FRACKING: OIL SHALE GAS VS BIOGASCONSIDERING THE USE OF THE OIL SHALE ENERGY BOUNTY

Steve Last

info@anaerobic-digestion.com

http://anaerobic-digestion.com

F R A C K I N G :

O I L S H A L E G A S V S B I O G A S

Special Fracking Report: Oil

Shale Gas vs Biogas for

Renewable Energy

With much of the world once again (May

2012) teetering on recession, and a potential

energy bonanza sitting beneath our feet in

the form of vast oil shale gas reserves, dare

we use them, or not? Let’s make no mistake

about it a new era of cheap energy would get

world economies off the hook, and allow

many nations to claw their way back out of

austerity like nothing else can do on earth.

The engineering and technically minded

community owes it to the poor of the world to

consider oil shale use very carefully. Can it

be used without disastrous effects on the

environment or not?

In this special report we have set out to use

resources available on the web to compile a

report with contributions from a number of

authors on this subject. We then sum up our

view, and in the final special report section

we have some further information about our

preferred natural gas source.

Disclaimer

Reasonable care has been taken by the

authors to ensure that the information

presented in this book is accurate.

However, the reader by reading on any

further shall be deemed to have read and

accepted the following terms.

Terms of Use: No Liability: this book is

supplied “as is” and without liability. All

warranties, express or implied, are hereby

disclaimed. The information provided does

not constitute advice of any kind.

© 2012 by IPPTS Associates.

Introduction

Inside this report, you will learn:

What Is Fracking And Should

We Be Nervous About It: What

is fracking? It probably is a term new to

many people but it's definitely becoming a

popular topic in the media. Fracking is a

controversial process used to extract gas

from shale rock formations found

thousands of feet below the earth's crust.

The process involves drilling into the

surface of the earth and then triggering

small explosions to crack and shatter the

hard shale rock in order to release the gas

contained inside.

Fracking and Tar Sands :

Fracking is not a good thing if we're trying

to reduce global warming causes and

2Cover Image by InlandWest

impacts, unless all the carbon dioxide is

captured and stored by sequestration. We

provide a background on hydraulic

fracturing and its likely environmental

impacts.

The Bottom Line –

Is Fracking Really Safe?

In the last few years, with the increasing

demand for unique resources of energy,

scientists and big companies are turning

their heads and money on shale reserves,

sedimentary formations that seem tom hold

the future of energy: natural gas. With

recent turn of events and with the major

networks and independent film makers,

they take like on the technology called

fracking for oil. Don't be misled, this is not

the song. It has been highlighted in a

controversial documentary and now a lot of

buzz is directed towards this technology.

How is it good? What makes it ideal for

extraction? The biggest question would

have to be: is fracking for oil a safe

practice?

More Fracking Earthquakes -

New Report and Research on Oil

and Gas Fracking from UK

Our Think Tank has previously mentioned

the challenges with fracking and ground

water, and the potential earthquake issues.

Most of the problems can be easily

mitigated depending on the geological

make-up of the regions where such

resources are. There was a heavy hitting

article recently in the UK about fracking

stating it "may cause earthquakes" - well

like I said, not a revelation here.

Fracking - Is It Worth Risking Our

Water Supply:

Water is our most precious resource.

Without it, we would cease to exist. Out of

all the water on earth, only 2.5% is fresh

water and less than 1% is available for your

human consumption (since much of it is in

glacier form).

Now let’s get started with the reported articles

and the body of this report:

**********************

What

Is Fracking And Should We

Be Nervous About It

What is fracking? It probably is a term new

to many people but it's definitely becoming

a popular topic in the media. Fracking is a

controversial process used to extract gas

from shale rock formations found

thousands of feet below the earth's crust.

The process involves drilling into the

surface of the earth and then triggering

small explosions to crack and shatter the

hard shale rock in order to release the gas

contained inside. Sand, water and many

highly corrosive chemicals are forced into

the rock at high pressure allowing the gas

and crude oil to flow out before being

extracted by energy companies. The

process can be used to create new sources

of oil and gas or to enlarge existing

3

operations. The drilling can be carried out

vertically but horizontal drilling is more

common.

The name fracking comes from a longer

name for the process, hydraulic fracturing.

The rock is theoretically fractured and this

is often referred to as a 'frac job'.

