Will fracking save the world?
source: http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2011/10/26/will-fracking-save-the-world/
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- hoosierdaddy
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Fracking represents a technology that thus far has allowed the US to reap the benefits of significantly lower natural gas costs over the past several years, although this benefit may be temporary as other countries push to develop the use of this technology in their own regions. However, it’s not clear that other parts of the world have the infrastructure or expertise to develop shale gas reserves as broadly as has been done in the US. As a result, the US faces the prospect of potentially benefiting from lower natural gas prices for some period of time. Moody’s , for example, has opined that this benefit may last 5-10 years in the case of the chemical industry.
In addition, as intimated above, there are some interesting, and potentially significant, environmental issues associated with fracking. Not least of these is the fact that fracking technology uses very large quantities of water. Given that many recently posited shale gas reserves seem to occur in areas of water scarcity, this raises some questions as to how usefully some of these resources can be developed. In addition, concerns have been raised about possible groundwater contamination, although it’s not clear whether these objections can’t be addressed through better drilling practices.
In addition, as intimated above, there are some interesting, and potentially significant, environmental issues associated with fracking. Not least of these is the fact that fracking technology uses very large quantities of water. Given that many recently posited shale gas reserves seem to occur in areas of water scarcity, this raises some questions as to how usefully some of these resources can be developed. In addition, concerns have been raised about possible groundwater contamination, although it’s not clear whether these objections can’t be addressed through better drilling practices.
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- groups:
- Green
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- tags:
- Environment, Oil, Energy, Natural Gas, 1 more
