2018-Crucial year for UK shale?

[Stephen + 67]

The UK’s shale gas industry is in a race against time to establish itself before climate change regulations shut it down. As its stands, the frackers are off the pace. However, shale gas companies have said domestic fracking will finally begin in earnest in 2018, after another year passed without serious progress amid strong opposition.

 

 

 

[JohnAtronis + 78]

Yes, since 2017 have not been kind to the embryonic industry. Scotland has banned fracking, while public opposition in the UK hit record highs and protests made headlines.

[Stephen + 67]

What would be interesting would be an analysis of the UKs future energy needs (assuming large scale takeup of Electric Vehicles) and how these will be met by various sources.

[JohnAtronis + 78]

It is beyond me how anyone can promote fracking for anything other than poisoning the countryside, using vast amounts of water to do it and then selling a product that is not low carbon and should be left in the ground

[Meanwhile + 49]

What mustn't happen is this anti-fracking sentiment to carry across to the growing geothermal power generation industry.

[JohnAtronis + 78]

Just now, Meanwhile said:

What mustn't happen is this anti-fracking sentiment to carry across to the growing geothermal power generation industry.

Geothermal electrical generation just sounds problematic. My understanding is it requires a fracking process and is quite tricky to keep the chemicals in deep water in the loops rather than being released. I did a quick google and seem to find it hard to find a good source to explain it all.

 

 

[Meanwhile + 49]

9 minutes ago, Stephen said:

The UK’s shale gas industry is in a race against time to establish itself before climate change regulations shut it down. As its stands, the frackers are off the pace. However, shale gas companies have said domestic fracking will finally begin in earnest in 2018, after another year passed without serious progress amid strong opposition.

 

 

 

Looks like the industry is not sure what to expect

“We will see results next year. None of us can say with certainty what the results will be, of course,” said Francis Egan, the chief executive of Cuadrilla.

[Stephen + 67]

Creating jobs; reducing the UK's dependence on foreign energy; generating substantial tax revenues . What's not to like? There is no such thing as perfectly clean energy 

[Joanna + 68]

4 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Creating jobs; reducing the UK's dependence on foreign energy; generating substantial tax revenues . What's not to like? There is no such thing as perfectly clean energy 

We have to find some middle in it. I don’t trust neither side completely: profit-at-any-cost companies and I-care-about-the-planet anti-development protestors. We could a little more light and a little less heat in the debate about fracking.

 

[Meanwhile + 49]

5 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Creating jobs; reducing the UK's dependence on foreign energy; generating substantial tax revenues . What's not to like? There is no such thing as perfectly clean energy 

As per usual the UK does not want to hear about studies by experts or learn from the mistakes made elsewhere.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2017/02/23/fracking-is-dangerous-to-your-health-heres-why/#2b7a02475945

[Meanwhile + 49]

16 minutes ago, Stephen said:

What would be interesting would be an analysis of the UKs future energy needs (assuming large scale takeup of Electric Vehicles) and how these will be met by various sources.

There is no way that any fracking company or government department is enforcing fracking for the good if the country. Energy prices will not fall. 

[Carlsbad + 19]

Being from the UK, I think it's not worth it to risk fracking. There's not really enough at stake in terms of natural gas to risk this, but the bigger point is that in the US, you have all this unpopulated and less population dense territory to undertake fracking. In the UK, and in Europe in general, the population density makes this more risky for people and the environment. 

[JohnAtronis + 78]

17 minutes ago, Carlsbad said:

Being from the UK, I think it's not worth it to risk fracking. There's not really enough at stake in terms of natural gas to risk this, but the bigger point is that in the US, you have all this unpopulated and less population dense territory to undertake fracking. In the UK, and in Europe in general, the population density makes this more risky for people and the environment. 

We have three trillion tons of coal buried under out feet. Why are we talking about with fracking when we can kill ourselves even more quickly with the proper stuff?

 

[Joanna + 68]

1 hour ago, Stephen said:

The UK’s shale gas industry is in a race against time to establish itself before climate change regulations shut it down. As its stands, the frackers are off the pace. However, shale gas companies have said domestic fracking will finally begin in earnest in 2018, after another year passed without serious progress amid strong opposition.

 

 

 

According to the British Geological Survey, the chances of fracking proving commercially viable in the UK are very low, because of the very complex geology which is totally unlike America.

[Meanwhile + 49]

Just now, Joanna said:

According to the British Geological Survey, the chances of fracking proving commercially viable in the UK are very low, because of the very complex geology which is totally unlike America.

The shale oil industry in Scotland was large and profitable. It became uneconomical when oil wells really started to produce. No failure there.