article_snippet.sent: Methane is very efficient at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
article_snippet.sent: Like carbon dioxide, it contributes to global warming.
article_snippet.sent: Natural gas is 95-98 percent methane.
article_snippet.sent: Methane is colorless and odorless, making leaks hard to detect without scientific instruments. '
article_snippet.sent: Coalbed methane is gas that lines pores and cracks within coal.
article_snippet.sent: In underground coal mines, it is a deadly hazard that causes fatal explosions almost every year as it seeps out of the rock.
article_snippet.sent: After the U.S. energy crisis of the 1970s, techniques were invented to extract the methane from the coal and use the methane from the coal for fuel.
article_snippet.sent: By 2012, coalbed methane supplied about 8 percent of all natural gas in the United States.