Comprehensive Survey of End-Use Leakage Rates and Risks from Residential Natural Gas

Methane emissions from end-use installations in residential natural gas systems remain poorly quantified, despite their importance to both safety and climate policies worldwide. While distribution networks and appliances have received research attention, interior piping between the meter and appliances represents a critical knowledge gap. To address this gap, a systematic survey of 473 residential systems in Saarlouis, Germany, was conducted using standardized pressure decay tests (DVGW G 600). Measurements were performed during the installation of gas regulators necessitated by a grid pressure increase from 23 mbar to 55 mbar above ambient. This provided a unique opportunity to assess whole-system leakage under controlled conditions without installation modifications. Leak rates were standardized to reference pressure and converted to methane emissions using measured gas composition, using a linear pressure scaling as a provisional approximation valid for the small pressure differences in the applied test conditions. A total of 411 (86.9%) installations showed no detectable leak rate (LDL: 0.2 Lh−1). However, seven systems (1.5%) exceeded 1 Lh−1, and one surpassed the unacceptable threshold of 5 Lh−1. Mean emissions across all systems were 0.067 [0.041, 0.098] gh−1, with smaller installations showing higher volume-normalized rates. Critically, fewer than 1.48% of systems contributed more than 46% of total emissions, demonstrating a strongly skewed, heavy-tailed distribution. Scaled nationally using Monte Carlo methods accounting for sampling uncertainty and skewed distributions, residential interior piping contributes 12.30 [8.11, 18.55] Ggyear−1 to Germany’s methane emissions. These results emphasize the need to include residential leak rates in emission inventories and highlight the efficiency potential of targeted mitigation strategies focused on high-emitting installations under evolving EU methane regulations.