Hello all!
During this semester, I will be diving into the controversy of fracking. Fracking is a relatively new process that has caused much debate over the past few years. A way of accessing cheap, cleaner natural gas, fracking gives us an alternative to other, dirtier ways of producing energy such as the burning of coal. However, fracking is not the perfect solution, as there are many problems that come with it. Throughout the semester, I will be analyzing different aspects of the pros and cons of fracking, and will hopefully determine whether fracking is something we should continue doing in the future.
So how does fracking work? Fracking is short for “Hydraulic fracturing”, and is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at high pressures. This fractures underground shale rock and thus releases the natural gas inside. This natural gas can be captured and used to produce energy.
How clean is natural gas? Cleaner than coal and oil, but it’s not a miracle solution to global warming. The burning of natural gas produces nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, just like burning coal and oil. However, it produces only half as much carbon dioxide, less than a third as much nitrogen oxide, and one percent as much sulfur oxides. Good news for the environment? Not so fast. Recent research indicates that methane leaks from loose pipes and gas wells are much higher than initially thought. Including these emissions, natural gas may only be 25% cleaner than coal. More modern and efficient plants can help reduce methane emissions, but roughly half of the 1,600 natural gas power plants in the U.S. operate at lower than optimal efficiency. Methane is also a more dangerous emission than other greenhouse gases, being approximately 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide emissions. This raises even more questions on the benefits of natural gas.
The extraction of natural gas can also destroy the natural habitat of animals and plants, and can cause soil erosion, loss of soil productivity, and landslides. In addition, natural gas is a nonrenewable resource. It is formed when layers of buried plants and animals are exposed to intense heat and pressure over thousands of years. The world’s natural gas reserves will not increase over our lifetimes. Currently, the U.S.’s natural gas reserves are estimated to be 317.6 trillion cubic feet, but that number is expected to increase to over 1,000 trillion cubic feet with additional discoveries. U.S. gas production is 24 trillion cubic feet, meaning that we won’t run out of natural gas in the near future.
Is natural gas a better solution than coal and oil? Should we pour billions of dollars into switching infrastructure to support the usage of natural gas over traditional fossil fuels? Or are we wasting money that could be better spent on other forms of energy development?
Sources used:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/natural-gas-clean_n_813750.html
http://www.dangersoffracking.com
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/natural-gas.html
Bri – It’s hard to really put a number on how much cleaner natural gas is. Modern, efficient plants can be much cleaner than coal, likely up to 50%, as scientists thought a few years ago. Now that methane leaks are being discovered at older plants, it really reduces the advantage natural gas has over coal and oil. A lot of pollution goes into simply obtaining the natural gas, but don’t forget the pollution that comes from obtaining coal and oil as well. Should we be spending all this money on natural gas? Perhaps it’s a way to buy time as we continue research on alternative energies. Unfortunately, the money going into natural gas is money that might have been going into researching hydrogen fuel cells or other forms of alternative energy had it been more economical than cheap natural gas. That’s a topic I’ll go further into in a different post.
Eric, it is interesting to hear about how you’ve witnessed the effects of fracking firsthand in your own town. My home is quite different in that aspect–coming from a large city, every day I would see the other side of the issue. Rather than watch scenery being destroyed or traffic accumulate, I saw plumes of smoke rise up out of coal power plants nonstop. It pollutes the air so much that sometimes when you go to bed, with the right moon out the sky will be orange. Even at midnight, long after sunset, orange! It scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it. So one of the many trade-offs that that has to be considered within this debate is which is worse: the disgusting sky, or the torn-up hills.
It seems like all of us come from an area where fracking and natural gas extraction are taking place. Sure, all the statistics of how natural gas is so much cleaner than coal look nice, but the real problem can be the process of extracting the natural gas. In my own community one of the major issues with natural gas has been all the equipment and supplies being brought into our area. According to an article by PopularMechanics, fracking a single well can take up to 7 million gallons of water. This becomes problematic. The traffic in my town has significantly increased due to the natural gas industry. Not only do we have to contend with tons of water trucks, but also equipment trucks, and just the increased population of workers.
This has done some amazing things in my small town. Within the last three years, two major hotel chains moved into our town. Without the natural gas, there is no way our tiny town could support the number of hotels we have. Along with this, more people have moved in, helping out a lot of the other ends of our town’s economy.
The unfortunate part to all of this, is what it is doing to our local roads and scenery. With the increased amount of traffic, many of our backroads and even main roads have begun to deteriorate. Some of them get fixed quickly, but it can take a long time for other roads to be repaired. Pipelines have also been put in, cutting up and down the “beautiful” endless mountains. It saddens me to think how much of the mountains they have cleared of trees and all other foilage.
Another interesting perspective on fracking and natural gas in Pennsylvannia, is how Governor Corbett is addressing the industry. Corbett is opposed to a severance tax on the natural gas industry. His perspective is that he does not want to have companies going to other states because it would be cheaper for them to drill there. It seems to me that there is such an abundance of natural gas in this state that the industry would come here anyway. Before getting off topic to much, I saw this interesting quote that applies to us at Penn State.
“Mr. Corbett specifically defended the higher-education cuts, which Penn State University President Graham Spanier has said could lead to higher tuition and closing of some Penn State satellite campuses.”
Sources:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/top-10-myths-about-natural-gas-drilling-6386593#slide-2
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/corbett-natural-gas-tax-could-hurt-pa-1.1120608
Natural gas can only be a temporary step in solving global climate issues. I come from an area that has recently had thousands of natural gas wells and pipelines put in. To an extent, it shocks me that so much money is being invested in this “stepping stone.” Sure, I would love all coal power plants to be replaced with the cleaner natural gas burning plants, but then after that, I would like to see an even cleaner energy source.
At first, reading that natural gas is 25% cleaner than coal and oil made it sound like a much better source of energy–but when that 25% is only at optimal efficiency, and it’s not even taking into account the damage done in the process of extraction, it isn’t actually that much healthier for the environment. It does make you wonder about the questions you raised at the end; should we be spending money on getting this easy energy now, or trying to develop other renewable, cleaner sources?
I think your topic will be interesting over the semester. Something to note; I feel as though the actions of the natural gas companies are kept under wraps. A story: Around my area, there is a LOT of natural gas. Marcellus Shale wants to put a pipeline under our area to pump out a lot of natural gas. My family owns our property and our mineral rights. Basically Marcellus Shale sent a letter to everyone who was over top of where they wanted the pipe to go. In fracking, there is an issue with property lines and the way the reserves line up underground. My neighbor can collect on my natural gas and never pay me a cent. Marcellus Shale themselves basically says they’ll probably still put the pipe through your land if you don’t take the money. The thing is that there’s basically nothing you can do. It’s a nasty situation.