The great expansion of natural gas wells that was brought about by new technologies—directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking)—in the last few decades has meant
that a lot more people are physically closer to the energy industry. In 2013, more than 15 million Americans lived within a mile of a fracked
well. Journalist Russell Gold has a personal connection to this
change in the energy landscape; his parents own property in Pennsylvania that they leased out for natural gas
drilling.
In his book, The Boom, Gold explores the history of the oil
and gas industry, and the development of key technologies, that led to the
present abundance of natural gas. This interesting and long history energy
exploration and development has attracted colorful characters.
The natural gas boom has
also created opportunities and challenges. For one thing, fracked wells can
produce a lot more natural gas and get it from rock formations that were
previously considered too impermeable to economically give up the gas they
stored. Now we get gas from these rocks and the natural gas supply that once
seemed limited now seems enourmous, and prices for natural gas have dropped in
response.
In addition, natural gas
produces less carbon dioxide and other pollutants than burning of other fuels such as coal. Even though the U.S. has not participated in
international carbon-control protocols, the growth of natural gas as a fuel,
replacing other energy sources, has made the U.S. one of the few countries to
come close to meeting goals for carbon reduction.
Even so, natural gas is
a fossil fuel that carries some of the problems of its cousins. For instance,
natural gas is mostly methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Releases of methane reduce some of
the gains made by switching from coal or other less clean-burning fuels to gas.
Cheap gas also makes alternative energy sources such as solar or wind less economically attractive, which may delay the
development of these resources.
Gold seems to balance
these issues. Natural gas is a superior fuel to coal from the perspective of
air quality and climate change. It is probably also necessary to use natural
gas as a bridge to solar and wind as a way to provide stability as these
naturally variable energy sources, along with the energy storage needed to make them truly feasible,
are improved. Other problems with gas, such as potential threats to water quality, can be mitigated with existing
technology, better rules and careful management.
If you’re interested in
this book, you may also be interested in
Gold, Russell. The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American
Energy Revolution and Changed the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.
