Sat, 27 Jun 2026 17:25:35 +0100 https://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.0.3 https://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=12007&Focus=200696#Comment_200696 https://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=12007&Focus=200696#Comment_200696 Mon, 21 Apr 2014 09:31:43 +0100 jamesingram http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27021610
New to me
"Otherwise known as fire ice, methane hydrate presents as ice crystals with natural methane gas locked inside. They are formed through a combination of low temperatures and high pressure, and are found primarily on the edge of continental shelves where the seabed drops sharply away into the deep ocean floor"
"One cubic metre of the compound releases about 160 cubic metres of gas, making it a highly energy-intensive fuel. This, together with abundant reserves and the relatively simple process of releasing the methane, means a number of governments are getting increasingly excited about this massive potential source of energy"]]> https://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=12007&Focus=200701#Comment_200701 https://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=12007&Focus=200701#Comment_200701 Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:28:52 +0100 Ed Davies
Also, there's the possibility that methane hydrates will form a significant positive feedback for global warming. As the sea warms hydrate melts releasing methane which then contributes to further warming. A few years ago there was very serious concern about this but, AIUI, further investigation seemed to indicate there wasn't actually that much of a problem. However, that was all a bit theoretical so it's difficult to know how to take measurements from the sea off the north coast of Siberia, done by people from the University of Alaska, which seem to show that there is more methane coming out of the sea now. A bit difficult as there isn't good baseline data for comparison so these results are being treated with some scepticism elsewhere but there's enough interest that other groups doing investigations - there's a heavily instrumented biz-jet type aircraft based at Cranfield which has been doing measurements around the north of Norway to look into hydrate/permafrost/etc methane sources.]]>