Fracking 1

The state of Pennsylvania has cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the power sector over the last few years by 30%. The big reduction was not achieved by eliminating cars or turning down thermostats. Rather, natural gas increasingly replaced coal as a source of energy.

Pennsylvania always had natural gas and petroleum resources, but much of it was trapped in tight formations of shale - difficult to extract . . until engineers in Texas designed new methods to extract it.

The game changer began a new wave of innovation:

"In 2008, Texas oilman George Mitchell’s firm was acquired by Devon Energy, and that landmark deal married Mitchell’s pioneering fracking ingenuity with Devon’s larger size, capital, and aces in technology. Devon figured out how to drill horizontally in shale formations and then fracture them, cracking open fissures in the tight shale rock so that gas could flow. A few years later that technology was applied to oil formations as well, and the production surge was on."

(cont'd tomorrow)