Why not tap this type of natural gas too

Though it is not a fact that has excited much comment or investigation, India ranks among the nations with the highest prevalence of uninvestigated dyspepsia: around 30% compared to, say, Singapore’s 7%. India, thus, also has to weather the side effects of this digestive dysfunction, such as belching and other windy eructions.

So, the news that Argentina has found a way to convert cow burps into fuel should be regarded with particular interest in this country. The moot point is that not only does India have the most livestock in the world — some 485 million cattle, goat, buffalo and sheep —it also has over a billion humans, a third of them potentially prone to decades of burping and flatulence.

That should have put the wind up among scientists here. Argentina, with 42 million people, has long been worried about the gas emissions of its 50 million cattle. It was logical, then, for its scientists to explore methods to trap, tap and convert gaseous excretions into fuel.

Of course, humans cannot compete with cows when it comes to the sheer volume of gas, as bovines emit between 250 and 300 litres of pure methane a day. But if further research into this unconventional energy source results in the commercial utilisation of this new category of natural gas, India’s famed demographic dividend could have another unexpected payoff.