The big fracking bubble

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

As you can see, fracking has become the new Bonanza. And if we're to trust some US media who are heralding economic growth due to the so called "shale gas revolution", the US should expect to be literally drowned in shale gas and oil very soon. In its Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 report, the International Energy Agency claims that in 2017 the US would replace Saudi Arabia at the leading position in the world in terms of the extracting of energy resources, and thus achieve the much coveted "energy independence". According to the IEA, the planned increase of carbon source production (which was 84 billion barrels per day in 2011), to 97 billion barrels in 2035, would be almost entirely thanks to the liquid gas and "non-conventional sources" (i.e., mostly shale gas and oil), while the production of "traditional energy sources" would begin steadily declining in 2013.

By using the so called "hydraulic fracturing" (or hydrofracking) of the oil and gas deposits (by injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals under pressure in order to decompose the various sorts of rock and release the trapped gas as shown above), and thanks to the modern technologies of horizontal, or "directional drilling" (which allows more time for processing the earth layers), a system has been devised where, as it turns out now, these resources could be used only at the cost of some severe environmental pollution.

( Some examples, if you don't mind )

The Two That Cannot Be Separated

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Recently I read an interesting LJ rundown on the various problems with the new technologies that have flooded the markets with new oil-ish and gaseous energy supplies. Long-time readers are probably familiar with my obsession with energy issues, as well as my more recent diving into economic and monetary thing-a-ma-bobs. Here's a recap for those that have wondered why the two seemingly divergent topics have occupied my reading and mulling: ( They aren't divergent at all. )