In other news, it looks like Japan is answering the question of how to power it's
industrial economy after closing it's nuclear stations by turning to renewa..., oops - no, sorry - fossil fuels, with a new source of gas.
Japan Begins Test Production of Frozen Gas Under Seabed - Businessweek
Quote:
Japan, which imports almost all its energy, produced gas in the world’s first tests to extract the fuel from methane hydrate deposits under the seabed, Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp. said in an e-mailed statement.
Gas was produced during drilling today in the Nankai Trough about 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the coast of the country’s main Honshu island, the government-affiliate known as JOGMEC said.
Deposits of methane hydrate, known as “burnable ice,” may be large enough to supply the country’s natural gas needs for about 100 years, according to JOGMEC. The government plans to develop technology to enable commercial use by fiscal 2018.
“Methane hydrate may start a revolution in Japan as shale gas did in the U.S., but there are still a lot of challenges ahead,” said Yuji Morita, a senior researcher at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan.
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So they won't be going cold anytime soon.