What is Digg?55 Comments
- TheGreenGecko, on 07/05/2008, -1/+9The United States is one of the largest producers of methane in the world. If we do harness methane for alternative energy, we have it homegrown in the USA.
- Goallie11, on 07/05/2008, -2/+9You mispelled break.
- chrisinsocalif, on 07/05/2008, -1/+6I blame Taco Bell for most the Methane fumes.
- Albumen, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5Yeah, but... vegan.... Sorry, I just can't go there. There is probably a dietary answer to this. Find out what's making the cows fart. Best of both worlds!
- JueYan, on 07/05/2008, -0/+5The problem with methane extraction is that most of the world's methane lies in hydrated shells called methane clathrates on ocean floors. These shells are fragile, and perturbation of the deposits can cause massive upwellings of methane from the ocean floors. The clathrate gun hypothesis theorizes that such a disturbance, perhaps in the form of a underwater avalanche, released almost all of the ocean's methane in one upwelling event, causing the Eocene and Permian extinction events, which each (iirc) destroyed 90+% of the world's marine species.
Here's a little Economist blurb about methane extraction and its hazards: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id ...
The wiki article about the clathrate gun hypothesis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothe ...
And here's a little blurb I wrote earlier in the year, which is basically a summary of the Economist article:
Faced with the much-prophesied dangers of peak oil and global warming, scientists are studying a promising and untapped fossil fuel source. Vast deposits of methane clathrates carpet the ocean sediments in the polar latitudes, where high pressure and cold water stabilize the delicate molecular structures of methane clathrates. Methane clathrates are hydrates of methane, the main constituent of natural gas. Large underwater deposits of methane clathrates may represent more than twice the energy content of currently known fossil fuel deposits. Because methanes burn cleanly into CO2 and H2O, successful commercial exploitation of clathrate deposits can resolve both our current crises of global warming and limited fossil fuels.
However, clathrate extraction presents major problems. Although clathrates are hypothesized to be abundant in the seas surrounding each continent, the massive area of the seafloor may dilute the clathrate to such low concentrations that extraction would be economically and energetically unprofitable. Furthermore, because the hydration shell of each methane is so fragile, the clathrate must be mined and processed at the ocean floor, presenting additional technological and economic challenges. Methane clathrate is also highly unstable; underwater avalanches often trigger the release of methane from the delicate water shells. Such methane interacts with other clathrate molecules, resulting in a chain reaction in which huge amounts of methane are released into the atmosphere. Unwise mining of clathrates could trigger an instability in which the majority of methane stored in the world’s oceans is released in a massive upwelling.
Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, and such a release would have devastating environmental consequences. Scientists have identified such a clathrate upwelling as the likely culprit in the Eocene and Permian extinction events, in which 96% of marine animals became extinct. A modern clathrate release event could cause a 5C increase in global temperatures, which would create catastrophic ocean level rises and complete the Holocene extinction event. - Haecceity, on 07/05/2008, -1/+5Braking the planet would be very difficult.
- desertDenizen, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3Re scam: Tell that to the people in Greenland. But you are absolutely right about the uncertainty part; My big question is whether we invest in trying to prevent it or simply assume it will happen regardless of our best efforts and begin taking steps (build levees, etc.). Any risk management matrix will say the same thing under the current uncertainty: "Better safe than sorry." Even Cheney himself said that if there's a 1% chance of something catastrophic happening, you have to take it seriously... The infamous "1% Doctrine"... of course, he was referring to terrorism, but that doesn't change the idea.
- samby, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3And role.
- WoollyMittens, on 07/05/2008, -0/+3Brake of break?!? The difference is rather important here. Can someone PLEASE teach Americans about phonetics and homonyms.
- lostlyrics, on 07/07/2008, -0/+2
yeah it must hurt that measurement devices are
so so knee-jerk left-liberal eh ? I feel with you :P - mOdQuArK, on 07/05/2008, -1/+3Hmmm, who do I trust - all the guys who study this for a living, or some random dickwad repeating talking points on an Internet forum. Such a tough decision.
- BurgerDST, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2Keeping us Americans uneducated is important to the powers that be who want to keep the average person from interfering with democracy. We may actually vote them out if enough people paid attention and understood the issues. Give us a brake. Hour schools suk and smart people our not kool. Trust me, we have much bigger problems than phonetics. I apologize on behalf of my countrymen.
