strong evidence that the main source of methane emissions comes from burning fossil fuels for food baking and heating. " said Jia Chen, an expert in greenhouse gases in urban environment.

After carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ), methane (CH ₄ ) is the second most common greenhouse gas emitted by human activity. Despite its shorter lifetime, it is more efficient at heating the atmosphere and has accounted for about 20% of global warming from man-made greenhouse gas emissions since 1750.

The concentration of methane in the atmosphere has increased in recent years and scientists have not been able to fully explain the cause.

Noticing a sharp increase in Munich methane levels during October of previous years, Mr. Jia Chen and his colleagues decided to follow Oktoberfest to see if major festivals are the source of emissions. important greenhouse gases or not.

More than 6 million people attend the festival each year and up to 7 million liters of beer, 100,000 liters of wine, half a million chickens and 250,000 sausages are consumed.

Mr. Chen was also surprised because according to the group's calculation, the average Oktoberfest in 2018 emitted up to 6.7 micrograms of methane gas per second. Not to mention a larger amount (less than 10%) of the amount of gas produced when visitors are bloated and burp.

The scientist thinks the research could help festival organizers outline policies to reduce the event's methane emissions. The study concludes that Oktoberfest's methane emissions are an indication that major festivals can be a major source of local greenhouse gas emissions.