Why don't we use methane for energy?

Question

It's renewable, it's recycling and all of the technology for gas powered products are already available. Like gas lighting, fridges, stoves and gas turbines to produce electricity.

Answer 1

some cities do...my old home had a pipeline that went from the sewage plant to the natural gas station and where it was mixed.

The problem is that farm waste would be the best source.

Getting that waste to a digestion plant might be too expensive.

Because methane is so light weight it can take more energy to compress it into tanks then its worth

you also have to produce a lot of it to make it worthwhile

.

Answer 2

because it is flameable,

from sewage treatment plants methane gas emission is on high,

we don't use it because of not availability of some proper instruments and techniques to convert it into useable form.

Answer 3

Because it is more expensive than other forms of electrical generation like coal or nuclear. There are power plants that use natural gas (methane) but they are only used (normally) during peak power demand because of the cost.

Answer 4

Because methane in the from of natural gas is still cheap and plentiful.  And unless it can supply all your homes gas needs it would just be a huge pain.

Answer 5

Well you could ask the same question about Geothermal energy, it actually gets rid of pollution! And its easy and cheap to use, and its renewable, so why aren't we using that?

Answer 6

it smells? or it's too flammable, not sure which

Answer 7

It is used for electricity production now.    So many new natural gas (mostly methane) power stations have been built in the last 15 years that the price has risin substancially so it is no longer such a cheap product.    In Japan they use natural gas in vehicles.   Its just the mindset of people in the US- "its dangerous!   its explosive!,..."  Anything new is dangerous to most people.

Answer 8

There are actually plants which do this.

There is a generator system for farms that use cow slurry to generate electricity for lighting, and run cleaning aparatus.

There is at least one government corporation using gas from domestic sewage to run lighting at the facility.

Small communities in Africa are using methane digesters consisting of nothing more than a covered pit - to provide cooking gas -this is because they've burnt all the local wood. (hope they don't suffer from blowback!)

Yes - more could be done.

Answer 9

Hmmmm.  During WWII charcoal burning cars were common in the Western Pacific due to gas shortages.  Burning charcoal (or soft coal) produces a gas called "coal gas", of which methane and hydrogen are the main combustible ingredients.  This was produced in a closed container and fed directly into the carburetor.  It appears this is being revisited by some alternative fuel groups today.  Faraday first described the phenomenon!

Answer 10

I just wanted to point out to the people that answered with "it's flammable"  that gasoline is also flammable

Answer 11

i think methane is what they make methamphetimine out of?  i could be wrong?  but yeah, that wouldnt be good, everyone would be high all the time!

Answer 12

using renewable source of energy like methane is a good idea. the only thing that prevent us from using it is the economist (selling oil), industries, and the government.

aside from that, almost all vechiles and other machines are not designed for the use of other energy. if a sudden change of energy source is applied, machines would be modified to accommodate these changes and it would take a lot of time for it to be of use

Answer 13

We do, otherwise there would not be the gas powered items you mentioned; BUT, it is not currently feasible for some uses due to storage, transport, and safety problems.

Answer 14

Methane gas is highly flammable and if exposed to air it can be highly explosive. It is also asphyxiant gas .

Answer 15

Methane is good renewable energy source. Why we don't use it? Same reason that we don't use solar energy, or any other options that we have.

Answer 16

We do, it's called natural gas.

Answer 17

Natural gas occupies about four times the space of an energy equivalent of gasoline resulting in added weight and space of fuel storage tanks. New fuel tanks and some fuel system modifications are required on retrofits. At the present time, there is limited availability of refueling stations and natural gas vehicles experience a shorter driving range between fill-ups.

OTHER THAN THAT YOU ARE RIGHT!!!!!! DAM THE STUPIDTY OF OUR GOVERNMENTS.

Answer 18

Methane is Natural Gas is CH4.  It is used to produce a lot of power in the US and not just in a peak power production roll, although it is the best fuel source for a peaking power plant.  The Las Vegas valley is generally thought to get its power from Hoover Dam, but in reality a full 50% of its power comes from Natural Gas power plants and very little comes from Hoover Dam.  The plant I work for runs 24/7

Methane from sources other than the petroleum industry is recovered in many locations and used for in house use.  See the Sierra Nevada Brewing website http://www.sierranevada.com/environment....

Natural Gas from petroleum process or underground sources are currently running about $8.00 to $9.25 per mmBTU which equates to $0.065 to $0.075 per kilowatt-hour for a 1x1 combined-cycle power plant producing 50Mw to the grid, just to break even on gas costs versus power sales (not including payroll and other operating and facility costs).  Other means of power production are currently cheaper.