- lostlyrics, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2
parallel ? you mean the parallel universe you live in ?
ok given ...if only the denier pratts here would die out. - desertDenizen, on 07/06/2008, -0/+2goodinohio: I would agree, if we were looking at a 1% chance of climate change being human-caused. The models say it's much higher, even when you discount for alternate explanations. To anybody with any sense of gaming probabilistic outcomes, doing nothing is clearly dumber. Doing nothing is for Type E's (psych: external locus of control), who tend to expect God or the gov't to take care of them.
Specifically, I have no faith in our society or institutions to adapt meaningfully in a timely manner, because on the whole democracies only respond 1) reactively to 2) crisis. If they do move quickly enough, great, but I'm not counting on it. So in addition to doing whatever I can to lessen my own C02 footprint (I've done a lot), I find it more personally comforting to make investments that hedge against probable bad outcomes. So far, I have made over $35K in both green and oil stocks, which at the very least, takes the sting out of filling up the gas tank. When the tide is going so clearly one direction -- yet naysayers drag their feet in getting on board -- there is a market opportunity from the information/action assymetry. I thank all the laggards out their for making me wealthier at the expense of their understandable lack of foresight. ('Understandable' in that reactivity vs. proactivity follows a left-skewed distribution... that is, the majority is never ahead of the curve in such matters.) - Pinkshisno, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2***** now cattle want to kill us too. What isn't a threat to the planet!?
- badenglishihave, on 07/05/2008, -2/+4From all the evidence I've seen, I don't think you can argue that global warming doesn't exist. The temperatures don't lie.
However, I think it is pretty preposterous to say that humans are causing it with CO2. There just isn't enough evidence to support it. - Stryder81, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2Forgot to add this
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-905594306 ... - arjie, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2Indeed! The ultimate paradox is that Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor with two foot tall Ewoks. _That_ does not make sense!
- mmilton, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2how depressing
- JueYan, on 07/05/2008, -0/+2Also, cows generate a huge amount of methane through flatulence (farts) and eructation (burps) - far more from the front end than the back end, I believe. It turns out that if we could store the methane a cow could produce, the average milk cow would generate more value in methane production than milk production. (Also, I think cows are the plural for female cattle? The correct pluralization is "kine," I believe, but thats rather archaic. -_-)
- EarthernJar, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1"The lights, the motors, the vehicles... all run by a high-powered gas called methane. Methane comes from pig *****"
- yohojones, on 07/05/2008, -1/+2Am I the only on that read the title as methadone might end global warming? I might have a problem.
- Terr01, on 07/06/2008, -1/+2>>> "Did you know that the amount of sun activity directly parallels the increase in temperature as well as CO2?"
I'm pretty sure that's been proven to be a load of hooey. Source? Are we talking magical effects from sunspots or simple irradiance? - Stryder81, on 07/05/2008, -1/+2http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-144439167 ...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-905594306 ...
-=) - poidh, on 07/05/2008, -3/+4Tell ya what. If they stuck a pipe up my bum a few hours after a curry and 8 pints of lager, they'd have enough to run a small town.
At the moment it is just being wasted on giving my girlfriend a Dutch oven every saturday night. - inactive, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Nice typo.
- mOdQuArK, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Nah, you only need to do something if it annoys rich people. Since rich people can move anywhere in the world they want, and can afford to hire guards to shoot poor people who might want the rich peoples' land & resources, global warming is a problem only for poor people. Therefore we don't need to do anything.
- beauley, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1With all due respect to former Vice-President Al Gore, given his many years of dedication and his recently awarded Pulitzer Prize for his work on making the world aware of “Global Warming” and though still shrouded in some controversy, our even greater world problem is “Global Pollution”.
http://www.quazen.com/News/Opinions/Al-Gores-Decre ...
Al Gore's Decree on Global Warming is Not Our Only Crisis - emjaymj, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1"i.e. increases or decreases following temperature increase or decrease rather than preceeding them?"
Actually, it does both. Funny how people are so eager to jump to the argument that supports their worldview rather than actually keep an open mind. I'm not making a claim that it's one way or the other, but the fact is an increase in either temperature or CO2 levels can cause in increase in the other. That's part of the reason why the problem is so pressing really, because there is no telling where the tipping point may occur and the cycle will be able sustain itself. - thcobbs, on 07/05/2008, -1/+2No, actually he's referring to cows.
