issues
support pci
The Transition Handbook
Blog post
"Fire Ice" Impact on Oil Spill, Containment and Energy Future
Posted May 10, 2010 by Warren Karlenzig
Stranger than fiction: methane hydrate, a potential source of energy that may dwarf the supply of earth's existing fossil fuels likely caused the April 20 Deepwater Horizon-BP explosion and then prevented the containment of the resulting spill this weekend.
Reports that methane hydrate gases shot up the well before the Deepwater Horizon explosion appeared on Friday, while the attempt Saturday by BP to put a containment dome over the leaking oil well was foiled by "slushy methane hydrates" that built up in the structure.
Unknown risks associated with our society's fossil fuel reliance are suddenly coming into sharper focus, and it's beginning to look like a well-conceived science fiction movie. Only this is real, it's happening now, and a happy ending appears out of the question.
We can't turn it off.
An out-of-control oil spill is coming directly out of the earth, with seemingly unlimited quantities of crude fouling into the nation's most productive fishery, where 80% of the country's domestically produced wild seafood supply is harvested. The oil spill is accompanied by one of the most potent known greenhouse gases, which stymies rescue efforts with acute volatility, threatening far more global climate damage than existing fossil fuels.
Also known as "ice energy," methane hydrate is layered below the global ocean floors around the world in a frozen, yet highly flammable state. Occurring in permafrost as well, this enigmatic substance has more than three times the carbon than natural gas, coal and oil combined, so it presents incalcuable risks to the global climate if it is released into the atmosphere without sequestration.
What makes methane hydrate and recent Gulf events so remarkable is that this substance, formed by high pressure and cold temperatures and discovered only in the 1960s, has more potential energy than all the world's coal, natural gas and oil combined.
The US Department of Energy (DOE), China and India have all been pursuing methane hydrate deposits and research because of its potential as the ultra high-powered energy source. Russia (in conjunction with Japan) has been the first country to successfully harvest this game-changing energy source.
Oil companies and drilling operations, however, have been wary of its dangers before the Deepwater Horizon event, according to the DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory: "(The oil and gas) Industry has concerns about drilling through hydrate zones, which can destabilize supporting foundations for platforms and production wells. The disruption to the ocean floor also could result in surface slumping or faulting, which could endanger work crews and the environment."
The happy ending of our Sci-fi flick: The Gulf oil spill is stopped by drilling a relief well; the millions of gallons that did "spill" are not as damaging as thought; and methane hydrate is safely harnessed and sequestered of carbon worldwide, which phases out oil and natural gas as energy sources. Oil wars largely cease as a result, as methane hydrates are bountiful enough for most coastal nations to secure their own 100+ year energy supply.
Let's see what the focus groups think.
Originally posted May 9, 2010 on the Green Flow blog of commoncurrent.com.
Get The End of Growth http://www.postcarbon.org/eog | Watch the animation Who Killed Economic Growth? http://bit.ly/whokilledgrowth
Like this post?
Keep the information flowing: Donate to Post Carbon Institute
Stay connected: Receive our monthly e-newsletter
Reposting: See our reposting policy
meet our fellows
what is pci?
Reader Comments
4 comments
confusing post
From: Erica Etelson, Jun 1, 2010 09:48 AM
Is the author suggesting that we pursue methane hydrates as an energy source or that it's too dangerous? I'm confused and would like to learn more.
why clathrates are there
From: Dingo, May 31, 2010 10:06 PM
All that frozen methane on the continental shelves is the residue of many billions of years of cold weather, ice ages.
We came upon the scene as bipedal apes in Africa during an ice age. We then migrated north and south as the ice retreated. Here we are, mining our way through 2 billion years worth of very slow carbon sequestration by our mother Gaia. In doing so, we are heating up the planet. Any debate on that is nearly always funded by the coal and oil industries.
As the oceans warm, the methane ice melts. That has already started to increase EXPONENTIALLY, each summer season in the North. The vaste quantities of methane released is far more potent as a GHG and climate forcer than CO2, so it's a no-brainer to think about capturing it's fire and using it for heat, and thereby releasing only CO2 into the atmosphere.
But my hunch is that since we are peak-burning coal and oil like mad fiends high on crack, the oceans are already well on their way to releasing all that cold-storage clathrate, long before we can figure out how to grab the fire.
I suspect we will all get burned in the end, in our endless quest for more fire.
Oil, Coal C-H ratio
From: Dan Robinson, May 31, 2010 03:47 PM
Question actually. What is the usual ratio of Carbon and Oxygen (etc.) in crude oil and its common distillates, and in coal? If some components also contain Oxygen, is that equivalent to some C or H already being burned?
Answer by email would help.
Dan
Methane hydrate
From: OzarkPearl, May 12, 2010 03:45 PM
The happy ending: Perhaps I am mistaken, but my understanding is that methane hydrates are much worse greenhouse gases than carbon, and that if we actually could "safely harness" it, we would even more rapidly be toast. Am I misinformed?