[Fwd: [CrashList] Why `alternatives' are not alternative]

[Chris Burford]

At 23:07 19/09/00 -0500, you wrote:
>On Tue, 19 Sep 2000, Chris Burford wrote:
>
> >
> > Presumably nitrogen also has risks as a store of energy.
>
>Actually, a liberal amount of nitrogen deployed (to the
>exclusion of oxygen) would make me more comfortable around a
>quantity of H.  Or did you mean *nitrates*?

I was brainstorming about alternative carriers of energy to carbon (other 
than hydrogen) that would not much change the composition of the 
atmosphere. (The problem with Co2). As nitrogen is 80% of the atmosphere it 
is worth thinking about.

However I suppose a nitrogen compound in a reduced form, capable of 
releasing energy when combined with oxygen, might itself be quite toxic. NO 
is, if I recall correctly. N02 less so but now known to be a common feature 
of cellular metabolism. Can anyone help?

Chris Burford

London