# Methane as an energy source **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305 "2011-12-15T15:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/21 "2011-12-15T21:48:05Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > . . . you would literally be further ahead sticking balloons on cows’ anuses. Best answer ever! LOL! ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/22 "2011-12-15T21:51:53Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > My first thought at seeing this was: Baby oil fields! Tomorrows gasoline forming today. Well there is always the chance that these aren’t baby oil fields but actual oil fields and when the gas is done venting to the surface, the oil will be lifted to the surface by encroaching seawater. Newly thawed land could be the new frontier of oil exploration. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/23 "2011-12-15T22:07:27Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] As far as actually capturing the methane for use as fuel goes, you would literally be further ahead sticking balloons on cows’ anuses. [/QUOTE] I seriously doubt cows are continuously jetting methane out of their asses, let alone over 1000 meters of area. 😛 So, while I take your meaning, I don’t believe this to be ‘literally’ true. Thanks for the replies everyone. Appreciate it. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/24 "2011-12-15T23:08:19Z")
This seems kinda like those _Popular Science_ articles about an orbiting mirror array would collect and redirect enough solar energy to power the world. Problem is, it’d have to be 200 miles in diameter or something, and the amount of money needed to even _test_ the idea is ridiculously higher than the cost of developing more conventional and established energy sources. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/25 "2011-12-16T04:16:08Z")
Regarding transportation difficulties, this is why there has been increased research on partial alkane oxidation. If you can manage MeH --\> MeOH, you have a fuel that’s liquid at STP and that can be transported with much cheaper infrastructure. Granted, with a site this remote you’d have to oxidize on site or very nearby, which is even more of a fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/26 "2011-12-16T05:07:09Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > As far as actually capturing the methane for use as fuel goes, you would literally be further ahead sticking balloons on cows’ anuses. It just happens I have a picture. [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/\_pOd62uPQqv4/SxYqA8m7ajI/AAAAAAAABIs/JoqRBVB1moE/s1600-h/cowbackpacks.jpg](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pOd62uPQqv4/SxYqA8m7ajI/AAAAAAAABIs/JoqRBVB1moE/s1600-h/cowbackpacks.jpg) I used it as an illustration for a blog post on greenhouse warming impact of the cheese slices I put on my sandwiches. BTW, it turns out it takes a lot of milk to make a slice of cheese. Also, since Methane is lighter than air you can put your harvesting system in the roof of the cow barn. Also if you can’t capture the Methane, then simply burning it helps a lot since converting CH4 to CO2 reduce the greenhouse warming potential a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/27 "2011-12-17T17:05:54Z")
Aren’t sewage works a source of methane? I remember years ago someone telling me that a SWs in Englands Midlands had stand by generators powered by the stuff. I know that at least one S.Ws over here burns it off to get rid of it, which seems wasteful. Also landfills generate methane, in fact this side of the pond there are permament vents built in on former L.F,s that have been used for building. Once burnt is the by product still a Greenhouse gas ? Bearing in mind that water vapour is itself a G.H. gas. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/28 "2011-12-17T19:35:04Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Aren’t sewage works a source of methane? > > I remember years ago someone telling me that a SWs in Englands Midlands had stand by generators powered by the stuff. > > I know that at least one S.Ws over here burns it off to get rid of it, which seems wasteful. > > Also landfills generate methane, in fact this side of the pond there are permament vents built in on former L.F,s that have been used for building. > > Once burnt is the by product still a Greenhouse gas ? > > Bearing in mind that water vapour is itself a G.H. gas. Here are the actual EPA number on human Methane emissions. [http://www.epa.gov/methane/sources.html](http://www.epa.gov/methane/sources.html) When you burn Methane, you convert it to carbon dioxide, which reduces the greenhouse warming potential by 95%. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305/29 "2011-12-19T15:12:44Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Aren’t sewage works a source of methane? > > I remember years ago someone telling me that a SWs in Englands Midlands had stand by generators powered by the stuff. > > I know that at least one S.Ws over here burns it off to get rid of it, which seems wasteful. > > Also landfills generate methane, in fact this side of the pond there are permament vents built in on former L.F,s that have been used for building. > > Once burnt is the by product still a Greenhouse gas ? > > Bearing in mind that water vapour is itself a G.H. gas. Some waste water treatment plants capture and burn their methane. It also has the side benefit of making the downwind odor of these plants siginificantly more tolerable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/methane-as-an-energy-source/606305.md?page=1)