Asklemmy

Methane was rebranded as natural gas and is used to generate electricity, heat homes, and cook food. Among other uses.

afaik it's used as fuel a lot, natural gas stuff like LNG and CNG

Because methane is a byproduct of the petroleum industry, it's very cheap. They have so much gas, they torch of a whole lot of it all the time. Which is a good thing, because releasing it as CO2 is actually better than releasing it as methane, obviously releasing it at all is a really bad thing.

It being so cheap makes it really hard for alternative sources to be viable, since it would be more complex and thus more expensive. It is done, but mostly because of regulation, subsidies and as an environmental measure.

Methane does break down fairly fast (still takes years), we keep releasing so much of it, it does contribute a lot to climate change. We are adding more than gets broken down. And even after it breaks down, it's still contributing to the amount of CO2, so better but not good.

a couple of the larger cattle operations near me actually do have the manure go to a 'digester' where the methane is captured and pumped into the natural gas distribution system.

It's too bad we can't get animals (including ourselves) to hold it all day then dispense it into a fuel tank for home use.

there are biogas plants converting the "natural" methane (from organic waste) into the methane in your stove/furnace

Harvesting methane from landfills and livestock waste is done, it’s just not nearly as efficient as getting it from the ground.

And while it’s a potent greenhouse gas it breaks down much faster than CO2 in the atmosphere