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Fracking Can Help Fix the CO2 Problem
©2012 Reason ^ | December 10, 2012 | A. Barton Hinkle

Posted on 12/11/2012 4:38:42 PM PST by Behind Liberal Lines

America’s carbon-dioxide emissions are actually falling. In fact, they have not been this low since 1992. And while no single factor can account for the entire shift, much of the credit goes to something environmentalists often detest: hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Among power sources, the worst source of CO2 emissions by far is coal. Natural gas generates half the CO2 per kilowatt-hour, and in the past few years natural gas has displaced coal to a remarkable degree. This year gas-fired electricity generation equaled coal-fired generation for the first time. According to the Energy Information Administration, that trend will continue as shale gas production rises from 5 trillion cubic feet in 2010 to more than 13 trillion cubic feet in 2035. Fracking made this possible—by opening up the Marcellus shale deposit in Pennsylvania and many others. Twelve years ago, shale gas made up 2 percent of the U.S. supply. It now makes up 37 percent.

All of that was achieved without government direction—and in the face of considerable environmental resistance.

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; US: New York; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: climatechange; fracking; fracturing; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; hydraulic
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
Among power sources, the worst source of CO2 emissions by far is coal. Natural gas generates half the CO2 per kilowatt-hour,

Statement based on a eia/epa government published table. The source for the statistics are not provided. It is hard for me to understand how the oxidation of coal based carbon is different than oxidation of natural gas carbon. But then biochemistry was something I didn't study.

21 posted on 12/12/2012 5:10:00 AM PST by Jimmy Valentine's brother (CBC, just another bunch of jive a$$ street corner hustlers)
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To: Jimmy Valentine's brother

I think it has to do with impurities, etc.


22 posted on 12/12/2012 10:04:54 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: Myrddin; thackney

Interesting that you are willing to rely on NBC citing something called the “Food & Environment Reporting Network”.

I don’t know about the latter but I’m very well acquainted with the horses—t coming out of NBC.

Maybe you are an expert at this, which I am not. But I have lived most of my life in the Bakken area and I’ve seen reports of disastrous claim after claim which even Obama’s own EPA cannot manage to substantiate...and believe me, they are trying.

The Bakken zone is a couple miles below the acquifers tapped for water wells. Does that mean there isn’t sometimes surface damage or spills caused by careless workers? Hardly.

Does it mean that methane doesn’t sometimes cause problems, sometimes with drilling activity nearby (and sometimes not)? No again.

Does my argument mean that yours is entirely meritless? No, no, it doesn’t.

But you, like I, have to be cautious about accepting every claim as genuine and seeing causal relationships where they haven’t been proved.

(pinging thackney as he has far more expertise than I and I am always interested in his view)


23 posted on 12/12/2012 10:29:54 AM PST by Fightin Whitey
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To: Myrddin
Bayou Corne

Bayou Corne is a collapsed Salt Dome Storage Facility and has ZERO to do with hydraulic fracturing in a production well. The storage facility was created by leaching out the salt and there is NO WAY anyone would consider fracturing a hole designed to KEEP the oil/gas in. Fracturing is done to let the oil/gas/water out.

24 posted on 12/12/2012 10:51:08 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney
There are fracking operations going on all over the area surrounding Bayou Corne. Apparently they didn't get the message that fracking isn't a good idea. Too late. Seismic activity initiated by the fracking and methane pressure from under the salt domes is breaking them apart. Fresh water incursion is dissolving the domes. It's just a matter of time.

Check this link for current videos of the situation and pictures prior to the sink hole opening.

25 posted on 12/12/2012 11:22:44 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: Jimmy Valentine's brother

>> Natural gas generates half the CO2 per kilowatt-hour

> It is hard for me to understand how the oxidation of coal based carbon is different than oxidation of natural gas carbon

1) Natural gas is 25% hydrogen by weight (Coal is around 3 percent hydrogen). Much of the energy released by burning NG is from the oxidation of hydrogen.

2) Modern natural gas electric plants use the highly efficient “Combined cycle” design, which converts about 60% of the chemical energy in the NG into electricity. Coal plants do not use combined cycle, and typically get about 40% conversion.

Add those factors together, and it’s not hard to see that per mole of carbon, methane can yield about twice as many watt/hours as coal.


26 posted on 12/12/2012 11:52:49 AM PST by Mr170IQ
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To: elkfersupper

The “problem” is that there isn’t a one world government.
That’s the “problem with CO2”.


27 posted on 12/12/2012 11:57:00 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: American in Israel; Myrddin; Bigun; re_nortex
Just imagine, you could rig a small dome over the methane leak, power a small generator and hook it to a line sync inverter and get paid for free electricity. One ladys fear is another mans treasure.

Exactamento. Gas and electricity generated on-site back out utility power and gas, and you can actually go negative-balance and get paid retail for the gas and electricity you produce. This does happen in some locations, such as southern Ohio, where people sometimes have old, capped-off wellheads in their basements or yards that have just enough residual natural-gas pressure on the casing that they'll flow to a stove or furnace.

Item, if you must sequester CO2 in volume, the best place to do it is in a partially- or mostly-depleted conventional oil reservoir or a high-carbon shale (like the Eagleford in central and south Texas or the Bakken in Montana and North Dakota) that is known to produce liquid hydrocarbons. The CO2 mobilizes kerogen and bitumen in the shale or sand reservoirs enough that it can be migrated, captured and produced.

CO2 flooding is a secondary-production technique practiced for generations now in older oil fields like those being rejuvenated by massive-frac technology in the old Paleozoic trends of the Ohio Valley.

28 posted on 12/12/2012 1:16:28 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
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To: Myrddin

There are fracking operations going on all over the area surrounding Bayou Corne. Apparently they didn’t get the message that fracking isn’t a good idea. Too late. Seismic activity initiated by the fracking and methane pressure from under the salt domes is breaking them apart.

= = = = = =

BS Hydraulic Fracturing is not related in any way. There is not any substantial claim of such.


29 posted on 12/12/2012 1:21:27 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: lentulusgracchus
very interesting! Thanks. Somehow there seems to be an amazing deposit of hydrogen in the earths crust. I wonder if there is some sort of nuclear reaction in the hot core of the planet that produces hydrogen somehow.

It is leaking out everywhere, and if the planet is elventy billion year old, it would have leaked out long ago. Don't you just wish to get a glimpse into an organic chemistry book from the 24th century...

30 posted on 12/12/2012 3:18:34 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines; 11B40; A Balrog of Morgoth; A message; ACelt; Aeronaut; AFPhys; AlexW; ...
DOOMAGE!

Global Warming PING!

You have been pinged because of your interest in environmentalism, alarmist wackos, mainstream media doomsday hype, and other issues pertaining to global warming.

Freep-mail me to get on or off: Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to all note-worthy threads on global warming.

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Global Warming on Free Republic

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31 posted on 12/13/2012 7:15:30 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Obama should change his campaign slogan to "Yes, we am!" Sounds as stupid as his administration is.)
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To: Mr170IQ

Thank you for the explanation. Now I can more readily accept the gov’s numbers. Let’s get fracking!


32 posted on 12/14/2012 3:30:47 AM PST by Jimmy Valentine's brother (CBC, just another bunch of jive a$$ street corner hustlers)
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