Hello all!
Last week we looked at how fracking could possibly be releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere, and the dangers associated with large amounts of methane. This week, we will look more into the benefits of fracking. If it’s so dangerous, why do so many people seem to favor it?
When people want to produce electricity, cheaper is better. Most American households do not care where they get their electricity from, but they do care if their electricity bill goes up. Energy providing companies are taking notice, as natural gas is overtaking coal as a cheap fuel for producing electricity. So what? U.S. carbon emission levels are down sharply, and are actually at their lowest since 1992. This is no coincidence – the rise in natural gas usage is coinciding with a drop in the burning of coal. The burning of natural gas also releases half as much carbon dioxide as coal, and less of nearly every other dangerous chemical (except methane). The true impact that fracking has on methane emissions is hotly debated, and there are conflicting studies on whether or not there really are large amounts of methane being released. It’s something that could make or break the natural gas industry.
In the next five years, you can expect that approximately 270,000 jobs will be created due to fracking. In addition, fracking will contribute nearly $120 billion to the U.S. economy. Not only that, but the construction of new fracking equipment is causing a resurgence in the U.S. steel, chemical, and fertilizer industries. How does this affect the average American’s wallet? Canada’s TD Bank estimates that in 2013, American households will save about $75 billion in home heating and electricity costs. That comes out to be nearly $650 per household. It seems that fracking would do a better job stimulating the economy than that massive stimulus bill a few years ago.
Increasing the amount of energy we get from natural gas would also go a long way towards improving the United States’ energy independence. It is estimated that the U.S.’ natural gas reserves could last our country 100 years, so there is more than enough natural gas for the foreseeable future. Reducing our reliance on oil from the unstable Middle East has countless benefits, such as creating more jobs at home, having a more reliable energy source, and stopping the flow of money into countries that have oil but also support terrorism, such as Iran. Becoming energy independent will ensure that we do not have a repeat of the 1973 oil crisis, when OAPEC declared an embargo on U.S. oil imports and energy costs skyrocketed.
Fracking has a lot of question marks, but there are obvious benefits associated with the method of obtaining natural gas. Is it worth the costs?
Sources used:
http://reason.com/archives/2013/01/08/the-promised-land-of-fracking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/29/gas-rebranded-green-energy-eu
If methane is the only problem then why not just get rid of cows and stop eating as much beef. Cows produce 34% of the greenhouse gasses in the world http://science.howstuffworks.com/zoology/mammals/methane-cow.htm, so why do we keep them around if methane is a big problem. So if methane is such a big problem to get rid of fracking, then get rid of the cows first.
While you mention that the U.S. natural gas reserves are estimated to last 100 years, that only points to the known natural gas reserves. As fracking becomes more prevalent, more and more reserves will be found, allowing this to become a more long term energy source. In addition, combining this process with other renewable energy sources and more efficient fracking techniques can allow this process to become cleaner, cheaper, and long term.
Bri – You have to keep in mind that natural gas is meant as more of a transitional energy as our society moves from fossil fuels to completely green and renewable energies. 100 years of natural gas will be a much needed buffer time for the worlds best scientists and engineers to develop a more reliable source of alternative energy, something we don’t have now. Most of the jobs lost in the fracking business in 100 years will be easily replaced by the jobs created by the newest source of alternative energy at the time.
Eric – The jobs that fracking is eliminating are jobs in the middle east, where we are funding regimes that support terrorism. Fracking is a domestic source of energy that provides jobs directly helping our economy. Although there probably will be some domestic coal and oil extraction jobs lost here in the U.S. due to the rise of the prominence of natural gas, they will be significantly outweighed by the jobs gained in the fracking industry.
I’m pretty sure environmentally friendly practices will almost never offer the same advantages as less eco-friendly ones when it comes to jobs, prices, the economy etc.
I always say that being environmentally friendly is important, but it will never be economically advantageous. Maybe we are in a situation where we aren’t ready to fully depend on renewable energy sources, and we should accept the disadvantages of fracking in order to take advantage of the more positive side effects
Reducing a household’s electricity cost is an awesome feat, but I am not so sure all these positives outweigh negatives that go along with them. Sure, natural gas would create new jobs and invent new industries, but it also is eliminating jobs. The coal industry has been a major player in the economy for more than the past 100 years. It must be considered that they have built up over time thousands and even millions of employees, who all would get hurt if their industry died.
These reasons are all very beneficial; however, only in the short run. You mentioned that the U.S.’s natural gas reserves will last 100 years. Yes, that is enough for the foreseeable future, but once we run out there will be a lot more problems than there are now. It will create a huge amount of structural unemployment when most people in the fracking industry loses their jobs, household bills will rise again, and we unless un alternative energy source has been developed in that time, we will be more dependent than ever on other countries for energy.
You’re very right about the effects of developing a new type of business; it would most certainly help out our economy more than a simple bill offering to bailout banks or giving people a certain amount of money to spend. While those situations work alright sometimes, they simply can’t offer the sustained economic boost that new industries can. Those numbers are only for the next few years but fracking and the natural gas industry will become a huge industry much like coal or oil. It is simply a valuable product that requires technology to properly extract and there is a huge demand for any kind of person in jobs like that.