The process is highly controversial mostly

due to the "unknown" as experts cannot

agree on just how dangerous the technique

is. A primary concern is that fracking uses

many carcinogenic chemicals and the fear

is that these chemicals may potentially find

their way into natural water sources and

pose a major threat to the users. Industry

experts however point out that drinking

water is generally found within a few

hundred feet of the surface whereas most

fracking is taking place several thousand

feet below the surface.

Left wing geologists have recently stated

that the fracking process was a probable

cause in the triggering of two minor

earthquakes off the English coast. The

energy industry obviously denies the

process is at fault and blames bad

practices as opposed to a bad technique.

The extraction of shale gas using fracking

is also being seen as a potential cause of

further global warming as shale gas is

found in many locations and is often seen

as a cheaper alternative to renewable

energy sources. The truth is that natural

gas has a much smaller carbon foot print

than either coal or oil so it's a great

solution for reducing pollution. Those who

fantasize about wind and solar replacing

fossil fuels have never done their research.

With current technology it's impossible for

alternatives to become the primary source

of energy. Additionally, no one ever talks

about the toxic ingredients that go into

manufacturing solar panels and the

batteries used to power electric cars

(another inconvenient truth).

Fracking is causing many heated debates

between concerned individuals and energy

companies. Currently energy companies are

looking into ways of creating longer and

deeper cracks in the earth allowing more

gas to be extracted. This will obviously

lower the extraction cost of the gas, this

has caused uproar among opponents and

environmentalists. In general the idea of

using these aggressive techniques will

always cause fear mongering and hand

wringing because of the unknown long-term

consequences.

Fracking is not likely to go away any time

soon as energy companies see it as a

cost-effective way of extracting more and

more natural gas. As new processes

continue to evolve concerns will continue to

linger and even grow. As we have said there

are always concerns over any new process

and they will either eventually diminish or

there will be a major disaster like the

opponents are predicting. Only time will

tell and as it is with most things we are

bound to continue to push the boundaries

until someone finds an issue.

Fracking has created a tremendous

resurgence in drilling activity in the U. S.

in areas such as the Bakken Oil Field which

has billions of barrels of oil which were

unrecoverable without it. These

4

developments along with the creation of the

Oil ETF has made oil investing a popular

trend in this past decade.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael

_R_Peterson

B. Fracking and Tar Sands

Introduction

Fracking is not a good thing if we're trying

to reduce global warming causes and

impacts. I provide a background on

hydraulic fracturing and environmental

impacts.

What is Hydraulic Fracturing or "Fracking"?

Hydraulic fracturing is the process of

creating fractures in rock with the purpose

of releasing a fluid under pressure. This

"fluid" is usually gas or petroleum as far as

the fossil fuel industry is concerned. These

fractures also occur naturally as in the case

of "veins" or "dikes", where magma from

deep within the earth flowed towards the

surface.

Oil and gas companies create their own

fracturing of a rock layer with the sole

purpose of extracting fuel. A bore hole is

drilled into the geologic formation which

contains the oil/gas. Then a highly

pressurized fracking fluid is pumped into

the hole leading to new channels in the

rock and hence, allows for extraction of

fossil fuels.

As the fluid is injected down the hole and

the fracture opens, other materials are

sometimes added to prevent the fractures

from closing - especially when the injection

processed has ended.

Not all wells are the same; some are very

permeable whereas others are low volume

wells, depending on the type of rock and

geologic structures. And example might be

shale for low permeability and sandstone

for high permeability; the former uses

20,000 to 80,000 gallons of fluid while

the latter can use up to 2-3 million gallons

of fluid per well. There can be

environmental issues in the disposal of this

fluid.

Examples in Nature

"Veins" can be caused by seismic activity

which leads to variations in stress levels of

the rock. Differing volumes of fluids can be

pumped into fractures during earthquakes.

The fluids (usually containing minerals)

can create a vein when pushed up through

rock and then can harden and crystallize;

sometimes a rock will appear one color and

there will be a stripe of some other material

in the rock.

The formation of a "dike" is similar to that

of a vein. The difference is that the fluid

filled cracks are molten rock, or magma.

Sometimes in sedimentary rock with a lot

of water content steam will be found at the

leading edge of the magma. Obviously this

feature would be more common in active

geologic regions such as areas near the

boundaries of the continental plates or

along the "ring of fire".

