Coming to a town near you...........Hydraulic Fracturing

[Lethargic]

Do you really think energy companies will reduce the cost to the end customer, not a chance it simply means more profile and the fact they can meet CO2 targets.

The 1 saving grace is the cope out option that should a measurement of 0.5 on the richtor(sp) scale be measured then all shale fraking must stop, 0.5 is nothing basically a noisy fart, also the company doing it follow the german standards not the US so more strict rules to follow. I do find it ironic though the day after flooding in Sussex makes headlines that we are contemplating injecting water into the ground on a grand scale.

If we are genuinuely going to benefit from this great, but I suspect like everything in modern life this is primarily about company profit.

 

[CheeseRolls]

You can't help wondering how many more warnings mankind will ignore about our pollution of the planet, from the increasingly unstable weather, to the thousands of birds and fish, crabs etc dying, en mass the world over from possible methane/carbon dioxide released by the earth, maybe as a result of the massive disturbances we have created from all the oil/gas wells sunk.

The endless chopping down of forests, which filter out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and put back oxygen, thus polluting the very air we breathe and now our water could be under attack from Fracturing. Really, it is time to take notice of our vastly overpopulated planet, which will not be able to sustain such destruction before reacting in a manner, will we have no control over.

Malthus old fellow ! How are you ?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

It's not hard to imagine some claims that most of Europe will be powered by African solar by 2050. (shit, I'll be nearly 80!).

Lots of things will change by 2050. I guess most of us will treat the future like folk at a party. We're having a bloody good time, but we're glad when the taxi turns up to take us away, just before the drunks start fighting each other.

 

[k2bluesky]

Very old!!

 

[CheeseRolls]

Very old!!

Yep and we are still here

 

[severnside gull]

sadly this will attract less outrage than whether or not you can stand at the amex

 

[blue2]

Fantastic news cheap gas come on get on with it

 

[jakarta]

Apparently there is a major US report out next month on the impact of Fracking on water supplies. I want to reserve judgement on this, until I have had the chance to digest the findings. However there is more than enough luddite bollocks being spread around right now, which makes me broadly positive to the idea. Just a couple of quick points then.

Earthquakes - The ones experienced near Blackpool were less severe than many associated with coal mining. New and more stringent checks are being put in place and although this sounds like a big deal I really suspect it isn't.

Water Pollution - The fracking activity will take place at far greater depths than where we extract our water. For Sussex much of the water is collected from the foot of the downs, after the chalk has done a nice filtering job on it. When you look at these horror shows on YouTube. Remember Yanks in Hixville do not have the equivalent of Southern Water (lucky buggers) and no one bar the guy who did the digging has a clue where they are extracting water from. I think it is only farmers here under licence who are able to extract their own water. So no I don't believe anyone is likely to be able to cook lunch in the kitchen sink.

Environmental - Sure Shale gas is not renewable, but it is cleaner than a lot of the coal and oil we are still burning. It could also be considerably cheaper than today's renewables. There are some tough decisions to be made based on environmental impact, price and security of energy supply. Anyone who wants to make a decision based on one of these three alone is an idealist and frankly should be ignored.

Was going to do a post along these lines as I agree with pretty well all of this. Of course I used to work (on and off and indirectly) for those evil Oil Multinationals so my viewpoint is obviously tainted.....

 

[beorhthelm]

TIDAL f***ing ENERGY.

That is all, we're a f***ing island nation, and we've not embraced tidal energy.

problem is, and goes for most renewables, is energy storage. you get a surge of power but its not necessarily when you need it. you need lots of gas generators built to fill the gaps, then contract both the renewable plant and the gas plant to supply energy, which only one will actually supply at the time. if we could have a sensible method to store energy, that would make tidal, wind and solar much more viable and might actually lead to cheaper energy.

i have read about the plans for a trans european/african network, with solar in Africa, wind from our shores, geothermal from Iceland and some nuclear across the continent, but i fear its a just a cable dream.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Anyone who's interested in renewable energy should read this:

2015 Timeline of Events | Genome Sequencing Timeline | Future Timeline | Technology | Predictions | Events | 2010 | 2012 | 2015 | 2020 | 2050 | 2100 | 21st century | 22nd century | 23rd century

America is sorted with thousands of miles of unused desert, us Europeans are going to have to think of another way or a way to transport the electricity from the Sahara.

 

[JCL666]

Regardless of whether you're positive or cynical about the potential of shale gas, the joke is that the government have issued licences etc and the whole thing's being carved up by mining companies while everyone's still debating about the viability and possible impact.

