14 DAY TRIAL // The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry recently went public with the news that the country had succeeded in extracting methane hydrate from the sea bed.
Apparently, Japanese officials are confident that this material, known to ordinary folk as “flammable ice,” can be used to meet the country's energy demands at one point in the not so distant future.
On the other hand, it is a well-known fact that methane hydrate can prove to be roughly 20 times more damaging to the natural world than CO2 is, which is why greenheads are bound to frown upon Japan's plans of using it as an energy source, Inhabitat reports.
Just for the record, the phrase “flammable ice” is basically a nickname for natural gases trapped inside ice deposits. Thus, when placed near a flame, methane hydrate does not delay in igniting and burning.