The Energy Fix: How To Clean Up Fracking's Bad Rep
Hydraulic Fracturing 1. Drillers inject a fluid (almost always water) carrying sand and other additives into a well at high pressures. This fractures the rock and frees natural gas to flow back to the surface-along with some of the drilling fluid and natural contaminants. 2. Flaring natural gas converts methane to carbon dioxide, which is a less potent greenhouse gas. But methane can also leak or be vented directly into the atmosphere. 3. Tanker trucks typically deliver between two and five million gallons of water to fracture one well. Graham Murdoch If fossil fuels are to remain a large part of the nation's energy mix, engineers need to reduce their environmental impacts. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have opened up huge reservoirs of oil and gas across the U.S. The Energy Information Administration predicts that production of shale gas in particular will continue to rise steeply, increasing 44 percent...