Hydraulic Fracturing and Natural Gas

Hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, is a way to obtain natural gas in shale formations. Like other sources of energy, natural gas has its pros and cons. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “responsible development of America’s shale gas resources offers important economic, energy security, and environmental benefits.”1 The EPA believes that it can work with states and use regulation and research to ensure that natural gas extraction does not harm public health or the environment.1 However, opponents to natural gas think that it is an unclean source of energy and furthers the dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels.

Proponents for natural gas can point to its economic benefits. In the United States, natural gas has tremendously impacted energy markets; natural gas provides a quarter of all gas production and has lowered energy prices. 2 Cheap gas has helped the economy in other ways by aiding the petrochemical industry as well as other energy-intensive businesses, by providing jobs, and by lowering electricity bills.2 In addition, American shale gas significantly reduces America’s requirements for imported liquefied natural gas and eliminated the need for natural gas exports from Iran, a country that uses its control of energy resources to strengthen its political power.2 Natural gas can also help both America and China to reduce their dependency on the Middle East for energy.2

Proponents for natural gas also point out that all forms of currently available means of energy production leave some environmental impact; thus one has to consider the relative availability, cost, and reliability of a energy source in conjunction with its environmental impact when making decisions about how to obtain energy.2 Hydraulic fracturing is used to extract oil and gas, not just natural gas, thus the environmental impacts linked to hydraulic fracturing are not unique to natural gas.2 Disposing of waste water, a major problem in natural gas production, is also a problem in almost every form of energy production.2 Natural gas has environmental benefits compared to coal; natural gas production releases less carbon dioxide and mercury into the environment compared to coal production. 2

On the other hand, opponents to natural gas stress the environmental impacts of fracking. Fracking can pollute both the air and water. It requires large volumes of water, stressing surface water and ground water supplies.1 In addition, fracking can cause contamination of underground sources of drinking water and surface water through spills or faulty well construction.1 Natural gas in rich in methane, which affects both air and water quality. When methane is separated from fluids and other gases, the process released volatile organic compounds.3 Chemicals containing volatile organic compounds may also be used when a well is drilled or during fracking to break up rock formations.3 In addition, compressors and other equipment emit volatile organic compounds.3 Volatile organic compounds can be harmful to human health, causing symptoms such as headache, loss of coordination, and damage to the liver and kidneys.3 In addition, volatile organic compounds contribute to the creation of ground-level ozone, which can contribute to severe respiratory and immune system problems.3

As the natural gas industry grows, it will come into conflict with ranching, wilderness recreation, and housing developments. In the coming years, public exposure to pollutants involved in energy production is expected to increase, with many possible consequences. However, natural gas may also have many economical benefits, and if regulated properly, may be a safer source of energy than the sources commonly used today.

1http://www2.epa.gov/hydraulicfracturing
2http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/934
3http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817691/

Xenotransplantation

When I got my driver’s license, I was asked if I wanted to be an organ donor. I said “yes” even though the idea of some random stranger using my heart or kidneys after I die freaks me out, because I knew that the current supply of organs does not meet the demand. (Also, reading many sad books about sick people made me feel guilty about saying “no” to being an organ donor; some poor sick person who has been waiting for months for an organ has a better chance of survival if I decide to be an organ donor and donating my organs should not matter especially if I’m dead and do not need them anymore. Anyways, I guess the point is: I am an organ donor largely because of guilt and I really wish I did not feel that there was a need for me to sacrifice my organs after death.)

Even though a bunch of people die everyday and a bunch of organs are harvested, the waiting time for organs is still extremely long. For example, if you needed a new kidney, the medium waiting time would be 1,219 days.1 When an organ transplant is critical to a patient’s survival, waiting can be disastrous.

However, animals, combined with technology, may help reduce the time patients have to wait for a donated organ. Xenotransplantation, a technique where living cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman species is planted in humans, may prove to be an alternative to traditional methods of organ transplantation.2 When a patient needs an organ transplant, an animal organ can be genetically altered with the patient’s genes to prevent the patient’s immune system from rejecting the organ. There are still many potential problems to the technique; for example xenogeneic infections introduced from the animal to the human through xenotransplantation may prove problematic.2 However, as more research is done and people learn more about genetics, the immune system, and organ transplantation, xenotransplantation may become more practical and widely adopted.

