Die ‘Energiekrise’ existiert nur in den Köpfen dummer Politiker und kluger Subventionshaie: A half mile (800 meters) below the ground at Prudhoe Bay, above the vast oil field that helped trigger construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline, a drill rig has tapped what might one day be the next big energy source. The U.S. Department of Energy and industry partners over two winters drilled into a reservoir of methane hydrate. The United States is awash in natural gas for the near future and is considering exporting it, but the DOE wants to be ready with methane if there’s a need. The world has a lot of methane hydrate. A Minerals Management Service study in 2008 estimated methane hydrate resources in the northern Gulf of Mexico at 21,000 trillion cubic feet (595 trillion cubic meters), or 100 times current U.S. reserves of natural gas. The combined energy content of methane hydrate may exceed all other known fossil fuels, according to the DOE.

(Dr. Benny Peiser)