My father used to say: "The day you become a millionaire is the day I will see ice burn". You can image I didn't know how fast to check my bank account when I saw the headline: "Combustible Ice" on the Environmental News Network website. The ice is not really ice (which explains my empty bank account), but natural gas hydrate. It's is a crystallized solid created during the interaction between methane and water in a high-pressure, low-temperature environment. It's found in deep seas and atop plateaus.. and in China. Burning the ice generates a huge amount of energy drawing the attention from many countries. But it also releases a substantial amount of methane into the atmosphere. And methane is a pretty agressive greenhouse gass. Not good :(

China is desperately looking for alternative energy sources since economic growth pushed energy use to its limits. Good thing China is investing big money in wind, solar and hydropower. Read more about the combustible ice on worldwatch.org

via ENN