Uh-oh! The greenies ain't gonna like this!

[redrumloa]

Fracking: It’s Good for the Economy…AND the Environment

In a welcome development almost no one saw coming, America's greenhouse gas emissions have fallen to 1992 levels and are expected to continue to decline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA).

In addition to a sluggish economy and more fuel efficient cars, "fracking" has been a big driver of this trend. "Fracking" is shorthand for hydraulic fracturing, the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock. The EIA projects U.S. greenhouse emissions will fall below 2005 levels by 2040.

"It is a revolution," says Joel Kurtzman, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute. "We should be using it. We should be embracing it. It's domestic. We spend $350 billion a year buying foreign oil. We can replace almost all of that with natural gas."

 

[faethor]

Synthetic Fuels

 

[redrumloa]

Synthetic Fuels

Get rid of ALL subsidies an let the best technology win.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Fracking: It’s Good for the Economy…AND the Environment

That and the fact that the US does its manufacturing in other countries and is undergoing a protracted period of economic weakness helps cut the carbon footprint!


Wow. Never heard of Michael Milken before but he sounds like a real character. However, as to the report, natural gas is cleaner than coal at the generator. Fracking compared to chopping the tops off of mountains to get coal may be less impacting as well though I couldn't make that judgement right now. It depends on how severe the local effects are and what the population densities are in fracked areas versus coal producing areas. However, the comment that Joel Kurtzman made about the fracking companies behaving responsibly because they don't want to get sued is something I don't really believe - because in fact they are seeking immunity in legislation from such troublesome things. They know they can't do this reliably cleanly, they'd rather not have to worry about it.

However, there are sources of natural gas that we should be burning instead of this stuff in the ground. All natural gas operations tend to leak methane (natural gas) which is a much more profound greenhouse gas than CO2 - leaving it trapped underground is better than bringing it up. But the methane hydrates on the ocean floor that could become unstable with increasing sea temperature could be strategically used as an energy source and as insurance against vulnerable hydrates decomposing spontaneously.

 

[cecilia]

ah, yes, good old Michael Milken! when he was sent to jail he wanted to bring his toupee.

He was denied.

That was more painful than actually going to jail.

 

[cecilia]

mike and his hair

 

[faethor]

Get rid of ALL subsidies an let the best technology win.

The problem there is the players aren't playing with a fair deck. Oil/Gas has an established manufacturing and delivery system. Also the system is stacked in favor of that material. Which is why these are converting other materials into gas.