Source: http://www.revivicor.com/technology.html

Source: http://www.revivicor.com/technology.html

1http://www.organdonor.gov/about/transplantationprocess.html
2http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/transplant/html/fda.htm

Wind Power

Wind is a renewable resource that can be used to provide power, mainly electricity. Wind turbines use their blades to collect the wind’s kinetic energy. Wind flows over the blades, which creates lift and allows the blades to turn.1 The blades are connected to a drive shaft, and the drive shaft turns an electric generator to produce electricity.

1How a Wind Turbine Works

1How a Wind Turbine Works

Historically, wind power has accounted for a small percentage of energy production, however the amount of electricity generated by wind has increased significantly in recent years; electricity generation from wind has increased from around 6 billion kilowatt-hours in 2000 to around 140 billion kilowatt-hours in 2012. 1 New technology that decreased the cost of generating electricity from wind, tax breaks, and green pricing programs all helped increase the use of wind power. 1 Despite the increases however, in 2012, wind turbines only generated about 3% of the total electricity generated in the United States in that year.1

1WInd turbines

1WInd turbines

Like any source of energy, there are benefits and drawbacks to using wind power. Wind is a clean source of energy and has fewer environmental consequences than many other sources of power. Wind turbines usually do not release pollutants into the air or water and do not need water for cooling.1 They many reduce the need for fossil fuels, reducing air pollution, carbon dioxide emissions, and water use. In addition, many wind farms are located on farm, grazing, and forest lands, allowing farmers and rancher to stay in business and prevented the land from being developed for other purposes.1

However, there are also negatives to using wind power. Though wind is renewable, it is not always available. When wind is not blowing sufficiently, wind turbines will not turn and electricity will not be generated. In addition, competition from other industries generating electricity prevents wind energy from supplying a major portion of the United State’s energy needs. In 2008 and 2009, the wind industry employed around 85,000 people in the United States, according to the American Wind Energy Association.2 However, around 10,000 of those jobs have disappeared because of low demand, competition from natural gas, and competition from Asia.2 Chinese manufacturers can produce wind turbines cheaply because of state subsidies can easily outcompete American manufacturers.2 In addition, some people find wind turbines unappealing aesthetically, especially large wind farms with rows upon rows of turbines. Wind turbines can be loud, so people living in the area might not enjoy the sounds they make. They also can negatively impact the environment, killing many birds per year. When birds migrate, they try to fly at lower altitudes to conserve energy and will collide with human-made structures. Many bird species are already in decline and as the number of wind farms increase, the number of birds dying from collisions with wind turbines will also increase. Bats can also die from crashing into wind turbines. In addition, roads often have to be built when wind plants are built, adding to their environmental impact. Making wind turbines uses metals and other materials that are produced using fossil fuels, furthering the environmental impact.

1http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=wind_home-basics-k.cfm
2http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/business/energy-environment/as-a-tax-credit-wanes-jobs-vanish-in-wind-power-industry.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ref=windpower

There’s an Exception to Every Rule

So far, my passion blogs have focused on how humans can use animals for their benefit and the unique features of certain animals that make them helpful to human society. I would like to take a break from writing about when humans use animals – whether for food, research, or companionship – to write about when people should not use animals.

In my animal science class, we get to perform experiments on rats and mice. For the rat experiment, different rats are fed different feeds; some of the feeds are deficient in essential amino acids. As expected, the animals who do are not fed a complete diet lose weight. The rat my group was in charge of was fed a diet that was deficient in some essential amino acids. She weighed around 101 grams before we switched her diet, but after five days, her weight was down to around 87 grams; that is, her weight went down by over 10% in the course of less than a week. If our rat were a human that weighed around 150 pounds, she would have lost 15 pounds in 5 days solely based on diet.

Source: http://freakonomics.com/2011/06/28/taking-lab-rats-seriously-the-case-against-animal-testing/

Source: http://freakonomics.com/2011/06/28/taking-lab-rats-seriously-the-case-against-animal-testing/

Performing the experiment made me feel a bit uneasy. I approve of using rats and mice in research to collect data for the betterment of society, but the experiment I performed seemed pointless. First of all, I am pretty sure most students realize that essential amino acids are essential and not having enough of essential nutrients in an animal’s diet hinders their growth; the experiment did not help me understand anything new and the data gathered is already available, so the experiment did not gather any information that people did not know already. Secondly, the experiment did not teach about the methodology of conducting experiments on animals. I can understand doing an experiment that does not have any relevance to “furthering scientific knowledge” if they teach future scientists about the scientific method. However, for this experiment, we just weighed our rat, weighed food and fed our food the food, and recorded the weight of the rat and food. We worked in a group and each person only has to feed the rat once a week; we do not have to clean up for the rat or do anything else. I do not see the point of depriving a rat of essential amino acids to teach students how to weigh rats and weigh rat food.

