Natural gas crystals: Energy under the sea

Just when you thought petroleum came from the dinosaurs...




LINK

"The potential is enough to power humanity from now until the asteroid hits."

The crystals are formed when methane gas, which results from the natural decomposition of animals and plants, comes into contact with water at just the right temperature and pressure.
Crystal gas forms almost any place there's low temperature, high pressure and water, making the organism-rich continental slopes ideal spots.
They're most prevalent in water over 1,000 feet deep, and up to about 200 miles offshore.

The U.S. government currently runs a multi-agency research project with scientists from the Department of Energy, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Minerals Management Service, among others. They've partnered with a few corporations, including BP (BP) at a site in Alaska's North Slope and Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) in the Gulf of Mexico.

At the BP site in Alaska, Collett said using current technology to go after crystal gas would effectively double the known gas reserves there.
"We're chipping away at the technical issue," he said. "We just have to get at the economics."

This is very interesting, it sounds to me like mining under the ocean. That could be every expensive, hard to have earth moving equipment functioning under heavy swells and what not. Maybe tunnelling under the ocean to get at these mineral ores... ut regardless, there is tons of oil and gas out there but not at current prices, I 've said in another post we have oogles and gazillions of barrels of oil already available from tar sands, shale formations , etc. across the planet, but most of this oil is only recoverable at prices of well over $100 perhasps $200+ levels to suport this endeavor....lots of oil out there but not at current prices. GS.

For some time I have embraced the theory that the primary source of "fossil fuels" found in the earth's crust is plankton, not T-Rex.
Considering the vastness and depth of the oceans it is the only explanation which seems plausible to me.

Plankton absorb CO2 and use the sun's energy to convert it into sugars through photosynthesis.
When they die they are basically carbon.
While we truly know so little about the systems in play it is believed that a possibly significant percentage of the sinking organic material becomes buried in the ocean sediment to become the primary element of "fossil fuel."

It is possible in this theory that we will never run out of such a wonderful source of true "Solar" energy.

Oceans and the Carbon Cycle

Edited by Rogerdodger, 10 March 2010 - 01:55 AM.

I remember reading about this underwater NG a couple of years ago - i think like GS says, the expense is prohibitive at present, and i dont think they have even figured out the methodology to harvest it. nuclear fusion has been talked about for decades and they havent figured that out either.

For some time I have embraced the theory that the primary source of "fossil fuels" found in the earth's crust is plankton, not T-Rex.
Considering the vastness and depth of the oceans it is the only explanation which seems plausible to me.

Plankton absorb CO2 and use the sun's energy to convert it into sugars through photosynthesis.
When they die they are basically carbon.
While we truly know so little about the systems in play it is believed that a possibly significant percentage of the sinking organic material becomes buried in the ocean sediment to become the primary element of "fossil fuel."

It is possible in this theory that we will never run out of such a wonderful source of true "Solar" energy.

Oceans and the Carbon Cycle

The circumstances under which "dead dinosaurs" would coalesce into oil and coal have got to be incredibly rare. Organic material settles into a bog where it is slowly covered with sediment, sealing it off from oxygen, then geologic processes further seal it off, compressing it into coal, oil or diamonds? Maybe, here and there, but far more likely is the simpler explanation regarding the fate of the dinosaurs: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. IE, when something dies, it decomposes, it's entropy increased. The idea is oil is dead dinosaurs is probably akin to the idea that disease is caused by evil spirits: it's just wrong.

So where did all the hydrocarbons come from? Probably from a million places. Organic molecules are being discovered everywhere telescopes are pointed. It's a kind of human hubris to think oil can have only come as the result of life as we know it. I suspect there are hydrocarbons in all sorts of places throughout the earth's crust, within the continents and under the ocean floors. I suspect our "known reserves" are nothing more than the low hanging fruit, gushing out of the ground in the Middle East, or the sides of mountains in West Virginia.

For some time I have embraced the theory that the primary source of "fossil fuels" found in the earth's crust is plankton, not T-Rex.
Considering the vastness and depth of the oceans it is the only explanation which seems plausible to me.

Plankton absorb CO2 and use the sun's energy to convert it into sugars through photosynthesis.
When they die they are basically carbon.
While we truly know so little about the systems in play it is believed that a possibly significant percentage of the sinking organic material becomes buried in the ocean sediment to become the primary element of "fossil fuel."

It is possible in this theory that we will never run out of such a wonderful source of true "Solar" energy.

Oceans and the Carbon Cycle

The circumstances under which "dead dinosaurs" would coalesce into oil and coal have got to be incredibly rare. Organic material settles into a bog where it is slowly covered with sediment, sealing it off from oxygen, then geologic processes further seal it off, compressing it into coal, oil or diamonds? Maybe, here and there, but far more likely is the simpler explanation regarding the fate of the dinosaurs: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. IE, when something dies, it decomposes, it's entropy increased. The idea is oil is dead dinosaurs is probably akin to the idea that disease is caused by evil spirits: it's just wrong.

So where did all the hydrocarbons come from? Probably from a million places. Organic molecules are being discovered everywhere telescopes are pointed. It's a kind of human hubris to think oil can have only come as the result of life as we know it. I suspect there are hydrocarbons in all sorts of places throughout the earth's crust, within the continents and under the ocean floors. I suspect our "known reserves" are nothing more than the low hanging fruit, gushing out of the ground in the Middle East, or the sides of mountains in West Virginia.

You are absolutely correct. Carbon is way to common in the universe and for that matter so is water.

simple solution, train the dolphins harvest the crystals for us! It's both new Age and green!