5

Fracking to Release Fossil Fuels

As mentioned earlier "fracking" or

"hydraulic fracturing" is using pressurized

fluid to expand cracks in rock to release oil

or gas from underground reservoirs. These

reservoirs are typically found in porous

sandstones, limestones, or dolomite rocks.

Sometimes the deposit can be found in

shale or coal beds. The oil/gas formations

can be retrieved from as deep as 1.5 - 6.1

km (5,000-20,000 feet). Sometimes the

formation just needs to be tapped and the

pressure alone will allow it to shoot to the

surface. Other times a conduit needs to be

formed to draw the fossil fuels to the

surface.

The fracture is created when pumping the

fracking fluid at sufficient rates to exceed

the fracture gradient of the rock. As the

fracture grows, permeable material (like

sand) is added to the hole to stabilize the

well. The fuel can then be drawn upwards

through the porous material.

Most hydraulic fracturing is performed in

vertical wells. But the latest technology

allows for horizontal wells also. The lateral

drill hole can extend up to nearly 3 km (2

mi) in some cases. Vertical wells usually

are only 15-90 meters (50-300 ft) deep.

Hydraulic fracturing is employed by 90% of

natural gas wells in the United States.

The fracturing fluid is a combination of

water, chemical additives, and proppants

(granular substances such as pellets or

sand that help the fluid do its work). In

addition there are sometimes gels, foams

and compressed gases (i.e., nitrogen or

carbon dioxide) added to the mixture. In

addition to the fluids and equipment to

propel the fluid, there is transportation and

storage of the fluid and the resulting fuel.

The Marcellus Shale formation is one of the

latest targets for fracking. This formation

extending from West Virginia and Ohio

eastward through Pennsylvania into New

York State has had its share of news worthy

stories, from estimated economic impacts

and jobs, to taxation, to environmental

concerns.

Environmental Concerns

There are plenty of environmental concerns

when it comes to hydraulic fracturing, from

contamination of ground water, pollution of

the air and global warming impacts, to

spills and mishandling of waste in the well

location and health effects.

While the EPA has been aware of some

possible contamination issues, there was

doubt among officials (from testimony at

Senate Hearing Committees) that the

fracking process itself has affected ground

water. The EPA studies were criticized for

being too narrow in scope, such as

concerns about water quality contaminated

from transporting fracking fluids, some fish

kills and even documented acid burns.

Private well owners have complained about

contamination. In 2005 hydraulic

fracturing was exempted by the U. S.

Congress from any regulation under the

Safe Drinking Water Act!

The reports of contamination of water

began to increase as fracking heated up.

6

One amazing example took place in the

town of Dimrock, PA with a report of 13

private wells found to be contaminated with

methane. And one of them actually blew

up. The local gas company was ordered to

compensate the homeowners although they

continued to deny responsibility. There

have even been reports of radiation in

fracking fluids that were released into

nearby rivers.

Beyond ground water and possible surface

pollution, there are the emissions of

greenhouse gases which are the leading

causes of global warming and air pollution

at the surface. The emissions from the

natural gas development and production

include particulates, nitrogen oxides, sulfur

oxide, carbon dioxide, and carbon

monoxide. Other emissions linked to

development include methane, ethane and

volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The

VOCs have been implicated in causing a

range of health issues - from respiratory

illness to neurological problems, birth

defects and cancer.

Although natural gas burns cleaner than oil

or coal and it is supposed to help lessen

global warming, an amount of methane is

typically released by these wells. And the

methane over short time periods is actually

worse than coal or oil due to how potent

this greenhouse gas is (20-25 times more

potent than CO2). The methane gradually

breaks down and has a lifetime in the

atmosphere of around 8-9 years (CO2 lasts

around 100 years). So even if natural gas is

burned efficiently, its carbon footprint is

still worse than coal or oil for timescales

less than 50 years.

Tar Sands

The Canadian Tar Sands, the Keystone

Pipeline controversy, and the basics of

environment preservation are covered here.

What Are Tar (Oil) Sands Anyway?

These geological features are not the

typical fossil fuel deposit that you usually

think of. Most are familiar with coal, oil,

and gas. Tar sands are a naturally occurring

mixture of sand, clay, water, and a dense or

viscous form of petroleum. This mixture

has the appearance, odor, and color of

"tar", hence the common name. These oil

sands are found in extremely large amounts

in Canada and Venezuela.

