Environment & Energy

but it just seems very strange that for all the gas that has been collected over the centuries it's not been mentioned in any book I've ever read, and I've read plenty on chemistry (admittedly, not very specific on geochemistry). Of course any major gas producer would at some point thoroughly analyze the gas they're collecting, and know exactly what was in it, using techniques that had been thorough worked out over the years ! Wouldn't they have gotten excited about that ? (GC - MS would reveal every volatile component without testing for anything specific, BTW. The idea that you can't detect a substance without searching for it specifically is utter rubbish. Most of the science of analytical chemistry is devoted to doing exactly that.)

Your last statement about it only rarely pooling makes more sense, but if it's a rare phenomenon, how much of an energy supply can it possibly constitute ?