Unlimited Abiotic Energy Sources Await Discovery In Deep Earth?

http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2004/9/16/82757/2272

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From a LLNL press release reproduced below and a second Carnegie Institution press release with additional details: Untapped reserves of methane, the main component in natural gas, may be found deep in Earth's crust, according to a recently released report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). These reserves could be a virtually inexhaustible source of energy for future generations. ...

... hot for this?

Beyond the slightly wild tone of "unlimited" energy (remember electricity too cheap to meter?), this doesn't address a more immediate concern--large drilling projects for methane will release a lot of it into the atmosphere, and both methane and the CO2 generated by its use are greenhouse gases. Hydrogen economy boosted by such? Yes, possibly.

But, perhaps the intention is to use this possibility as a reason to promote government funding for a hydrogen economy which would be virtually entirely dependent upon electricity production were such possible sources of methane to turn out not to be substantial. That electricity would have to come from new sources, i.e., next-generation gas-cooled nuclear reactors.

Trojan horses come in all colors.

air.

Now we can get rid of it by bonding all of it to carbon and hydrogen.

Oxygen, as many people know, causes cancer through the action of superoxides.

I was thinking we might be forced to exercise some sort
of self-control, but now I see that the party can go on.

Yes, and this miraculous flywheel engine actually produces MORE energy than it consumes!!! Call 1-800-OLD-JOKE for more information on this amazing investment opportunity!! Operators are standing by!!!

Since that is way beyond the limits of any known drilling technology it is unlikely to be of any use to us in the forseeable future.