Personally, I do not think animals should suffer when no one gains from their suffering. I approve of experiments that hurt and cause more pain to an animal than just starving them if the experiment has relevance and the potential to greatly help society, but I think it is a shame to use animals for an experiment without a purpose, or to gather data that is already available. Many animals are killed or suffer from experiments without purpose, and that makes me sad.

Let me know your opinions on what I wrote!

Cows!

Some fun facts about cows:
1. 1. Cows are not native to America; the first cow in America arrived in 1611 and lived in the Jamestown colony.1
2. For a long period of American history (until the 1850’s) most families had their own cow.1
3. Genetic improvements and breeding techniques have drastically changed cows over the past decades. Today, the output of one cow is ten times as great as the output for one cow previously. 1
4. Milking machines allowed farmers to improve from being able to milk only six cows per hour to more than 100 cows per hour.1
5. Cows are ruminants, which means they have four stomach compartments. When I was little, I thought that cows literally had four separate small stomachs, and I was pretty disappointed when I learned otherwise. The first compartment of the stomach, called the rumen, changes carbohydrates to volatile fatty acids that are absorbed by the animal. The second compartment, the reticulum, helps the cow regurgitate their food so they can chew the cud. The third compartment, the omasum, helps with the absorption of water and helps digest food a bit. The last compartment, the abomasum, functions like a stomach in a monogastric, secreting enzymes to digest food further.

Source: www.furrytalk.com

Source: www.furrytalk.com

As seen by some of the fun facts, cows are very important to society. Without cows, we would not have milk, cheese, beef, or Penn State’s famous creamery ice cream. Both the beef and milk industries are multi-billion dollar industries worldwide. In addition, cows are used to make leather, and their manure that can be used as fertilizer. They can also be used for manual labor; they can pull carts or plows. In addition, cows are sacred animals in the Hindi religion and seen as a maternal figure; slaughtering cows is illegal in most states in India.

So the next time you see a cow, take time to appreciate how awesome cows are.

1 http://www.aipl.arsusda.gov/kc/cowfacts.html

Poultry

My fifth grade class raised chickens for fun. We got about twelve eggs for the whole class and incubated them. After they hatched, we got to observe them and watch them turn from cute fuzzy yellow chickens to ones with white feathers. Raising the chickens was a lot of work; they ate and drank copiously, as any growing animal should. In addition, we could not keep the chickens at school during the weekends, and thus we had to take them home, resulting in many fun adventures and encounters with other pets. At the start of the project, our teacher informed us that we would be required to do projects and experiments with the chickens, such as testing their intelligence by making them run through a maze. We did not actually perform any experiments, but instead learned a lot about chickens via day-to-day observation.

Source: www.infocium.com

Source: www.infocium.com

When I was in fifth grade, I thought our experience was a relatively unique one and that most people raise chickens just for food or eggs. However, many people enjoy the companionship of chickens and keep them as pets, though having a pet chicken is a bit more exotic than having a pet cat or dog.1 In addition, people raise poultry for shows and fairs.

However, the most important role poultry play in society is in the meat and egg industry. Eggs are a good source of protein, a better source than milk or meat, because they are designed to feed a growing embryo that has high nutritional needs. Thus the egg laying industry is very important, and there are millions of egg-laying hens in the United States.1 In addition, billions of chickens are harvested each year in the United States, and consumption of poultry has gone up significantly in the last couple of decades as consumer trends and lifestyle changes occurred.1 As countries develop, the demand for meat increases; thus other countries have shown an increase in chicken consumption also.