The tar sands are then mined and

processed to extract the oil-rich material

and then refined into oil. Extracting the oil

is more complex than typical recovery as

the process not only requires extraction and

separation systems to remove the oil sludge

from the clay, sand, and water, but also

requires special dilution with lighter

hydrocarbons (since so thick) to make it

transportable by pipelines.

A lot of the world's oil is in the form of tar

sands, this is estimated to amount to 2

trillion barrels! However not all of this oil is

recoverable. Tar sands are found in many

areas of the world (such as the Middle

East), however by far the largest deposits

are in Alberta Canada and Venezuela. There

are even some tar sand deposits in the

state of Utah.

A Little Industry Background

7

At this time oil is not produced from tar

sands on a significant commercial level in

the United States. Only Canada has a

large-scale commercial oil sands industry.

The industry, centered in Alberta, produces

more than one million barrels of synthetic

oil per day, or approximately 40% of

Canada's oil production. The output from

the Alberta-centered tar sands industry is

growing rapidly. Around 20% of U. S.

crude oil comes from Canada, with a large

amount of this coming from the tar sands.

Recently prices for oil have risen to

sufficient levels and technologies to extract

the oil from sands have improved to the

point to make production from oil sands

commercially attractive.

The oil sands reserves have only recently

gotten the headlines due to this

combination of oil price and improved

technologies. As long as these factors line

up in a favorable way for industry we will

continue to see oils sands remaining front

page news.

As alluded to earlier getting the oil from the

raw form to the usable form is no small

undertaking. There is a lot involved in the

process as will be covered next.

Extraction & Processing Overview

The oil sands can be extracted using open

mining at the surface. New methods of the

1990's improved the efficiency of the

mining which reduces the cost. The

systems use large hydraulic and electrically

powered shovels to dig the sands up and

load them into gigantic dump trucks. The

trucks carry up to 320 tons of tar sand per

load.

After the sands are transported to a facility,

hot water extraction is used to separate the

oil sludge from the sand, water, and

minerals. The resulting mixture is fed into

an extraction plant where 'agitation' occurs.

This releases oil and causes air bubbles

that attach to the oil droplets. These

droplets that float to the surface are then

skimmed off. Further processing leads to

synthetic crude oil.

Around two tons of oil sands are needed to

produce one barrel of oil. After the oil is

extracted, the used sand and other material

are then returned to the mine, which is

eventually reclaimed.

Other methods exist beyond strip mining

such as: steam injection, solvent injection,

and "fire floods" - in which oxygen is

injected and part of the resource is burned.

Steam injection is the favored method.

One of the latest current projects is the

Keystone Pipeline. This pipeline is to

transport synthetic crude oil from the oil

sands of northeastern Alberta, Canada to

several locations in the United States. The

locations include refineries in Illinois,

distribution hubs in Oklahoma and

proposed refineries along the Gulf Coast of

Texas. Basically there is an operational XL

pipeline and possible expansion segments

to the pipeline.

The Keystone pipeline has faced lawsuits

from oil refineries, environmental

organizations, and members of United

8

States Congress. The latest clash was

between some members of Congress and

President Obama over legislation that

would put approval of the expansion XL

pipeline on the fast track to development.

The President pushed back a decision until

2013. Of course environmental

organizations have their own concerns and

this will be covered in the next section.

Environmental Concerns & Conclusions

Mining and processing the oil sands wreaks

havoc on the environment. The strip mining

negatively affects wildlife and ecosystems

and leftover by products and pollution from

the strip mining can soak into the ground

water supply and run off into rivers and

streams. There is a large amount of dirty

water that is produced from the process;

only some can be recycled.

Some of the worst impacts are on the air

however. Getting the oil from the oil sands

with steam injection and refining leads to

major global warming impacts. In fact this

process leads to two to four times the

amount of greenhouse gases per barrel of

the end-product of refined oil as that

produced when extracting conventional oil.

If you include the final numbers, from oil

sands extraction to combustion you can see

that this is one of the major causes of

global warming; the emission is 10 to 45%

more greenhouse gases than regular oil!

