Shale gas thinghy Horizontal drilling is often used with shale gas wells, with lateral lengths up to 10,000

feet (3,000 m) within the shale, to create maximum borehole surface area in contact with the shale http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/07/05/shale-gas-is-fracking-green/ -Whereas innovation in coal mining resulted in greater landscape degradation, innovation in gas fracking has resulted in less-toxic fracking chemicals, fewer drill pads, and better drilling practices. -Whereas coal mining removes entire mountains and contaminates streams with hazardous waste, natural gas drill pads occupy only a few hundred square feet, and there are only a handful of cases of groundwater contamination by fracking chemicals -Many greens have one final quibble: that the increased share of shale gas in our energy mix will come at the expense of the fledgling solar and wind industries. Breakthrough has an answer for that as well. Gas plants are a lot cheaper to build than coal plants, and cheaper to scale up if needed. Surprisingly, this is actually good news for solar and wind energy. When the wind isnt blowing and the sun isnt shining, we need other sources of energy. Coal plants have high capital costs: theyre generally much more expensive than natural gas plants, which means, once built, theyre going to stay online as long as possible to recoup that initial investment. Natural gas plants are cheaper to build, so theres less of a need to keep them on when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. In that sense, natural gas makes our power supply more flexible and boosts the viability of renewable energy sources. -From 2008 to 2012, annual coal consumption for US electric power declined, on average, by 50 million tons Mass of carbon dioxide emitted per quantity of energy for various fuels[124] CO2 CO2 Fuel name emitted emitted (lbs/106 Btu) (g/MJ) Natural gas 117 50.30 Liquefied petroleum gas Propane Aviation gasoline Automobile gasoline Kerosene Fuel oil Tires/tire derived fuel Wood and wood waste 139 139 153 156 159 161 189 195 59.76 59.76 65.78 67.07 68.36 69.22 81.26 83.83

Mass of carbon dioxide emitted per quantity of energy for various fuels[124] CO2 CO2 Fuel name emitted emitted (lbs/106 Btu) (g/MJ) Coal (bituminous) Coal (sub-bituminous) Coal (lignite) Petroleum coke Tar-sand Bitumen Coal (anthracite) 227 97.59 205 213 215 225 88.13 91.57 92.43 96.73

Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by electricity source. 50th percentile Technology Description (g CO2/kWhe) Hydroelectric reservoir 4 Wind onshore 12 Nuclear various generation II reactor types 16 Biomass various 18 Solar thermal parabolic trough 22 Geothermal hot dry rock 45 Solar PV Polycrystaline silicon 46 Natural gas various combined cycle turbines without scrubbing 469 Coal various generator types without scrubbing 1001

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/09/23/shale-gas-dethrones-king-coal/ To get emissions down to acceptable levels, new coal plants will have to implement expensive carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems. These systems, which pull carbon dioxide out of the air and sequester it underground, still have a long way to go before they can be implemented at cost-effective levels. http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/02/20/Natural-Gas-Gluts/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_gas http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/How-the-Shale-Boom-has-Effected-the-USEconomy.html

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Shale-Gas-is-Not-a-Saviour-it-is-a-Thorn-inRenewable-Energys-Side.html http://www.leebsmarketforecast.com/content/why-shale-gas-drilling-dead-end

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10236664/We-cannot-afford-to-miss-out-onshale-gas.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/september/curtail-energy-storage-090913.html meh http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/true-cost-of-bcs-lng-plan-is-getting-toohigh-for-first-nations-to-pay/article15152147/ bullshit http://www.doi.gov/news/doinews/Is-theRecent-Increase-in-Felt-Earthquakes-in-theCentral-US-Natural-or-Manmade.cfm quite important

Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Energy Consumption by Source (EIA) Coal Natural Gas

2010 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2011 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2012 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2013 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July

182.078 163.392 156.643 138.269 154.899 176.176 190.334 190.157 161.838 145.113 148.67 178.595 179.8 148.853 147.661 135.664 148.15 167.587 185.743 182.885 153.993 140.785 135.904 148.746 142.349 127.416 118.058 107.179 127.141 142.566 170.03 163.417 138.194 133.544 139.849 146.352 150.392 135.575 141.554 123.621 131.02 149.505 164.513

150.948 133.212 114.839 90.487 86.417 88.212 97.755 100.634 87.542 88.993 105.671 145.737 154.767 131.374 119.571 97.798 88.869 88.372 100.516 100.514 87.964 93.027 107.823 135.35 147.799 134.336 113.907 104.74 100.174 99.976 111.148 107.358 96.501 101.501 115.74 133.33 153.683 137.012 134.481 104.254 92.993 92.485 102.37

http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmontlake/2013/10/30/shale-gas-revolution-notcoming-to-china-anytime-soon/ http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/31/us-britain-health-frackingidUKBRE99U0KX20131031

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/24/shale-gas-renewable-energy

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/02/dangerous-radioactivity-fracking-wastepennsylvania