Proponents argue that along with more affordable and
domestic energy, fracking decreases greenhouse gas emissions, therefore slowing
climate
change. A recent model
by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory shows this claim to be untrue, and
that more likely, fracking will increase greenhouse gas emissions in the long run.
What is Fracking?
Fracking is a technique developed in 1947 to extract natural gas trapped in rocks. Pumping a pressurized liquid into the ground cracks (or fractures - where the name “fracking” originates) the rock, allowing natural gas to be released. Fracking liquid typically consists of sand and chemicals suspended in water, which holds the fracture open once the rock is cracked. Fracking offers another option for extracting fossil fuels that are more abundant in North America, so proponents advocate that it will reduce dependence on Middle East countries for energy.
 |
| How fracking works. Image credit USA Today |
Fracking is a controversial technique because of its potential environmental impact. Concerns have grown over ground water contamination (people's faucet water actually lighting on fire) from the undisclosed chemicals in fracking liquid and water shortages due to the high volume fracking demands. In addition, researchers have shown that fracking might be responsible for causing small-scale earthquakes that could lead to more serious long-term consequences.
 |
| Faucet water near some fracking sites has become flammable. |
Will fracking change greenhouse gas emissions?
Some reports have suggested that because natural gas can replace coal as an electricity source it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and so can be thought of as a climate change solution. But that claim assumes that natural gas only replaces coal and that energy consumption remains at current levels. Depending on the energy policy of the country, this is a generous assumption.
The PNNL study showed that in the likely event of an
increase in energy consumption, fracking for natural gas will not decrease
carbon dioxide emissions and is not a plausible solution to climate change.
Instead, they found that having more affordable access to
natural gas would increase climate forcing (human-imposed disruption to the
climate) between 0.3 percent decrease and a 7 percent increase, which is far
less than the 80 percent decrease climate experts are recommending.
Integrating energy, economy and climate systems, the
researchers predicted long-term changes in carbon dioxide emissions. In the
study, five separate models were used to demonstrate how greenhouse gas
emissions would change based on several scenarios of natural gas production and
use. Although the exact amounts vary, every model showed that increasing
natural gas supply through unconventional extraction methods (fracking) does
not reduce carbon dioxide emissions because of two effects: natural gas
replacing alternative forms of energy, and the increase in energy use as a
result of the decrease in price.
In the most realistic case, natural gas would substitute for
18 percent of coal and 17 percent of other lower carbon energy, such as solar and
wind power. Substituting coal for natural gas will decrease carbon
dioxide emissions. However natural gas also costs less than wind, solar, fuel cell, hydropower, or nuclear
power, so energy consumption will shift from these technologies to natural gas. Using natural gas in place of renewable sources will significantly increase atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Furthermore, when energy (natural gas in this case) is available at a low
cost, more people will use it. The more natural gas people use, the more carbon
dioxide is emitted. Even when the PNNL model predicted that energy policy
effectively banned coal so that natural gas replaced only coal, the carbon
dioxide emissions are only reduced by 6 percent; the best case scenario.
Carbon dioxide isn’t the only climate-warming gas
(greenhouse gas) that natural gas releases. Greenhouse gas is most commonly
thought of as carbon dioxide; however, natural gas itself (methane) is actually
has over 20 times more climate warming potential than carbon dioxide. Another
environmental concern is that fracking will result in more gas leaks during
drilling, extraction, and transportation (known as fugitive methane emissions).
When modeling for the likely increase in fugitive methane, greenhouse gas
emissions increase between 7 percent and 20 percent.
 |
| Carbon dioxide isn't the only greenhouse gas. |
The authors of the study conclude that: ”Abundant gas does not discernibly
reduce climate forcing … and, under high fugitive emission assumptions, three
models reported increased climate forcing of more than 5%.”
Evidence reported in this study shows yet another environmental concern posed
by fracking. Proponents and oil companies cannot claim that natural gas is a
sufficient solution to reducing the impacts of climate change.
Will Fracking Help Us Become Energy Independent?
You have probably noticed the recent drop in prices at the pump. OPEC has declared a war on fracking by dropping oil prices to a level that deems North American companies unprofitable. The type of oil that is extracted from fracking is more expensive to produce than oil produced by OPEC. The United States is currently producing more oil than any OPEC country, so in order for them to drive North American countries out of business, oil prices will need to be low for a very long time.
The environmental consequence of this
is consumers will continue to increase their energy consumption because of the
lower cost, which in turn will continue producing more greenhouse gas
emissions. Not only is the U.S. still suffering the consequences of OPEC
controlling the U.S.’s energy production, but we are now contributing more to
climate change than before.
Fracking is an innovative technology,
but is not a solution to our climate and energy problems. A real solution will
be found after continuing to invest our efforts and research into renewable
sources of energy that can be produced in the United States. We can use the
type of innovation to come up with a longer term solution to energy
independence and climate change. That seems easier than exploring for a new colder
planet to live on.
Scene from Interstellar. Image credit: Giphy.
Cheers to your brain and thanks for reading!
Like my Facebook page to stay up to date on blog posts and other science findings!
