Latest Updates from Alternative Fossil Fuels

As a Fortune 500 company's fracking activities in rural West Virginia leave a polluted and drastically altered landscape, locals are fighting back.

"To bring natural gas from the Marcellus Shale to the earth’s surface, an army of trucks and machinery is needed. First, seismic testing locates the sought-after gas deposits. The pad site is then prepared—trees are cleared, the ground is leveled and a cement slab poured—to hold the derrick, trucks and other equipment. Then the well is drilled thousands of feet down. (The Shale runs about a mile below the earth’s surface.) Next, steel piping is run to the end of the well and reinforced on the outside with freshly poured concrete. Finally, the well is fracked—pumped at high pressure with water, sand, and chemicals—to fracture the underground rock and release the gas."

Read more: http://www.guernicamag.com/features/3320/kramer_12_15_11/

in Shale gas Natural Gas and Cleantech

Hydro-fracking is a controversial mining practice that some scientists say contaminates groundwater.

in Shale gas

An interesting article on Shale Gas from Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief strategist and chief technology officer at Microsoft Corp. and the founder and chief executive officer of Intellectual Ventures - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-26/the-energy-revolution-that-keeps-carbon-on-top-nathan-myhrvold.html

in Shale gas

The Remarkable Energy Potential of Methane Hydrate - http://cleantechnica.com/2011/08/23/the-remarkable-energy-potential-of-methane-hydrate/

in Methane Hydrates

Canadian Tar Sands And The True Cost Of Oil (PHOTOS)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/20/canadian-tar-sands-and-oil-costs_n_929361.html

in Tar Sands

Clathrates have been found to occur naturally in large quantities. Around 6.4 trillion (i.e. 6.4x1012) tonnes of methane is trapped in deposits of methane clathrate on the deep ocean floor.[4] Such deposits can be found on the Norwegian continental shelf in the northern headwall flank of the Storegga Slide. Clathrates can also exist as permafrost, as at the Mallik gas hydrate field in the Mackenzie Delta of northwestern Canadian Arctic. These natural gas hydrates are seen as a potentially vast energy resource, but an economical extraction method has so far proven elusive. Hydrocarbon clathrates cause problems for the petroleum industry, because they can form inside gas pipelines often resulting in plug formation. Deep sea deposition of carbon dioxide clathrate has been proposed as a method to remove this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and control climate change.

in Methane Hydrates

Naturally on Earth gas hydrates can be found on the seafloor, in ocean sediments, in deep lake sediments (e.g. Lake Baikal), as well as in the permafrost regions. The amount of methane potentially trapped in natural methane hydrate deposits may be significant (1015 to 1017 cubic metres),[19] which makes them of major interest as a potential energy resource. Catastrophic release of methane from the decomposition of such deposits may lead to a global climate change, because CH4 is more efficient greenhouse gas even than CO2 (see Atmospheric methane). The fast decomposition of such deposits is considered a geohazard, due to its potential to trigger landslides, earthquakes and tsunamis. However, natural gas hydrates do not contain only methane but also other hydrocarbon gases, as well as H2S and CO2. Air hydrates are frequently observed in polar ice samples. Pingos are common structures in permafrost regions.

in Methane Hydrates

GE's Mark Vachon: "Gas Is Massive"

How's GE's ecomagination going?

Mark Vachon, who is vice president for ecomagination at GE. He replied by talking about natural gas.

"The large macro trend of gas is massive," he said. "Our oil and gas business will be a huge beneficiary."

An abundance of shale gas in the U.S., and methane gas reserves in Australia present a wealth of opportunities for GE, which plays all along the supply chain for natural gas.

http://theenergycollective.com/marcgunther/61143/ge-s-mark-vachon-gas-massive

in Shale gas

Global Protests Against Tar Sands - Scores of protests are scheduled for London, Copenhagen, Vienna, 11 Canadian cities and 25 cities in the United States. A group calling itself Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) will be protesting in Moscow, where at least two of the mega-loads will roll by later this month.

http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2011/06/18/global-protests-against-tar-sands

in Tar Sands

Shale Gas Boom Could Go Global - http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2011/06/27/new-eia-report-says-shale-gas-boom-could-go-global/ - even for India, which has a proven resources of 39 tcf - we use only about 1 tcf per year...

in Shale gas