
The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of - robg
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/12/03/the-abundant-fossil-fuel-you%E2%80%99ve-never-heard-of/
======
geuis
Oh yes, I've heard of this. Fears among climatologists are that if
temperatures increase even moderately above minimum predictions these methane
hydrates will start melting and releasing methane directly into the
atmosphere. If this happens, they exacerbate the warming problem. Methane is a
better greenhouse gas than co2, meaning it's more dangerous. Many scientists
are afraid that if the ices start melting, it will create a feedback warming
loop that will release even more methane. The scenario they fear leads to a
mean average temperature above that of just co2 warming. Some have even
speculated it's possible to trigger a runaway loop that leads to a Venus
situation. While those are still speculations, overall it shows that releasing
captured methane is a very bad idea. It is utterly irresponsible to consider
mining these materials and putting more greenhouse gases into the air.

~~~
mindslight
Funny. Up until your second to last sentence, I really thought you were giving
reasons in _support_ of harvesting.

If you're worried about the frost thawing and releasing the methane into the
atmosphere (especially with a positive feedback), it seems prudent to burn it
into water and CO2 (which already has to be dealt with) while it's still
concentrated.

~~~
geuis
Whoa, how does that make sense though? The idea is to keep the methane
hydrates nice and frozen at the bottom of the ocean. _Not_ to release them
into the atmosphere. Sure, 10 tons of pure methane is worse than 10 tons of
CO2. But we don't want 10 tons of _either_ extra gas in the atmosphere. Its
kind of like being stranded on an island with 3 sandwiches. If you ration,
you'll have food for longer. But to take your argument, you should eat them
all right away because you'll be hungry eventually anyway.

------
ryanwaggoner
We require more vespene gas!

~~~
ninjackn
At first I thought this was a garbage comment but it's actually a fairly
clever reference. The article is about harvesting methane gas hydrates (which
can be thought of as methane gas trapped in ice).

But I question the use of methane gas hydrates. There is no denying methane
gas is one of the worse gas responsible for the green house effect. The
article makes it seem like methane gas hydrates is a solution but in the end
it's not a renewable source of energy. It would still be harvested and drilled
for like oil and even though there's the trillions of cubic feet of gas to be
had, one day it could run out.

~~~
jsmcgd
The emissions of burning methane have less of a green house effect than
methane gas itself.

Why does it matter that it will run out?

~~~
papersports
"The emissions of burning methane have less of a green house effect than
methane gas itself."

True only if the methane is present in the atmosphere. In this case it is
trapped in ice or under water.

------
chadgeidel
Really? I thought knowledge of undersea gas hydrates was fairly common - just
that retrieving them was cost-prohibitive.

That being said, is this really the solution to the fuel crisis? Acknowledging
that we are running out of a fossil fuel should change behavior, not encourage
more of the same.

------
frankus
There's some interesting but half-baked speculation that hydrates are
responsible for some of the strange happenings reported in the Bermuda
Triangle.

The idea is that the deposits will spontaneously burp up an enormous quantity
of methane from time to time. This causes the ocean to turn into a foam that's
much less dense than water: ships sink like rocks in the stuff.

Apparently it also causes some kind of ionization or static charge in the air
that can cause navigation instruments to go haywire.

Again, interesting and very much half-baked.

------
geuis
Oh yes, I've heard of this. Fears among climatologists are that if
temperatures increase even moderately above minimum predictions these methane
hydrates will start melting and releasing methane directly into the
atmosphere. If this happens, they exacerbate the warming problem. Methane is a
better greenhouse gas than co2, meaning it's more dangerous. Many scientists
are afraid that if the ices start melting, it will create a feedback warming
loop that will release even more methane. The scenario they fear leads to a
mean average temperature above that of just co2 warming. Some have even
speculated it's possible to trigger a runaway loop that leads to a Venus
situation. While those are still speculations, overall it shows that releasing
captured methane is a very bad idea. It is utterly irresponsible to consider
mining these materials and putting more greenhouse gases into the air.

------
geuis
Oh yes, I've heard of this. Fears among climatologists are that if
temperatures increase even moderately above minimum predictions these methane
hydrates will start melting and releasing methane directly into the
atmosphere. If this happens, they exacerbate the warming problem. Methane is a
better greenhouse gas than co2, meaning it's more dangerous. Many scientists
are afraid that if the ices start melting, it will create a feedback warming
loop that will release even more methane. The scenario they fear leads to a
mean average temperature above that of just co2 warming. Some have even
speculated it's possible to trigger a runaway loop that leads to a Venus
situation. While those are still speculations, overall it shows that releasing
captured methane is a very bad idea. It is utterly irresponsible to consider
mining these materials and putting more greenhouse gases into the air.

------
newt0311
Just more proof that humanity is not destined for a malthusian end and that
doomsday predictions based on lack of resources are misguided. People who
claim that human needs grow exponentially and thus must eventually go
unsatisfied fail to account for human ingenuity.

