Pigs fart... a lot. Whilst cows get a lot of the blame for increasing the level of atmospheric methane, through belching and farting, there are, by many estimates, even more pigs than cows.
Therefore, UBCo have develop the Baconator. This amazing device fits loosely over a hog, trapping the methane and any other waste that might be used to create combustible gases. The process of storage and fermentation of these wastes and byproducts continues throughout err... Wilbur's life.
Once the pig has reached a certain size the porcine victim is euthanased, washed, cleaned, butchered and some of its past energy production is used to cure it to bacon before the remainder of the energy is put to work, cooking the flesh and smoking it to a high standard of bacony goodness.
Living high on the hog, son.-- UnaBubba, May 15 2012 Not this. http://www.wendys.c...?family=1&product=4What to do with the bacon. [tatterdemalion, May 16 2012] seeing as methane is lighter than air....-- not_morrison_rm, May 15 2012 ... and completely odourless.-- UnaBubba, May 15 2012 ...and somewhat explosive...-- Alterother, May 15 2012 Hence the use as fuel for cooking and curing bacon... from pig to pan to plate.-- UnaBubba, May 15 2012 Bun for bacon.-- Alterother, May 15 2012 Master Blaster runs Bartertown.-- jaksplat, May 15 2012 // Bun for bacon //
Bacon in a bun, mmmmmm.
[+]-- 8th of 7, May 15 2012 Pigs should have flare stacks, like oil drilling platforms.-- hippo, May 15 2012 Nice image, [hippo]. Ramjet-powered Porkers.-- UnaBubba, May 15 2012 Leading to a whole new porcine transportation industry.-- RayfordSteele, May 15 2012 Little known fact - The average human emits 14 farts per day, on average.-- sqeaketh the wheel, May 16 2012 Then I must be significantly above average.-- Alterother, May 16 2012 Too much information, [Alterother].-- blissmiss, May 16 2012 Please accept my most humble apology, Your Blissness. I live only to serve thee.-- Alterother, May 16 2012 I think kangaroos burn it internally. Have you ever seen one that's REALLY in a hurry? They go like a bloody rocket.-- UnaBubba, May 16 2012 //Pigs fart... a lot.//
Cows and pigs carry a lot of the blame for greenhouse gas emissions. However, recent research shows that lobsters (well, in fact most crustaceans) are the main culprits. Crustaceans have a unique (so far) metabolic pathway that lets them metabolise their food with less oxygen than most other organisms (mammals included) - an adaptation that helps them survive in low-oxygen environments. The result is a vast quantity of methane - over five times as much as ruminants produce, per calorie of food digested (at least when the lobster is in warm, low-oxygen water).
There are at least two Asian companies who have decided that the combined economics of shrimp farming and methane production are attractive.
It's also been found that crayfish produce small but significant amounts of heavier alkanes, along with methane. Scientists are trying to find and upregulate the key genes, in the hopes of producing crustaceans that excrete heavier hydrocarbons. (The main problem, it seems, is that heavier hydrocarbons are harder for the crayfish to get rid of, and can accumulate under the shell as globules which eventually cause the creatures to become bouyant, which in turn prevents them feeding.)
It seems that trilobites used a similar metabolic trick. At least, they have some anatomical features which are very similar to those involved in excreting methane in modern crustaceans. It's been theorized that the Permian extinction was due, at least in part, to the greenhouse effects of trilobogenic methane.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 16 2012 You're good at this, you should maybe get a job doing biochemistry or something …-- 8th of 7, May 16 2012 Are there any reliable estimates of atmospheric makeup from assays of Permian rock formation, of which you are aware, [Max]?-- UnaBubba, May 17 2012 //atmospheric makeup from assays of Permian rock formation//
Not that I'm aware of. It's also possible that there are no assays that I'm not aware of, but I'm not aware of that.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 17 2012 One of the Known Unknowns, then … glad that's cleared up.-- 8th of 7, May 17 2012 random, halfbakery