Slashdot Mirror
Can Japan Burn Flammable Ice For Energy? (cnn.com)
dryriver writes: Japan is a country that currently has to import 90% of its fuels for energy generation, having very little in the way of oil, coal or natural gas reserves in the country. Since the Fukushima disaster, its 50-plus nuclear reactors have been mostly idle. This makes Japan one of the least self-sufficient countries in terms of energy generation in the developed world. But there is an untapped energy resource that Japan has in abundance: ice that has large quantities of methane trapped in it. These ice crystals hold a remarkable quantity of natural methane gas. It is estimated that one cubic meter of frozen gas hydrate contains 164 cubic meters of methane. Japan has so far spent over $1 billion on research and development efforts in order to find a way to efficiently extract the methane from the ice. Where is this methane rich ice located? Engineers have so far focused on Nankai Trough, a long, narrow depression 50 kilometers off the coast of central Japan, which had been extensively surveyed over many years. Analysis of extracted core samples and seismic data has revealed that 1.1 trillion cubic meters of methane -- enough to meet Japan's gas needs for more than a decade -- lies below the floor of the trough. Some experts think that if an efficient method is found to extract methane from flammable ice, it could change the energy map of the entire world. Flammable ice has either been found, or is suspected to be present in large quantities, off the coastlines of all 5 continents in the world (the linked article has a map showing the currently known locations). Ten years from now the price of energy around the world may thus not be set by how much oil, coal or natural gas costs at that point in time, but rather by how much methane extraction from flammable ice costs.
The 2011 Thoku tsunami killed some 16,000 people. Dead now.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear "disaster" killed Zero people directly. Maybe a dozen will die eventually. Maybe.
So you would think that the focus would be on tsunami protection. Better walls, better alerts etc.
But instead, it is on the nuclear "disaster". Which only happened as a result of a freak event. And lessons learned meant that the same would not happen again.
But they close down 50 nuclear plants. At huge cost.
Knee jerk reaction based on political perceptions and column inches of news print rather than any rational analysis.
That is what I was thinking too. But they signed the Paris Accord so that would mean they are being dishonest about their commitment to reducing greenhouse gasses. We all know that signatories to the accord have cut their greenhouse gas emissions already. Except for the US, which didn't sign the accord and has been increasing their greenhouse gas output every year. Oh wait, it is the opposite? Carry on.
Don't have the batteries that can do this. Too expensive. We don't yet know how to build the magic battery. The magic battery is cheap and high capacity and cheap and quickly chargeable and cheap and efficient in its charge and discharge cycle and cheap and easily recyclable / renewable and cheap. And most of all, it has to be cheap so people can afford it, otherwise they can't use it and the concept falls flat. Right now, falling flat is the only thing that solar / battery combinations can do. We just don't have that battery. We may never find that battery. That battery may not actually be possible. We don't know. We may never know. Counting on batteries for solar / wind viabilitiy is very risky.