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The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

features.csmonitor.com

1–10 of 16 posts

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#3
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.

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#4

We require more vespene gas!

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.

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#5
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.

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#6
post #4

We require more vespene gas!

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 th…

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?

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#7
post #4

We require more vespene gas!

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 th…

one day it could run out

One day the Sun will become a red giant and expand beyond the orbit of Mars.

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#8
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

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?

Good Point. 'Renewables' are in vogue because they are 'clean,' not because they are renewable.

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#9
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

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?

"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.

Re: The abundant fossil fuel you’ve never heard of

#10
post #7
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

one day it could run out One day the Sun will become a red giant and expand beyond the orbit of Mars.

"The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov (1956)

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

"Oh, hell, just about forever. Till the sun runs down, Bert."

"That's not forever."

"All right, then. Billions and billions of years. Twenty billion, maybe. Are you satisfied?"

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