 

[Albumen]

Regardless of whether you're positive or cynical about the potential of shale gas, the joke is that the government have issued licences etc and the whole thing's being carved up by mining companies while everyone's still debating about the viability and possible impact.

There'll be a Tory peer in the board room of the frackers. That's for sure. £££££. *****.

 

[JCL666]

There'll be a Tory peer in the board room of the frackers. That's for sure. £££££. *****.

There is. Lord Browne, former BP CEO, backer of Cuadrilla (fracking company) and. ...... government advisor!

 

[beorhthelm]

Regardless of whether you're positive or cynical about the potential of shale gas, the joke is that the government have issued licences etc and the whole thing's being carved up by mining companies while everyone's still debating about the viability and possible impact.

what you mean is, there has been research and tests for several years, but only now that its actually going ahead, theres a story for the newspapers to report on and everyone is up in arms.

 

[00snook]

You can't help wondering how many more warnings mankind will ignore about our pollution of the planet, from the increasingly unstable weather, to the thousands of birds and fish, crabs etc dying, en mass the world over from possible methane/carbon dioxide released by the earth, maybe as a result of the massive disturbances we have created from all the oil/gas wells sunk.

The endless chopping down of forests, which filter out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and put back oxygen, thus polluting the very air we breathe and now our water could be under attack from Fracturing. Really, it is time to take notice of our vastly overpopulated planet, which will not be able to sustain such destruction before reacting in a manner, will we have no control over.

Yes indeed.

Well said.

 

[Albumen]

There is. Lord Browne, former BP CEO, backer of Cuadrilla (fracking company) and. ...... government advisor!

What a surprise. Putting life at risk for personal profit? That wouldn't be the Tories would it?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

You can't help wondering how many more warnings mankind will ignore about our pollution of the planet, from the increasingly unstable weather, to the thousands of birds and fish, crabs etc dying, en mass the world over from possible methane/carbon dioxide released by the earth, maybe as a result of the massive disturbances we have created from all the oil/gas wells sunk.

The endless chopping down of forests, which filter out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and put back oxygen, thus polluting the very air we breathe and now our water could be under attack from Fracturing. Really, it is time to take notice of our vastly overpopulated planet, which will not be able to sustain such destruction before reacting in a manner, will we have no control over.

Its a shame then that 99.9% of all the creatures that have ever existed went extinct before man first appeared on the planet because we would surely have been blamed for their extinction too.

Its amazing how it was global warming, then when that was shown to be a load of rubbish, it changed to climate change and that any little natural event is suddenly pounced upon and the blame laid at mans feet, conveniently ignoring that weather has never been truly predictable, that there are natural cycles that show a lot of what is happening to the planets weather (floods, droughts, etc) that is being blamed on man has been happening for thousands of not millions of years.

But who am i to argue with those who choose to blame man for everything, especially when their armed with records that span a couple of decades at best in most cases, I mean, there isn't any advantage to sell us this "man is causing all this change, we must make people spend more money or pay more taxes to 'fight' it" is there? .... oh wait a minute!?!

 

[00snook]

Its a shame then that 99.9% of all the creatures that have ever existed went extinct before man first appeared on the planet because we would surely have been blamed for their extinction too.

Its amazing how it was global warming, then when that was shown to be a load of rubbish, it changed to climate change and that any little natural event is suddenly pounced upon and the blame laid at mans feet, conveniently ignoring that weather has never been truly predictable, that there are natural cycles that show a lot of what is happening to the planets weather (floods, droughts, etc) that is being blamed on man has been happening for thousands of not millions of years.

But who am i to argue with those who choose to blame man for everything, especially when their armed with records that span a couple of decades at best in most cases, I mean, there isn't any advantage to sell us this "man is causing all this change, we must make people spend more money or pay more taxes to 'fight' it" is there? .... oh wait a minute!?!

So when in nature before man were 5000 gallons of chemicals pumped underground to extract gas?

Or millions of tonnes of coal, oil and gas burned to create energy, emitting Carbon Dioxide as a by product.

Surely you can't be arguing that this has no effect what so ever?

 

[pb21]

stuff

Do you agree CO2 is a greenhouse gas?
Do you agree the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is greater than it would be if humans didn't burn fossil fuels?
If so, to what extent could it be increased by without affecting the climate?

 

[beorhthelm]

Do you agree CO2 is a greenhouse gas?
Do you agree the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is greater than it would be if humans didn't burn fossil fuels?
If so, to what extent could it be increased by without affecting the climate?

do you agree that the increase of CO2 over the past 100 odd years and global temperature do not always correlate, that there are many other factors involved in the vastly complex system of the atmosphere and that the predictions made for the past 20-30 years on this matter have not be found correct but altered to adjust to new understanding and observations?