Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability (original) (raw)
Related papers
Introduction: Shale Gas and the Future of Energy
EnergyRN: Natural Gas (Topic), 2016
This is the introduction to the first book systematically exploring the relationship between shale gas and sustainable development, Shale Gas and the Future of Energy: Law and Policy for Sustainability (Edward Elgar 2016). It describes the growing importance of unconventional shale gas and the evolution of sustainable development as a policy norm, and explains that there has been little analysis of the relationship between unconventional shale gas and sustainability. The introduction then summarizes twelve chapters by the contributing authors, who are not only lawyers and current and former policy makers, but also from public health, the social sciences, economics, and other disciplines. Each chapter addresses (1) what sustainability means for their particular topic, (2) what various governmental entities and private sector parties are doing to foster sustainability on this topic, and (3) recommendations for ways to foster sustainable practices in shale gas development. Their chapte...
Can Shale Gas Help Accelerate the Transition to Sustainability?
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 2014
The sudden and unexpected development of shale gas has the potential to accelerate or hinder the transition to sustainability, depending on how it is handled. Sustainable development is a useful evaluative framework for shale gas development. It would have us analyze its environmental, social, economic, and security dimensions at the same time, and look for ways to make all four dimensions mutually reinforcing. Analyzing a broad range of issues, this article asks, and suggests answers to, the question of whether, or how, shale gas production can help accelerate the transition to sustainability.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2014
Extraction of natural gas from shale rock in the United States (US) is one of the landmark events in the 21st century. The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing can extract huge quantities of natural gas from impermeable shale formations, which were previously thought to be either impossible or uneconomic to produce. This review offers a comprehensive insight into US shale gas opportunities, appraising the evolution, evidence and the challenges of shale gas production in the US. The history of US shale gas in this article is divided into three periods and based on the change of oil price (i.e., the period before the 1970s oil crisis, the period from 1970s to 2000, and the period since 2000), the US has moved from being one of the world's biggest importers of gas to being self-sufficient in less than a decade, with the shale gas production increasing 12-fold (from 2000 to 2010). The US domestic natural gas price hit a 10-year low in 2012. The US domestic natural gas price in the first half of 2012 was about 2permillionBritishThermalUnit(BTU),comparedwithBrentcrude,theworldbenchmarkpriceforoil,nowabout2 per million British Thermal Unit (BTU), compared with Brent crude, the world benchmark price for oil, now about 2permillionBritishThermalUnit(BTU),comparedwithBrentcrude,theworldbenchmarkpriceforoil,nowabout 80-100/barrel, or $14-17 per million BTU. Partly due to an increase in gas-fired power generation in response to low gas prices, US carbon emissions from fossil-fuel combustion fell by 430 million ton CO 2more than any other countrybetween 2006 and 2011. Shale gas also stimulated economic growth, creating 600,000 new jobs in the US by 2010. However, the US shale gas revolution would be curbed, if the environmental risks posed by hydraulic fracturing are not managed effectively. The hydraulic fracturing is water intensive, and can cause pollution in the marine environment, with implications for long-term environmental sustainability in several ways. Also, large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, can be emitted during the shale gas exploration and production. Hydraulic fracturing also may induce earthquakes. These environmental risks need to be managed by good practices which is not being applied by all the producers in all the locations. Enforcing stronger regulations are necessary to minimize risk to the environment and on human health. Robust regulatory oversight can however increase the cost of extraction, but stringent regulations can foster an historic opportunity to provide cheaper and cleaner gas to meet the consumer demand, as well as to usher in the future growth of the industry.
Shale gas: an updated assessment of environmental and climate change impacts
This report, commissioned by The Co-operative, is an update on our January report, Shale gas: a provisional assessment of climate change and environmental impacts (Wood et al 2011). Whilst some of the analysis remains relatively unchanged from the original document, other areas having undergone important revision, not least because industry estimates of shale gas reserves at the UK and global scales have markedly increased. For example in the UK industry reserve estimates published for a single licensing area are an order of magnitude greater than national estimates published by DECC in December 2010. New papers detailing fugitive emissions have also emerged raising concerns that shale gas production may involve greater greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. The analysis within this new report addresses two specific issues associated with the extraction and combustion of shale gas. Firstly, it explores the environmental risks and climate change implications arising from shale gas extraction. Secondly, it outlines potential UK and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from an updated range of scenarios built using the latest predictions of shale gas resources.