Obviously, as far environmental awareness

is concerned, this is not the way to go if we

are serious in reducing the causes of global

warming. (Sources: ostseis.anl.gov and

wikipedia)

If you'd like to learn more please check out

my site: SurviveClimateChange

I'm a meteorologist with a Masters in

Meteorology. Besides weather, I also have a

passion for climate change and

environmental issues. I hope to share my

enthusiasm in my writing on these subjects

and offer suggestions on how to live in a

more "earth friendly" way. If you have any

questions or comments, I can be reached

at jon@surviveclimatechange.com:)

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon

_M_Flatley

The Bottom Line –

Is Fracking Really Safe?

In the last few years, with the increasing

demand for unique resources of energy,

scientists and big companies are turning

their heads and money on shale reserves,

sedimentary formations that seem tom hold

the future of energy: natural gas. With

recent turn of events and with the major

networks and independent film makers,

they take like on the technology called

fracking for oil. Don't be misled, this is not

the song. It has been highlighted in a

controversial documentary and now a lot of

buzz is directed towards this technology.

How is it good? What makes it ideal for

extraction? The biggest question would

have to be: is fracking for oil a safe

practice?

9

Fracking is a technology that has been

around for more than 60 years already and

basically, it is a method of extracting

natural gas and oil from various cracks or

vents deep underground by channeling a

reinforced well strategically on the ground,

an d pumping in water, chemicals and sand

under very high pressure, causing the gases

to become released, driving them upwards

for extraction. As said, water, sand and

chemicals are used. Chemicals are used to

prevent corrosion on the well surface,

preventing the equipment from getting

contaminated.

In the last few years, companies

implementing this procedure to their

extraction plants or oil wells have seen no

records of any form of gas emissions and

chemical release into the immediate water

systems outside the well. There are risks

with the implementation of the wells, and

that is a fact. The well should be perfectly

implemented from every step of the way in

order for the gases to prevent from mixing

up with clean water but that aspect is not

limited only to fracking for oil. The fact is

that any methodology that requires digging

past the water source is subject to risk if

not implemented properly. The technology

itself is not the cause why leakage could

happen that could eventually contaminate

the waters.

The process of fracking or hydraulic

fracturing has been around for a long time

already but it was a used mainly in

marginal economies where natural gas is

not as profitable but the manner of

extracting gas did not cause drastic

damage or any form of problems to the

water supply. However, with the increasing

demand for natural gas, more and more

wells are being made using this technology

and because of the demand, the main

problem is defective construction. This

means that at the end of the day, any

structure that has not been made with

precision and does not follow standards for

creating proper wells will end up

contaminating any underground water

source in the area.

Is it safe? Fracking for oil can be started as

a common technology. With anything that

requires utilizing natural resources, there

will always be risks. Fracking for oil in the

Marcellus Shale is becoming an important

aspect for the energy industry but it is

necessary to be careful and safe with the

utilization if chemicals and creation of

wells to prevent risks at the end of the day.

For more information on Marcellus Shale,

you can visit Marcellus Shale Fracking

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul

_Mike_John

More Fracking Earthquakes -

New Report and Research on Oil

and Gas Fracking from UK

Our Think Tank has previously mentioned

the challenges with fracking and ground

water, and the potential earthquake issues.

Most of the problems can be easily

mitigated depending on the geological

make-up of the regions where such

resources are. There was a heavy hitting

10

article recently in the UK about fracking

stating it "may cause earthquakes" - well

like I said, not a revelation here. Still,

perhaps we might discuss this for a

moment?

There was an interesting article recently on

the Forbes Blog on June 1, 2011 titled

"British Fracking Causes Earthquake - What

Now?" which was posted in the energy

category "Energy Source - How We Power

the World" by Chris Rhodes. In the article

Chris makes some great points;

"Hydraulic fracturing has made another

unwelcome appearance in the media, with

reports in the U. K. that the procedure may

cause earthquakes. Fracking involves the

injection of water containing a surfactant

and various other chemicals under high

pressure into a source rock e.g. shale,

causing the latter to fracture and release

natural gas (principally methane). It is

hoped that fracking will provide 45% of U.

S. gas by 2035, although the jury remains

"out" on its safety aspects."

Indeed, I think we've all instinctively known

all along that Fracking can in some

instances cause Earthquakes merely

because it is loosening up rock, most likely

not large ones if the industry is careful

where they work and exercises caution,

which of course is in their best interests

thus, you can consider it to be the norm,

safety first. So, I do not think this will be

such a huge issue.

