Transcript Low Carbon Hub’s growing pains

www.lowcarbonhub.org
Environmental
Implications of Hydraulic
Fracturing for Shale Gas in
the United Kingdom
www.lowcarbonhub.org
Sustainability:
Carbon Footprint
Shale gas GHG emissions
Comparison of lifecycle GHG emissions from pre-production stages for
shale gas from AEA European Commission study and others (Forster &
Perks 2013, p. 64).
Comparative emissions of fossil fuels
Comparison of the life-cycle emissions for the production of electricity from various sources of
gas, and coal. Shale gas the emissions intensity depends on the assumed completion method;
here it has been assumed that methane released during completion would be 90% captured and
flared. (MacKay & Stone 2013)
(Friends of the Earth, 2013)
(Friends of the Earth, 2013)
CBM- Coal Bed Mathane; UCG- Underground Coal Gasification
“To ensure that shale gas exploitation
doesn’t increase cumulative
greenhouse gas emissions it is crucial
that society maintains efforts to drive
down the costs of low- carbon
technologies, including carbon capture
and storage.”
(MacKay & Stone 2013)
www.lowcarbonhub.org
Sustainability:
Water footprint
Water use estimates
• :‘a few thousand’ to 20,000 m3
(International Energy Agency, 2012)
• 10,000 to 30,000 m3 (Department
for Energy and Climate Change,
2013)
• 10,000m3 to 35,000m3 (New York
State Department of Environmental
Conservation 2011, p. 8).
www.lowcarbonhub.org
Immediate Environmental
Impact: Water
Contamination
Approved fracking chemicals in
the UK:
• polyacrylamide friction reducers
• hydrochloric acid
• Biocide
This will change on a ‘case by case basis’
(DECC 2013, p. 11).
Causes of water contamination
• Leaks via well-casings that have been
inadequately completed or which have
subsequently failed
• Leaks or spills of fracking fluid or ‘produced
water’ above ground
• Migration down naturally occurring
fractures in the rock or via extension of
fractures created by fracking or via nearby
abandoned wells
(Friends of the Earth, 2013)
www.lowcarbonhub.org
Immediate Environmental
Impact: Seismic Activity
www.lowcarbonhub.org
“The Low Carbon Hub believes that ~75% of remaining
fossil reserves should stay in the ground. Fracked gas is
fossil fuel and therefore adds to the stock of carbon
being put into the atmosphere, whether it helps the UKspecific position look better short-term or not. We
believe that fracking is a short-term, transition
resource which will only delay the necessary
implementation of a whole-system change to
decentralised renewables. Therefore we would only be
able to support anything on fracking if safety concerns
were allayed; CCS was made mandatory; and there was
a strong link between the exploitation of that resource
and the use of revenues from it to speed up deployment
of renewables, reduction of electricity demand and
development of a national Smart Grid.”
www.lowcarbonhub.org
www.lowcarbonhub.org
Bibliography
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