The oil business disinformation campaign about hydraulic fracking continues apace
The Slog: There is a hilariously unintended irony in an FT (£) headline
to the Editorial on its website about shale fracking. The article –
pure pro-shale propaganda from tip to toe – begins, ‘Ignorance is the
biggest enemy in the shale war’. It then goes on to show that fracking
doesn’t cause earthquakes. Er, that’s it.
Informed observers have never really taken that charge seriously, so
the ignorance irony is indeed pretty major. But this seems increasingly
to sum up the FT these days: it reads more like a trumpet than a
magnifying glass. When it runs editorials like this one, it’s more
strumpet than trumpet.
There are really only two critiques of Shale fracking which, for my money, remain compelling.
The first is that shale gas well production tends to drop by 50% or
more after the first year, and the reason is simple: the first year gets
out all the easy stuff: after that, it’s more haystack and fewer
needles until it’s not worth carrying on. Early last year, shale gas
production in the U.S. was at 27 billion cubic feet per day….and its
share of energy production was rising steeply. But even with new fields
coming on stream, as US States scramble to solve their fiscal problems
via fracking finds – that production has continued to level off.
In this context, FT boldly asserts that ‘The US shale boom has
brought natural gas prices down by two-thirds in four years’. Has it?
The gas price dropped close to $2 per MBTU last year, but has doubled
since then to just under $4 today. Ignorance is bliss. Or PR.
The oil business loves technologies like fracking, because it’s
another exploration solution that plays to its strength: drilling. But
best estimates now suggest that fracked gas will keep the planet
energised until about 2030…after which, we ‘ll be right back where we
started again.
The second issue is not so much ecological as conservationist and
communitarian. Shale gas reserves are vast, with especially large
deposits in China, the U.S., and Russia. However, the environmental and
social impacts of shale gas extraction have been skirted over. High
levels of drill-site emissions are causing concerns about local air.
Many communities are also worried about the immediate
‘industrialisation’ of their landscape that results. The process also
involves vast levels of water consumption – a much more precious
resource for the planet than shale gas – and the reversal of consequent
water contamination is not always as diligent as it should be once the
work is finished. For something that is a dead-end, short-term solution,
these represent problems that are too big to ignore.
The human race is doing what it always does in the absence of new
ideas: scrambling around for the miracle fix. The long-term answer to
our energy problems is the sun: not solar power working by direct heat
conversion (it’s very effective, but weak in its output) but solar
energy being harnessed in a revolutionary manner. Four years ago this
month, engineers discovered that the use of molten salts to store the
heat from solar radiation many hours after the sun goes down means solar
thermal power can be used to generate electricity nearly
round-the-clock. (Geothermal heating also offers 24/7 access to either
heat or chill). In southern Spain, Andasol 1 – the first plant using
this technique – began operating in November 2009, quickly generating
enough clean electricity to supply 50,000 to 60,000 homes year-round. It
now provides all the electrical energy needs of 200,000 homes.
“Ah but,” say the guys in Texas, “it can’t drive cars”. No longer
true: BMW, which last year struck up an agreement with a Colorado
company to facilitate solar-powered charging for its upcoming plug-in
vehicles, is now working with Dresden-based Solarwatt to provide
solar-panel systems on the home roofs and carports of its electric cars.
The partnership’s 360° ELECTRIC-branded systems make for an “aesthetic
solution with innovative glass-glass modules” that efficiently garner
sunlight and turn it into vehicle juice. Twenty years ago, diesel cars
were truly awful to drive: now they’re everywhere and just as pokey as
lead-free vehicles. In time, the same will happen with plug-in cars.
The big leap in sun-harnessing still hasn’t arrived….and its
emergence will only be delayed if all the money and research is ploughed
into a con like fracking. Sovereign States need to invest heavily in
the physics of solar solutions: but the Sovereigns are almost all broke,
and the guys making the large electoral campaign contributions tend to
be in the drilling business. So as long as that pertains, the debate
will be disinformed by the usual grubby methods.
No comments:
Post a Comment