1http://web.uconn.edu/poultry/4-H%20Poultry/importanceofpoultry.html

Solar Power

When people think of alternative sources of energy, they often think of solar energy. Currently, solar energy supplies less than 0.1% of the electricity in the United States.1 However, the number masks the rapid expansion of the use of solar energy; in the past eight years, solar power has been expanding by an average of 40% per year.1 Part of the reason is the governments have pushed for and subsidized research regarding solar energy and it has also subsidized solar panel purchases by homeowners and others. In Europe and in the United States, tax breaks and feed-in tariffs that require utilities to buy back consumer-generated electricity from solar panels that goes back into the grid have drastically lowered the cost of solar panels.2 In addition, The cost per kilowatt-hour of solar photovoltaic systems has decreased, while the cost of electricity generated by fossil fuels is increasing.1 Technological advances and a greater demand for solar panels have allowed the price of a solar panel to decline by an estimated 60 percent since the beginning of 2011.2 The lower cost of solar panels makes them more feasible as an energy source by making them more affordable for an average middle-class individual. In fact, solar energy is becoming so affordable that it is now cost-effective in many European countries, such as Germany, Spain, and Italy, without public subsidization.2 However, despite the growth of solar energy in recent years, there is still a lot of taxpayer support for fossil fuel and nuclear-generate energy, thus subsidies for solar are small in comparison to subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy.2

There are several benefits of solar energy. Firstly, there are environmental benefits. The sun provides a renewable source of energy, and the energy is currently not being harvested or used. According to Carol Olson, a researcher at the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, “photovoltaic electricity contributes 96 percent to 98 percent less greenhouse gases than electricity generated from 100 percent coal and 92 percent to 96 percent less greenhouse gases than the European electricity mix.”3 In addition, as compared with electricity from coal, “photovoltaic electricity over its lifetime uses 86 to 89 percent less water, occupies or transforms over 80 percent less land, presents approximately 95 percent lower toxicity to humans, contributes 92 to 97 percent less to acid rain, and 97 to 98 percent less to marine eutrophication.”3 Secondly, in areas where demand for electricity for use in air-conditioning is high, there is also a lot of sunshine, making solar energy a good source of energy. Thirdly, technological advances can make it possible for solar panels to become even more efficient and effective then they are currently, increasing energy production. For example, technology can make it possible to operate machines, such as a dishwasher or washing machine, at the optimal time of the day. In addition, “smart grid” technologies can make it easier to sell back electricity to power companies and redistribute energy.

In the future, solar panels might become a more integral part of the energy supply. According to a report published by Clean Edge and Co-op America, a predicted 2% of the United States electricity will be supplied by solar power systems and 8% of the nation’s electricity will be supplied by solar photovoltaic systems by 2025.1 To reach that prediction however, technological changes would have to occur to allow a more widespread adoption of solar energy. Solar photovoltaic companies will have to make it easier to buy and connect components of the system and subsequently connect them to a power grid.1 In addition, electric companies will have to take advantage of solar energy and incorporate the energy source into their grids.1

1 http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=11835
2http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/the-red-faces-of-the-solar-skeptics/?_php=true&_type=blogs&ref=solarenergy&_r=0
3http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/business/energy-environment/solar-power-begins-to-shine-as-environmental-benefits-pay-off.html?pagewanted=1

Mice

When people think about animals involved in research, they often think of mice. Mice are the most commonly used animal for biomedical research, and rats and mice combined make up 85-90% of the animals used for research.1 They are oftentimes used as a model organism because they are cheap to keep, easy to work with, and have genes that resemble those in humans. Mice are so important to research that a genetically modified mouse could cost as much as $100,000. 2 People have sequenced the entire mouse genome, so the mice’s genes can be manipulated to study a wide variety of illness, ranging from Alzheimer’s to cancer. 2 “Knockout” mice have become increasing popular. They are missing a specific gene, which helps researchers study the particular gene in an effort to find a “target” that can be blocked before it becomes involved in the disease process. 2 Hopefully, “knockout” mice will help researchers develop new drugs and better understand the role certain genes play in determining the physiology of animals and people.

2 A mouse bred for research

2 A mouse bred for research

Despite the mouse’s widespread prevalence in the laboratory, there exists little protection to make sure the animals are treated humanely. Mice are not covered under the Animal Welfare Act, which sets minimal standards of care for animals used in research and other areas. 3 Mice used for research are often kept in tiny cages alone, despite how they are social animals. The cages have wire floors that prevent them from being able to dig and burrow. Oftentimes, experiments performed on mice can be extremely painful; many mice die during experiments or are euthanized shortly after data from them is gathered. Hopefully in the future, scientists will be able to depend more on alternative methods to gather data that do not involve the suffering of mice. In addition, laboratories might be able to provide a better environment for mice, one that allows them to think and play.

