可燃冰能充当日本的能源救世主吗？

    这是一种在2.75亿年前摧毁了地球上大量生命的气体。现在，日本却宣扬它是世界下一个非常规能源供应。

    这种新型潜在燃料俗称可燃冰或笼形化合物，是一种果子露状的物质，由被困在水冰中的甲烷构成。乍看起来，它非常像冰，通常藏匿在略低于大陆架外的海床下面。

    日本的计算显示，作为一个资源贫瘠的国家，日本在其海岸线之外拥有巨额的甲烷水合物储量，足以满足这个经济超级大国在未来100年的能源需求。这种冷冻气体也普遍存在于地球其他地区。一项估计声称，它能够提供的能源比全世界目前已知天然气和石油储量的总和还要多。

    正在引领这项能源开发尝试的日本政府表示：“日本的初始研究区域是绵延400公里（从东京至日本本州岛西端）的沿海区域。我们认为，仅这个地区的储量就足以为日本全国供应近14年的天然气。”

    今年三月份，为日本政府工作的研究人选率先从海底的甲烷水合物中提取天然气。提取这种气体面临巨大的技术障碍——因为它常常深藏于海平面之下，难以获取。一些人认为，这些资源永远也无法实现商业应用。

    东京方面开始瞄准水力压裂法在20世纪90年代所面临的挑战，并随即声称，类似的技术进步将使得从甲烷水合物中获取能源成为可能。鉴于日本自身的自然资源贫瘠，核电计划受阻，再加上可再生能源寥寥无几，日本希望甲烷水合物能够使该国摆脱能源依赖症。

    根据过去一年收集的数据，并于上周发布的经修订估算显示，日本海(Sea of Japan)海底储藏有大量甲烷水合物。日本官员表示，由于这些水合物靠近海床表面，它们比大多数天然气资源更容易获取。据说，沿着地质断层线可收集甲烷水合物，而日本则坐落于世界三大甲烷水合物储藏的汇聚之处。

    “对于日本来说，甲烷水合物可能会成为一项重要的能源来源，因为在全球已知或探明的资源中，有相当大一部分位于日本周围，”日本欧洲技术公司(Eurotechnology Japan)的能源技术分析师格哈德•法索尔说。

    对于制造业产出数据近期获得提振的日本公司来说，这是一个好消息。由于几乎所有的核电站都停止运营，东京正在用进口的化石燃料，尤其是丙烷气，支撑日本经济最近一波迷你繁荣。每百万英热单位16美元的价格（美国的价格大约为3.50美元），已被证明是非常昂贵的，特别是在日元购买力近期下降，贸易赤字不断膨胀的大背景下。

    It's a gas that wiped out much of life on Earth 275 million years ago, and Japan is now touting it as the world's next unconventional energy supply.

    Known as inflammable ice, or clathrates, the new potential fuel is a sherbet-like substance consisting of methane trapped in water ice. To the eye, it looks remarkably like ice and typically resides just below the seabed off our continental shelves.

    Japanese calculations suggests the resources-poor country has enough supply just off its coasts to meet the economic superpower's energy needs for the next 100 years. The frozen gas is also prevalent in other parts of the globe and can provide more energy than all the world's known gas and oil reserves combined, according to one estimate.

    "The initial area of study in Japan was the coastal region stretching 400 km (from Tokyo to the western tip of Japan's Honshu island). This region alone is thought to hold enough reserves to supply all of Japan with natural gas for nearly 14 years," says the Japanese government, which is leading the trials.

    Japanese researchers working for the government were the first to tap natural gas from seabed methane hydrates this March. Massive technological hurdles stand in the way of extracting the gas, which is difficult to access, as it is often deep below sea level. Some say these resources will never be commercially applicable.

    Tokyo points to the challenges of fracking in the 1990s and says similar technological advances will make energy from methane hydrate a possibility. With few natural resources of its own, a stalled nuclear power program, and little in the way of renewables, Japan is hoping methane clathrate can save it from energy dependency.

    Revised estimates, based on data collected over the last year and released last week, say there are massive deposits of methane hydrate below the Sea of Japan. These will be easier to reach than most gas deposits as they are located close to the seabed surface, officials say. Methane hydrates are believed to collect along geological fault lines, and Japan sits atop a nexus of three of the world's largest deposits.

    "Methane hydrate could become an important energy source for Japan, because a substantial part of the known or proven resources globally are around Japan," says energy technology analyst Gerhard Fasol of Eurotechnology Japan.

    Good news for Japan Inc., which showed boosted figures for manufacturing output recently. With nearly all nuclear power stations offline, Tokyo is fueling its mini boom with imported fossil fuels, particularly propane gas. At $16 per million metric units, compared to around $3.50 in the U.S., this has proven to be very expensive, particularly in light of the recent fall in the yen's purchasing power and a ballooning trade deficit.