RSS Feed

Calendar

March 2024
M T W T F S S
« Feb    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Search

Tag Cloud

Archives

Washington Post (November 27)

2016/ 11/ 29 by jd in Global News

“Japan is engaged in a national crisis over nuclear power, but the country has embraced natural gas. The United States, by contrast, is seeing a roiling national debate over natural gas and fracking, but concerns over nuclear power are muted. Each country is half right.” As countries invest in renewable energy, they “should keep their options open.” To successfully phase out the deadliest energy sources, e.g. coal, “the world needs fracking – and nuclear power.”

 

USA Today (November 9)

2015/ 11/ 10 by jd in Global News

“Innovation is the key to moving from dirtier fuels to cleaner ones.” To the joy of environmentalists, President Obama rejected the proposed Keystone pipeline to carry oil from Canadian tar sands to the U.S. “The main factor behind Obama’s decision is something environmentalists hate even more than Keystone: hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,” which has added over 3.5 million barrels per day to U.S. domestic production. “The lesson for climate change is obvious… If we want to keep oil (and coal) in the ground, we need to make other forms of energy cheaper. That means nurturing technologies such as natural gas extraction. It also means promoting another technology that environmentalists love to hate: nuclear energy.”

 

Wall Street Journal (July 8)

2014/ 07/ 08 by jd in Global News

“Just when the Ukraine crisis makes clear that the need to diversify Europe’s gas supplies couldn’t be greater, Germany wants to ban fracking.” If Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks gets her way, “most forms of hydraulic fracking will be prohibited until 2021,” cutting Germans off from the estimated 2.3 trillion cubic meters of shale gas that lies within their border.

 

Financial Times (October 10)

2013/ 10/ 11 by jd in Global News

“The world has just passed a historic milestone: China has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest oil importer…. The implications for international relations and global security are profound.” Cinching the global “gas guzzler” title has as much to do with the dramatic increase in domestic U.S. production through fracking as rising living standards in China. While China is now the biggest oil importer, the U.S. remains the biggest consumer. Per capita, the U.S. consumes over seven times more oil than China or 21.5 barrels annually per person.

 

The Economist (August 3)

2013/ 08/ 04 by jd in Global News

“The world’s thirst for oil could be nearing a peak. That is bad news for producers, excellent for everyone else.” Is oil becoming “yesterday’s fuel”? The Economist believes demand may be nearing long-term decline brought about by advances in fracking and automotive technology.

 

Institutional Investor (February Issue)

2013/ 03/ 03 by jd in Global News

“Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is releasing huge new supplies of natural gas and promising to revive the American economy with cheap energy. The U.S. energy boom may “create 3 million jobs and boost economic growth by 1 to 1.5 percentage points a year between now and 2020.” Chemical and agricultural companies are also poised to benefit from the lower cost of raw materials and energy.

 

Barrons (January 30)

2013/ 02/ 01 by jd in Global News

“Fracking is creating a new source of cheap energy. By 2020, the U.S. is expected to become the world’s largest energy producer. And the falling cost of natural gas (now about a third of Europe’s and less than a quarter of Japan’s) is attracting corporate attention. “After decades of outsourcing… companies like Apple, Caterpillar, Ford Motor, General Electric, and Whirlpool are making more of their goods on American soil again. It isn’t just U.S. companies that are drawn to our cheap energy, weak dollar, and stagnant wages. Samsung Electronics plans a $4 billion semiconductor plant in Texas, Airbus SAS is building a factory in Alabama, and Toyota wants to export minivans made in Indiana to Asia.”

 

National Geographic (November 12)

2012/ 11/ 14 by jd in Global News

“In an indication how ‘fracking’ is reshaping the global energy picture, the International Energy Agency today projected that the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2017. And within just three years, the United States will unseat Russia as the largest producer of natural gas. Both results would have been unthinkable even few short years ago.”

 

The Economist (June 2)

2012/ 06/ 05 by jd in Global News

Fracking has resulted in a shale gas revolution. “At current production rates, America has over a century’s supply of gas, half of it stored in shale and other ‘unconventional’ formations. It should also spread, to China, Australia, Argentina and Europe. Global gas production could increase by 50% between 2010 and 2035, with unconventional sources supplying two-thirds of the growth.”

Fracking has resulted in a shale gas revolution. “At current production rates, America has over a century’s supply of gas, half of it stored in shale and other ‘unconventional’ formations. It should also spread, to China, Australia, Argentina and Europe. Global gas production could increase by 50% between 2010 and 2035, with unconventional sources supplying two-thirds of the growth.”

 

The Independent (September 20)

2011/ 09/ 22 by jd in Global News

The practice of “fracking” to access shale gas reserves is becoming widespread in the U.S. And now the UK faces the alluring promise that “drilling for shale gas in Lancashire could create as many as 5,600 jobs.” The downside is “that such drilling could also poison groundwater, pollute the atmosphere and cause major ecological damage.” The Independent believes the benefits do not outweigh the risks. “Fracking is an unconscionable gamble with potentially catastrophic results. It has already been banned in France. It should be banned in Britain as well.”

 

[archive]