Set a lighter to an icy block of methane hydrate, a naturally frozen combo of methane gas and water, and flames spew forth at random. However unlikely this fluke of nature may appear — burning ice — it could hold the keys to a vast wealth of untapped, clean-burning methane gas thought to exist deep beneath the outer margins of most continental shelves. Its contribution may be peripheral to the immediate needs of Western Europe and North America, currently drowning in cheap natural gas, but it present a potential lifeline to resource-poor nations like Japan, which already imports more ... Read More
Natural Gas a Player in Alternative Landscape
January 20, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
Last summer's spike in gasoline prices set the stage for an interesting debate. Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens emerged as a spokesman for the renewable power of wind and set forth a rather revolutionary plan to produce 20 percent of the nation's electrical demand with wind power, moving natural gas from its traditional role as an electrical generator to use as a vehicle fuel. The nation's largest natural gas provider, Chesapeake Energy, jumped on the bandwagon with its own plan to mobilize citizens to call for vehicles powered by compressed natural gas. Although many supporters of renewable ... Read More
