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The Shale Boom, Just Getting Started: Interview with Tyler Cowen
Thanks to the shale boom, markets already perceive the trade balance optimizing, energy prices are cheaper than they would otherwise be and we've even cut carbon emissions. And we are only getting started, according Tyler Cowen, New York Times best-selling author and one of the most influential economists of the decade. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesAs the debate continues over whether the US should export unlimited natural gas or keep it at home
Oct 01st, 2013 - 12:05 am - Link - Report abuse 0....how about keeping out of peoples water wells, although novel. I'm pretty sure you are not supposed to be able to set fire to water...fracking idiots!
@1 that’s true he doesn’t say where the water is coming from, and how much millions of M3 of water is it needed to exploit deposits like Vaca Muerta... Apart from that shale seems a blessing.
Oct 01st, 2013 - 01:08 am - Link - Report abuse 02
Oct 01st, 2013 - 12:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Good point....I suppose you are right it is a blessing....but a mixed one.
Here's some info....to answer your question...
Each gas well requires an average of 400 tanker trucks to carry water and supplies to and from the site.
It takes 1-8 million gallons of water to complete each fracturing job
The water brought in is mixed with sand and chemicals to create fracking fluid. Approximately 40,000 gallons of chemicals are used per fracturing.
Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking fluid, including known carcinogens and toxins such as…
LEAD, URANIUM, MERCURY, ETHYLENE GLYCOL
Radium, Methanol, Hydrochloric acid, Formaldehyde
There are 500,000……Active gas wells in the US
X ...8 million Gallons of water per fracking
X... 18 Times a well can be fracked
72 trillion gallons of water and 360 billion gallons of chemicals needed to run the current gas wells.
The mixture reaches the end of the well where the high pressure causes the nearby shale rock to crack, creating fissures where natural gas flows into the well.
During this process, methane gas and toxic chemicals leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater.
Methane concentrations are 17x higher in drinking-water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells.
Contaminated well water is used for drinking water for nearby cities and towns.
There have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water.
Only 30-50% of the fracturing fluid is recovered, the rest of the toxic fluid is left in the ground and is not biodegradable.
The waste fluid is left in open air pits to evaporate, releasing harmful VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) into the atmosphere, creating contaminated air, acid rain, and ground level ozone.
Thats a lot of water!!!.... Thanks
Oct 01st, 2013 - 08:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 03 A_Voice / The Lunatic From Chew Butt
Oct 01st, 2013 - 09:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you were not such a mendacious character perhaps we would believe all the numbers.
But 1 - 8 million gallons of water: which is it?
Methane is NATURAL GAS, it occurs when organic matter in water degrades. The wells should have had filter beds to deal with this and other naturally occurring contaminants anyway, or are they dug by uneducated people? And only 1,000 water wells affected to 500,000 fracking wells operated, seems a pretty good ratio to me.
Interesting figure that: 18 times the same well can be fracked, are we sure of our facts here, please provide a link to this data.
No, I think that “Think” is just doing his usual trick of selecting data that suits his arguments and ignores other data that does not.
.......in what way am I a lunatic and what has chewbutt got to do with me?
Oct 01st, 2013 - 10:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0....Yawn!....... http://www.dangersoffracking.com/
BTW which of us crazier me that bought property in the US or you that bought in....where the fcuk is that place again?
6 A_Voice
Oct 02nd, 2013 - 12:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Well, you will not disclose what “breed” you are and it seems to some of us on here that you are a puppet of The Lunatic “La Think”.
And you know very well where I live; don't you come over during the season?
BTW, my property is a properly constructed one of masonry throughout with lovely wood panels in local hardwood and marble floors, not 4”x2” wood frames and asbestos filled concrete sidings and concrete floors. AND, it is increasing in value, how far has yours dropped?
7
Oct 02nd, 2013 - 01:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“4”x2” wood frames and asbestos filled concrete sidings and concrete floors”
My property doubled in value since I bought it...it's old and has wooden sidings as is the norm for this area.....masonry is not necessary as it is in places like Florida....wood rots there..
..... like almost everyone else it has a basement...so wooden floors
.....you are not familiar with the States I see.....
It has a 1-5 acre yard and sits next to the creek...a hundred yards of it...the State stocks it twice a year with 15,000 trout, they have fishing competitions next to me...
.....it's not a case of what your property is, it is where....
Location Location Location....
If we both offered our properties for free....9 out of 10 would take mine.
I don't doubt that your place is a fine property....but you couldn't give me it for free, I would see it as a liability and sell without a second thought....
I have no idea why you didn't look for property in the South of France...Languedoc-Roussillon area.....310 days of sunshine a year and affordable...a lot cheaper than the UK and cheap wine and fresh produce, and if you visit the estate agents (Immobilier)...and not internet sites, you don't get ripped off or dodgy deals like Spain.....
....I have been looking....
8 A_Voice
Oct 02nd, 2013 - 04:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You are still condescending: another trait you have with La Think. My casa has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the sea; real fishermen fish it.
We looked at France but I was concerned about the economy and I was proven correct.
I wouldn't move from Uruguay but learning Espańol is like pulling teeth, doors are feminine, ports are masculine and the verb to be is different when temporary or permanent, and that is before you start on the “exceptions to the rules”. I have been using a,b,c phonetics for 62 years but now it is ah, beh and seh, etc!
9
Oct 02nd, 2013 - 04:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I am not condescending at all, I am pretty sure 9 out of 10 would rather own property in the US that's all....
I'm not being funny but most people would say Uruguay....where the Feck is that and why would you want to live there...
I have no idea what you mean by the economy in France is yours better?
I was there earlier in the year...seemed pretty good to me...Busy, buoyant and cheap.
Also a lot speak Catalan
10 A_Voice
Oct 02nd, 2013 - 06:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“I am not condescending at all, I am pretty sure 9 out of 10 would rather own property in the US that's all....”
Not if they had to live next to you.
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