Shale Gas: Evolving Global Issue for the Environment, Regulation and Energy Security
2013
Environmental issues such as water contamination, air pollution and the potential for earthquakes are analyzed in comparison to the leading energy fuel—coal. The United States and global energy security impact of shale gas is assessed by a brief comparative analysis of the United States and United Kingdom regimes while discussing whether there is a need for a special regulator for the industry. Socio-economic and global issues that regulators may wish to address are discussed.
Is Shale Gas Development Sustainable? Competing Discourses on Fracking in the United States
2021
Shale gas development (SGD), commonly known as fracking, is an emerging technology that is able to access previously untapped deposits of natural gas. Given the high price of oil and the importance of domestically produced energy led investors and the industry to turn to natural gas and to expand drilling in several places in the United States. This new-found source of energy and wealth also comes with a heavy environmental footprint and potential threat to public health. These competing forces led to one of the most heated environmental controversies in the United States in recent times. As a way to better appreciate the dispute over SGD, the United Nation's sustainable development goals on the economy, energy, water, land, and climate action are used to examine the competing discourses. It is necessary to understand the several discourses used in this debate to better design sustainable communication messages to stakeholders. Shale gas development is an emerging technology that is able to access previously untapped sources of natural gas. Shale gas development (SGD), commonly called fracking, uses slick water, high-volume, hydraulic fracturing with horizontal extensions. It involves vertical drilling along with horizontal laterals and injects millions of gallons of water, chemicals, and sand as proppants into a wellhead at high pressure to fracture the shale and release the gas (Duggan-Hass et al. 2013).
Shale gas: a provisional assessment of climate change and environmental impacts
This report, commissioned by The Co-operative, provides a provisional review and assessment of the risks and benefits of shale gas development, with the aim of informing The Co-operative’s position on this ‘unconventional’ fuel source. The analysis within the report addresses two specific issues associated with the extraction and combustion of shale gas. Firstly, it outlines potential UK and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from a range of scenarios building on current predictions of shale gas resources. Secondly, it explores the health and environmental risks associated with shale gas extraction. It should be stressed that a key issue in assessing these issues has been a paucity of reliable data. To date shale gas has only been exploited in the US and, while initial estimates have been made, it is difficult to quantify the possible resources in other parts of the globe, including the UK. Equally, information on health and environmental aspects is of variable quality and only now is there any systematic effort being undertaken to better understand these issues. Therefore, while every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in the report, it can only be as accurate as the information on which it draws. It is clear however, that while shale gas extraction, at a global level, does not involve the high energy and water inputs at the scale of other unconventional fuels, such as oil derived from tar sands, it does pose significant potential risks to human health and the environment. Principally, the potential for hazardous chemicals to enter groundwater via the extraction process must be subject to more thorough research prior to any expansion of the industry being considered. Additionally, while being promoted as a transition route to a low carbon future, none of the available evidence indicates that this is likely to be the case. It is difficult to envisage any situation other than shale gas largely being used in addition to other fossil fuel reserves and adding a further carbon burden. This could lead to an additional 11ppmv of CO2 over and above expected levels without shale gas – a figure that could rise if more of the total shale gas resource were to be exploited than envisaged in the scenarios. This would be compounded if investment in shale gas were to delay the necessary investment in zero and very low carbon technologies.
Reducing the greenhouse gas footprint of shale gas
Energy Policy, 2011
Shale gas is viewed by many as a global energy game-changer. However, serious concerns exist that shale gas generates more greenhouse gas emissions than does coal. In this work the related published data are reviewed and a reassessment is made. It is shown that the greenhouse gas effect of shale gas is less than that of coal over long term if the higher power generation efficiency of shale gas is taken into account. In short term, the greenhouse gas effect of shale gas can be lowered to the level of that of coal if methane emissions are kept low using existing technologies. Further reducing the greenhouse gas effect of shale gas by storing CO 2 in depleted shale gas reservoirs is also discussed, with the conclusion that more CO 2 than the equivalent CO 2 emitted by the extracted shale gas could be stored in the reservoirs at significantly reduced cost.