The gas is still burned, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but the energy is put to use instead of simply being wasted.

Natural gas is comprised mostly of methane, a global warming agent that is more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere.

Crusoe Energy, backed by Bain Capital, the Winklevoss brothers and Tesla Inc.’s first institutional investor Valor Equity Partners, has 20 portable engines permitted in North Dakota, of which 11 have operated,

about 90% of the gas produced in the state makes its way into pipelines to be used at power plants and elsewhere. The rest goes to waste.