Fracking has a long history in the USA but is a relatively
new concept in the UK (Jaspel and Nerlich, 2014). It is much less advanced and therefore,
many of the problems that have occurred in the US are expected here although we
are bettwe prepared for them. Increasing energy independence in the US has led
to a large decrease in oil use and increase in fracking since the 1970’s – this
is known as the Saudi America effect. The US now produces 1/3 the amount of
natural gas as oil and according to the EIA (2014b) the amount of natural gas obtained in
the US has tripled between 2009 and 2012. It’s estimated that they could be
completely independent in oil and gas by 2035.
It has been estimated that there are over 3800 trillion
cubic metres of natural gas available for extraction in the UK. This has the
potential to supply energy to the country for the next 470yrs (Stamford andAzapagic, 2014), but fracking may not be as well suited
to the UK as it is to America. For example, population density is much higher
in Britain, and Europe as a whole, meaning any impacts will affect a larger
number of people here. However, shale is much lower down in the earth’s crust in
the UK (Howarth et al., 2011) meaning that impacts such as ground water contamination and leakage of methane
into our drinking water is a lot less likely.
There are 4 keys differences between fracking in the UK and
Fracking in the US outlined by Greenpeace:
- Amount of gas – US reserves are much larger.
- The UK is able to sell its gas easily due to pre-existing export infrastructure in the North Sea whereas the USA can only use it domestically.
- Different economy – gas is sold much cheaper in the US.
- Different geology makes the extraction process and costs extremely different. Shale is much lower in the UK making it less economically viable to extract.
The UK is trying to replicate the US gas boom
due to it being so successful in solving energy and economic problems. However,
the main aspects holding us back include planning permissions and most of all
public resistance based on smaller, local impacts.
Really interesting points Sarah- I didn't realise that shale gas is less economically viable in the UK- I assumed from DECC's support that it would be hugely beneficial to the country from a economic perspective, even if it wasn't the greenest option.
ReplyDeleteFrom you reading, do you think that gaining permission will cause huge difficulty despite the support of the government?
Thanks for the comment Anna! I think that even though shale gas is much lower in the UK and more expensive to extract it is still at this point a lot cheaper than renewable energy meaning it's probably one of our best option for the time being until that technology can be improved. We also have the option to export making the higher cost slightly less of a problem.
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