- beauley, on 07/06/2008, -0/+1With Global Warming on many people's minds, do we have any ideas of the best way to lessen the impact on our future, or maybe a possible relief of its possible ravages or even a possible key to its eventual reversal. Many scientific experts have proposed
http://www.quazen.com/Science/Technology/Solar-Pow ...
Solar Power, Source of Endless Energy - AceTracer, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1That ultimate roll sounds delicious, what's in it?
- funk13, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Of course pants need power. Here in the northern temperate climate it is known to get quite cold in what they call winter, so a heating element powered by my, umm, ass would be quite useful. Also, a pocket that can charge a cell phone sounds like a good idea too. I could go on, but I think that I've already said too much. Not to mention, it really was just meant to be funny... I guess I need to fire my writer.
- Albumen, on 07/05/2008, -1/+1That is incorrect! Kine is Hawaiian pidgin for `best.'
For instance, "what kind of pizza do ypu want to get?"
"You know, da kine bra." - inactive, on 07/05/2008, -3/+3The scam that is "Global Warming Theory"...oh wait i mean "Global Warming"..oh wait I meant "Climate Change" continues to burn with the fire of ignorance, fear, doubt and uncertainity.
- jazboy, on 07/05/2008, -1/+1pants need power?
- HappyScrappy, on 07/05/2008, -1/+1Methane may be a paradox, but it's not the ultimate paradox.
- timbuktu22, on 07/09/2008, -0/+0Yes, in fact Methane is a far, far more potent gas than CO2 as far as its greenhouse effect is concerned. We hear more about CO2 because so much of it is produced, but relatively speaking, it's pretty innocuous ounce for ounce. So there's plenty to be gained by capturing and burning methane. It would both help reduce global warming and provide a source of energy. I doubt we'll be using cows as an energy source any time soon, but methane gas burners have been successfully used at sewage treatment facilities to create energy from municipal solid waste.
More:
http://digg.com/environment/Scarcity_of_Land_Water ... - vatoloco505, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0I think you meant "Brake or break?!?"
- lostlyrics, on 07/06/2008, -2/+2he probably refers to the faux hoaxhoax
when the sun activity diagrams were cut
conveniently in the 90s -- thenceforward with
an obvious significance of decreasing activity.
http://www.spaceweather.com
forecast at your destiny, pals&gals ? - goodinohio, on 07/05/2008, -1/+1Dumbest thing I've read for a while.
- Erythroxylum, on 07/05/2008, -3/+2Does methane contribute to 'global warming' in the same way as that evil, Neo-Con gas carbon dioxide does? i.e. increases or decreases following temperature increase or decrease rather than preceeding them?
If not, I'm sure those wily Neo-Cons are going back in time to fiddle with ancient ice-core samples to make it looks that way like they did with carbon dioxide.
But yeah, let's slaughter all of the livestock (which makes up 19% of methane emissions) become one of those 'z0mG mEet iz teH mUrDur!!1!LOL', *****-eating, hand-wringing uphill-gardening vegetarians and make our family and friends pretend like they don't know us. - ZoolTool, on 07/05/2008, -3/+2I don't think methane gas will slow down the Earth.
- arkaycee, on 07/05/2008, -1/+0We have to make sure the number who fart eastward are balanced by the number who fart westward.
- lostlyrics, on 07/05/2008, -11/+10is anyone else also tired of all the spammers
corrupted with millions from the oil industry ?
- millions for whining suv-sissies and cavemen that
could have done mighty good on decreasing the part
that humans have contributed to global warming, i.e. ... - spykez, on 07/06/2008, -1/+0Actually that's not a paradox at all, it's a stupid south park reference.
- funk13, on 07/05/2008, -3/+1when they invent methane-powered pants, i'll be happy.
- badenglishihave, on 07/05/2008, -7/+5Humans don't contribute dick to global warming. CO2 levels CORRELATING to the temperature doesn't prove that one caused the other. Did you know that the amount of sun activity directly parallels the increase in temperature as well as CO2? Hmm...
- FapCommander, on 07/05/2008, -4/+2You're talking about fat americans farting here, right?
- Michiko280, on 07/05/2008, -5/+2The leading cause of methane in the US is Animal Agriculture... to stop our obscene production of methane we have to cut back on our meat consumption.
Luckily, vegetarian and vegan diets are easier to adopt than ever, and are in fact significantly healthier than meat based diets. -
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