We've also known that drilling oil without

putting something back in can be

problematic, numerous smaller earthquakes

in the past show that, a few larger than

small quakes too. We've had some fracking

quakes in the US already not major ones,

just small stuff and of course, we must use

our science to do it right and study the

areas we do this very carefully first. I have

no doubt that the oil and gas industry is

well on top of this issue.

Indeed, Chris' comments are correct in

citing the public's concern, conspiracy

theories, and shades of what will be called;

"a cover-up" of information on the subject,

and no doubt used by environmentalists as

another tool to attack Big Oil. There are

risks and rewards in anything we do when it

comes to energy, whether for our

transportation needs or powering up our

civilization

Nuclear has seen recent challenges in the

Japanese quake and Tsunami double

whammy. Oil has terrorist issues, pipeline

problems, and terrorists after refineries, not

to mention dealing with less than stellar

ethical nations around the world. Natural

Gas is not without worry either, for instance

the pipeline explosion and fire in the bay

area recently. Giant wind turbines create

ultrasound and mess up aviation radars.

Solar Power manufacturing uses an etching

solution which is 17,000 times worse than

CO2 for the atmosphere. Hydro is

challenged by droughts, damns, floods, etc.

We are going to have to deal with the cards

we have until the research available helps

improve these problems and challenges.

Please consider all this.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online

11

Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers,

experts, innovators, entrepreneurs,

thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers,

leaders, and general all around brilliant

minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've

enjoyed today's discussion and topic.

http://www. WorldThinkTank.net - Have an

important subject to discuss, contact Lance

Winslow.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance

_Winslow

Fracking - Is It Worth Risking

Our Water Supply

Water is our most precious resource.

Without it, we would cease to exist. Out of

all the water on earth, only 2.5% is fresh

water and less than 1% is available for your

human consumption (since much of it is in

glacier form).

With the world’s population hitting almost

7 billion in 2011 and our bodies

themselves containing 70% water, it would

seem that the most critical of all

environmental concerns should be to

ensure the safety and protection of our

most critical and life sustaining resource,

WATER.

Water is so priceless and unique that its

topic has been studied by Japanese

scientist Dr. Masaru Emoto who has been

researching this new field of science by

freezing samples of water that have been

exposed to either positive or negative

words, emotions and music. Through

photographs, Dr. Emoto has found that

water exposed to positive influences

produces beautiful, perfectly formed

crystals, while water exposed to negativity

produces ugly, malformed crystals. Dr.

Emoto's study suggested that because

humans are primarily composed of water

and much of the earths surface is covered

in water, the power to change the essence

of water means that humans have the

power to evoke change on a global or

personal scale, by way of water. If these

controversial studies are accurate, than is it

possible that water is (in some fashion at

least), alive?

What if we no longer had access to fresh

drinking water, what would we do? If this

was the case, we would have to use

advanced filtering methods to convert salt

water into drinking water, but many argue

that it would not be the same. If we

consider fresh water to be in some way

"alive" would the converse be true by saying

that filtrated salt water would be

considered "dead"? If so, what affect would

drinking "dead" water have on our bodies?

Would filtrated salt water lose the waters

valuable nutrients?

There are an exhaustive variety of factors

and contaminants that threaten our water

supplies and "fracking" is one of them!

Since 1947, when the process of

"fracking", "hydraulic fracturing" or

"hydrofracking was first introduced

commercially, (to stimulate gas and oil

wells) by companies like Halliburton, it has

been used extensively worldwide ever since.

The process of fracking sped up the

extraction process making both oil and gas

12

more readily accessible and profitable.

There is a wealth of natural gas trapped

underground, but what depths are we

willing to go to extract it?

Fracking is a process by which sand, water

and chemicals are injected into dense rock

layers and shale creating cracks that allow

natural gas trapped inside to flow to the

earths surface. There are a number of

environmental and human health concerns

associated with "fracking"such as:

contamination of ground water, risks to air

quality, the risk of gases and hydraulic

fracturing chemicals reaching the surface,

and the potential for the mishandling of

waiste.

A number of chemicals identified in

fracturing fluid are hazardous chemicals

(such as ethylene glycol and toluene which

are toxic to humans) that may cause health

risks that range from rashes to cancer.

Some people living near fracking sites have

reported abnormalities in their water (such

as dark colored grease, sediment and

floating debris) as well as attempting to

link their health concerns to tap water that

has been contaminated from the fracking

process.

