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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yard_man who wrote (10606)	3/22/2004 1:42:37 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

tippet, it seems to me that methane hydrate is an accumulation of free methane that results from the biological activity on earth .... therefore it is a renewable source of energy as long as the sun shines. the only way to benefit from the methane hydrates is by extracting the methane itself and pump it trough pipelines like NG. there are vast deposits and in some places just injecting steam into the ground brings up methane as gas. I think the trickier part is to exploit the deposits on the sea floor. as to the economic aspect - nothing comes for free. relating to your comments on fuel cells the question is if it would be cheaper to transmit energy as gas or as electricity for household use. IMHO if natural gas is abundant in the US and there would be an economic solution to extract methane, fuel cells can have a economic advantage in those areas were gas is already supplied to households. Keep in mind that aside form electricity those cells also generate heath as a by product which can be used for hot water and other heat exchangers Other consideration solar panels / cells in many parts of the US the solar energy is around 1KW per 10 to 12 sq. feet which makes solar panels for water heating a viable economic solution. As to other solar devices technology may help if coupled with some tax incentives. the main problem the world is facing is population growth not energy shortage