1http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/biomedical_research/qa/questions_answers.html
2http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11700807/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/mice-play-critical-role-medical-research/#.UwVexb9ZtG4
3 http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/RS22493.pdf

Petroleum, Coal, and Natural Gas

To understand why energy is an important civic issue, one must first understand where energy comes from. In the United States, petroleum, coal, and natural gas are the major sources of power. They are all nonrenewable sources, meaning that they exist in a finite quantity and are not replaced once used. Fossil fuels take million of years to form, and the type of fossil fuel formed depends on a number of factors, including the type of organic matter present, the length it was buried, the temperature conditions, and the pressure conditions.1 To obtain fossil fuels, industries must extract them from the ground by drilling or mining. Then, they either burn them for electricity or refine them so they can be used for heating or transportation.1

According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), there is enough oil to meet demand for the near future of at least 25 years.2 However, eventually fossil fuels will become unsustainable because of their nonrenewable nature. In addition, the environmental consequences of burning fuels prevent them from being an adequate source of fuel. Thus, the development of alternatives sources of fuel is an important topic, making energy an important civic issue.

In addition, dependency on foreign oil makes energy an important issue. In 2012, the United States imported a net 40% of all the oil that it consumed. 3 Over 50% of that oil was imported from the Western Hemisphere and about 29% of the imports are from the Persian Gulf countries Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. 3 The dependence on foreign oil might be a problem because political or social strife might impact oil prices or decrease the amount of easily accessible oil, thereby increasing oil prices. In addition, conflict within the fossil fuel industry itself might make it hard for oil and other fossil fuels to be sustainable in the future. Though there is a ban preventing U.S. oil companies from selling their products to most overseas nations, some U.S. oil producers have been accused of only looking out for profits at the expense of their consumers when they make efforts to change the laws so that they can sell overseas. It is seen as a means to maximize profits by decreasing the supply that is commercially available in the United States.

Despite the current bans on oil exports, oil shipments to Canada, a country that the U.S. can legally ship oil to, have grown, tripling since 2012 to around 200,000 barrels each day. 4 The oil industry has profited, especially refiners, who ship a lot of their products to Latin America and Europe. 4 Producers argue that exports will help decrease the price of oil in the United States by forcing down the Brent benchmark crude price.4 Thus the oil industry itself and its goals for profits plays an important role in the price of oil and can potentially increase the price of fossil fuels. If people only depend on fossil fuels for energy, they might be placed at the mercy of corporations producing the fossil fuels. However, many people are involved in the production of fossil fuels, so if Americans stopped having to depend on fossil fuels for energy, it could hurt a lot of employees.

1 http://energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources/fossil
2 http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=38&t=6
3 http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm
4 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/business/energy-environment/an-oil-industry-awash-in-crude-argues-over-exporting.html?_r=0

Horses

Before this summer, horses were not on my list of favorite animals. I did not dislike them, but I did not particularly like them either because they seemed intimidating. However, after working with horses for a bit and being able to ride them, I really grew to like being around them. I saw kids who were very excited to just see the horses and I grew to appreciate how majestic horses are.

Horses are more than just animals that people ride for fun though. Without the horse, human society as we know it today would not be possible. Horses were domesticated about 4,000 years ago, or possibly even earlier1,2 The horse’s speed and strength made it a popular animal for a lot of tasks. Horses were used to transport people and goods and allowed faster travel than previous methods, such as the ox-cart.2 They were used in warfare, ridden while people hunted animals, and used for agriculture. Before the advent of the automobile, the horse was the most popular form of transportation in the United States; in 1911, the Department of Agriculture reported an estimated 23 million horses. 2

Now, technological advances have replaced horses in many areas. However, they are still very useful. In less developed countries, 78% of agricultural work is done by animals – including horses – or by humans. Even in more developed countries, horses are still used for certain tasks, such as mounted police duty or for search and rescue.

Because of its importance to human society, it is unlikely that the domestic horse will become extinct or threatened in the future. However, its wild counterpart is not as lucky. In the United States, there are fewer than 50,000 mustangs, compared to an estimated two million mustangs a hundred years ago.3 In addition, they must compete with agriculture, especially cattle ranches, for land; the Bureau of Land Management routinely rounds up wild horses for adoption in order to maintain the balance between ranching, recreation, and wildlife. 3 To preserve mustangs, people must care about them and value their contribution to American’s western “frontier” more than they value using land for profitable reasons.

http://www.wallpaperswala.com/black-horse/

http://www.wallpaperswala.com/black-horse/

1http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/horse/
2http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/HorseHistory/intro.shtml
3http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1024_TVmustangs.html