Japan, U.S. agree to cooperate on methane hydrates

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/07/content_8325935.htm

Japan, U.S. agree to cooperate on methane hydrates

www.chinaview.cn 2008-06-07 23:05:19

AOMORI, Japan, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan and the United States agreed on Saturday to conduct cooperation on joint development of methane hydrates, a promising alternative energy.

The agreement was signed by Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari and U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the five-party meeting of energy ministers of China, Japan, India, South Korea and the United States.

According to the agreement effective for three years, Japan and the United States will enhance the understanding of, and accelerate research into, the geologic occurrence, distribution, exploration and production of methane hydrates.

The two sides agreed to exchange scientific personnel and technical information, and have extensive research with respect to methane hydrate exploration and resource assessment.

...

(I guess this should be a little reminder that "alternative" does not necessarily mean alternative to carbon.) x(

[lapfog_1]

1. I guess the answer is "Why wait for global extinction...

when we can accelerate it ourselves and eek out a few more years of high carbon living!"

[kristopher]

2. The information gathering portion is of great value.

Right now, these deposits not only represent a potential resource, but also a potential danger if warming waters result in their release into the atmosphere. If we can learn about the extent of the danger and the conditions under which it might emerge it is worth the effort to do the research.

As a resource it isn't clear if it would help or hurt the fight against global warming. Natural gas is greatly preferred over coal. Realistically, the transition to renewables is a process that could take decades. Relying on natural gas instead of coal as a supplement until the renewable infrastructure is fully developed would reduce CO2 emissions greatly. On the flip side, a big component of the motivation to install renewables is the price volatility of natural gas. If global policy is meaningfully directed at effecting the transition to renewables (a hope we all have), then that wouldn't matter so much. If the business as usual crowd prevails, then depending on the resource size and extraction costs, it could delay the transition substantially.

[Ghost Dog]

3. Riiight. Can we sequestrate & use the methane from thawing permafrost

(cleanly) for that?

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Well, I suppose you could systematically scoop up and melt permafrost in a gigantic mining operation

However, it seems to me that on the whole that might just tend to accelerate things.