Lies, lies and shale gas
April 21st, 2011The lengths to which the fossil fuel industry will go in its own self-interest to block what is patently best for the world’s energy needs deserve an anti-Noble prize. First it was biofuel that was the new wonder energy source and Bush spent billions subsidising it, until it became clear that it would be necessary to cover the entire world’s agricultural space many times over to satisfy world energy demand with biofuels. Then it was tar sands, notably from Alberta but also in large measure from the US, which would power the world when conventional oil ran out, until it was realised that more energy was needed to extract it than the new energy it yielded and the climate change impact would be turbo-charged. Then it was a nuclear renaissance across the world, but that has likely died the death after Fukushima. And now limitless supplies of shale gas are the new wonder drug. Anything, anything, except the obvious – wind and solar. But shale gas is another phantom oasis along the way, for several reasons.
It’s claimed that shale gas is a ‘green’ fuel because burning gas in power stations yields only half the carbon emissions of coal. This is a barefaced lie. A green fuel is one that emits no carbon emissions at all.
Nor can shale gas conceivably be called green when it requires enormous volumes of water to extract it and when the extraction process also leads to the escape of large quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon.
Yet another deception is the concealment of the effects of this new technology of ‘fracking’ (fracturing) of shale rock. There are already thousands of reports in the US of dangerous gas leaks, land contamination from chemicals used in extraction, and drinking water polluted by drilling.
Worst of all is the systematic and deliberate distortion of the facts by a relentless lobbying exercise orchestrated internationally by the gas industry, again showing how pathetically feeble is the current state of corporate governance (shades of how the banks, the utilities and the media constantly get away with it). An independent report showing that renewable energy would best meet EU energy needs whilst also cutting greenhouse gas emissions was twisted out of all recognition by the gas industry to produce the opposite conclusion, that gas would be better and cheaper than renewables. The insatiable zeal of the fossil fuel industry to put their own profits before the world’s true energy needs, to deliberately propagate lies in place of the known facts, and to bamboozle governments with legions of deceitful lobbyists is yet another reason, if any is needed, why public authorities need to take a decisive stake in the energy sector which can be rightly regarded as part of national security.
April 22nd, 2011 at 12:08 am
It is not just wind and sun but also tidal, wave, biodigesters, geothermal, hydro, algal etc…. but what hope of implementing when LEAP/Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin predicts Global systemic Very serious crisis in Autumn 2011, following US crises of Budget, Treasury bonds and the dollar.
UK described as the sick man of Europe.
http://www.leap2020.eu/Contents-of-previous-issues_r34.html
April 23rd, 2011 at 8:22 am
We are the sick man of the world never mind the EU. but hell when you have a leader of the Labour party in Blair who would go to war to get Oil, you have brown who tell us the UK will build wind then spends months releasing gas from his back side, then gives the contracts to Germans and the Dutch to build the turbines because they know how to build them and make them, because well we are to thick. It’s time to get a decent government in place but out of the pile of refuse we have who is qualified to lead, Miliband or his brother, I think not
April 24th, 2011 at 11:15 am
Unfortunately solar and wind do not power the internal combustion engine. Production of oil from conventional sources has already peaked and the problem is not helped by increased demand from emerging economies. I saw a TV programme where people were igniting water from their taps but their source of water was from artesian wells which are drilled through the same strata as the shale gas bores. Again, as with nuclear, if we want to keep up with the inceasing demand for energy, all options should be considered.
March 24th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
I am currently writing a study about the recent meeting in Balcombe on the 11th January 2012 between local people and Cuadrilla resources.
I would be happy to hear from anyone with an interest, and though I don’t always share Michael Meacher’s views, I only wish that every party had more MPs of his quality and integrity. I look at the current front bench of Labour and I think they have maintained the focus group/on message legacy of Blair without any of the charm to go with it. When I listen to Yvette Cooper answer a question I feel like I am being hypnotised by someone boring me to sleep rather than giving a coherent opinion. All very sad.
On this topic, I have to admit, I think it is a good thing that people are interested in it and are taking their interest into self study online, but I sound a note of caution in that the world of US politics which is the crucible for the most compelling material on this issue, is one well versed in blatant money politics and dirty tricks on all sides. Read with interest, but read widely, and beware of academics on all sides, because they all have kudos and financial interests at stake, and they all know how to play the US style “attack ads” game.
Is Shale Gas/Oil an environmentally, economically and technically viable energy source for the UK, and do the potential benefits outweigh the risks. That should be our debate in the UK and we should all take the responsibility to read widely and think deeply, because if we can make it work it could be amazing.
I am sure that Michael Meacher would like to see pensioners have radically cheaper gas to heat their homes with, and I am confident that he is well aware that natural gas is the key bridging fuel as we transition towards a greater share of our energy being generated from renewables. It can not have escaped his notice that the aspirations of EU leaders for green jobs and green technology leadership are crumbling before their eyes under the rapid rise and dominance of Chinese companies in solar and wind, and that this now leaves a gaping hole in the rhetoric of green growth.
That said, good luck to Michael, he is one of the good guys, and I would like to hear from him.