Although natural gas is known as being a

clean burning fuel and according to the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

generates only about half as much

greenhouse gas as coal, Cornel University

Ecology and Environmental Biology

Professor, Robert Howarth argues that

methane which is 20 times more effective

at trapping heat than carbon dioxide,can

leak out during the fracturing process,

making natural gas leave more of a

greenhouse gas footprint on the earth than

the traditional offender, coal.

Whether you are a proponent for or against

fracking, the use of natural gas over coal or

believe that fracking can be hazardous to

human and animal health, is really

irrelevant. What is important is how far are

we willing to go to extract the natural gas or

oil for human use? Is it worth risking

contaminating our water supply?

Written by Suzanne Edwards "Making the

world greener one reader at a time"

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne

_A_Edwards

Wrapping up...

In this report, we've shown you:

What Is Fracking And Should We Be

Nervous About It

Fracking and Tar Sands

The Bottom Line – Is Fracking Really

Safe?

More Fracking Earthquakes - New Report

and Research on Oil and Gas Fracking

from UK

Fracking - Is It Worth Risking Our Water

Supply

On balance, we consider that fracking is

too high a risk to take and despite the

limitations on the amount of biogas which

can currently be generated, based upon

13

currently available biomass, and waste

production of organic waste materials,

However, that does not mean that there is

no solution to the current problem of

energy needs as biogas can produce much

more of our energy needs, and should be

seen as being the better option, and it can

be made in much larger quantities than is

produced today, in the UK.

In the rest of this special report we will

discuss biogas methane production.

SPECIAL REPORT:

Is It Possible To Produce

Biogas, Without Losing

Precious Earnings on Process

Downtime?

According to Steve last, an environmental

process engineer and owner of the popular

website www.anaerobic-digestion.com, the

answer is yes!

“Many biogas plant operators tell us that a

biogas plant is much more like owning a

cow than a tractor, and a badly behaved

cow at that", Steve tells us.

Why most people struggle

According to Steve Last , there's a reason

why so many people struggle with the idea

that if done right an anaerobic digestion

plant will deliver fuel bill

busting power, despite so much evidence

to the contrary, and help being offered to

them today from an ever increasing range

of biogas plant technology providers...

"Prospective AD Plant buyers, particularly

in the agricultural sector, but also

commercial clients in the growing food

waste digestion sector, fear that their

project will cost them far too much and run

out of their control, with fancy control

equipment and over specified and complex

systems."

Steve Last has set out to conquer

this perception with a unique

approach

"We tell intelligent clients who don’t mind

a bit of technical reading, how to operate

their biogas plant before we start. If they

start out by knowing “what they need to

do”, then remaining in control over

“how they do it”, is much easier.

Unlike some other Anaerobic Digestion

plant partners and turnkey

contractors", Steve Last tells us that all

the technical detail is “on the table”, from

the start. That way, the buyer can assess,

accept, or reject the technical details from

a point of knowledge.

Steve Last focuses on the unique approach

of providing accessible information first,

and if you like it; “bringing the client up to

speed in the technology, from the

start”, firstly to give the client the

confidence that he will be knowledgeable

enough about the product he is buying to

remain in firm control of his technical

advisors from start to finish , and secondly

so that he gets a feel for what operating an

14

AD plant is like, because it isn’t like

“buying a tractor”, and if the AD and Biogas

industry sells on that proposition,

unsatisfied clients may well be the

result.

To learn more about Steve Last’s solution,

and his story,

visit http://anaerobic-digestion.com .

What others are saying about

Steve’s IPPTS Associates web

site…

KT: “Great site, well done, lots of good info

for anyone looking at Anaerobic Digestion

to perform a number of services. I have

also studied AD … and it is very

interesting.

Witchaya K: I’m come from Thailand and

finding the information about anaerobic

digestion in the rural village. I'm studying

in master degree and making the project

about the anaerobic digestion. Thank you.

A. G: Biogas production from any viable

source is an obvious path in a petro-energy

stressed economy. My field of interest is

on-site wastewater treatment, given GHG

concerns carbon sequestering and energy

production potential is subject to scrutiny

right now. Comment: Relevant, well

presented and thus good.

To download Steve’s free report on how to

operate a biogas plant go

to,

http://anaerobic-digestion.com/downloads/h

ow-to-operate-an-anaerobic-digestion-plant

– it’s all there!

----------------------------

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