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At the bottom of the planet's deepest oceans, and beneath the frozen shallows
of our coldest seas, there is gold.
Gas hydrate, an ice-like crystalline solid that exists in the oceanic sediment,
is a mixture of water and gas - usually methane. It may become one of the great
energy sources of the 21st century, with the power both to enhance our lives,
and, if approached without care, to damage our planet irreparably. Last week,
100 scientists from 20 countries convened in Edinburgh to discuss the best way
to progress with gas hydrate research, and it will not be their last meeting.
The key to gas hydrate's great power lies both in its content and its volume.
The highly concentrated levels of methane found in gas hydrate can yield
astonishing energy returns - one litre of methane hydrate solid, for instance,
would contain 168 litres of methane gas. But when it comes to the volume of gas
hydrate that exists on Earth, opinions are ...