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

Carbon Sciences Inc., has developed a technology that uses natural gas to make liquid transportation fuels, enabling the world to reduce dependence on petroleum. Now, Carbon Sciences has announced that its technology could be used to make CarbonCrude, an ultra-clean and environmentally friendly version of synthetic crude oil.
 
According to Byron Elton, CEO, Carbon Sciences, CarbonCrude can be blended with natural crude oil and can be transported using existing oil pipelines. This blend can be refined in existing refineries and can be converted into a variety of products including transportation fuels.
 
CarbonCrude is manufactured using a two-step process.…

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Hydraulic fracturing to release underground natural gas could be a 'game changer' for US energy supplies. But not if it comes with too high an environmental cost. - http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2011/0811/Yes-let-s-frack-with-caution

in Oil and Cleantech Natural Gas and Cleantech

"Though it has not yet affected the US, the price of natural gas in Western Europe has already increased by about 15% - 30% in the aftermath of Fukushima. Shutting down German and Japanese nuclear plants has not increased the world's output from wind or solar systems; it has increased the demand for natural gas. At current prices, natural gas in the UK costs more than 3 times as much as it does in the US or Canada, making suppliers consider the idea of shipping gas via LNG tankers. If that happens, the price differential will narrow considerably. I do not expect the narrowing to come from lower prices in Europe."

http://theenergycollective.com/rodadams/63388/rowe-right-will-natural-gas-remain-cheap-10-20-years

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Natural Gas Taking America's Electric Power Sector by Storm

Many view natural gas as the key feature of the United States' new energy economy. Whether this is true or not is still to be determined. What is evident, though, is that natural gas is a growing energy resource for America. According to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), electricity produced from natural gas has increased 44% over the past ten years.

The EIA says the increased production was driven by several factors. First, infrastructure and capacity has increased: more natural gas capacity, 237 gigawatts, was brought on-line between 2000 and 2010 than any other energy resource. Over that time period, natural gas accounted for 81% of total electricity capacity additions.

Currently, natural gas-fired generators constitute 39% of America's total electric generation capacity -- providing 1,042 gigawatts of energy annually. Much like renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, natural gas is a relatively new player to the nation's electric grid -- 65% of America's natural gas-fired capacity has been added since 1980

http://theenergycollective.com/nathanaelbaker/60833/natural-gas-taking-americas-electric-power-sector-storm

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

New Trash Riddance System Creates Energy and is Eco-friendly - A new conceptual trash riddance design claims to tackle one of our prime problems. The Electrolux appliance not only finds a good way to get rid of food waste, but it also has the potential to entirely replace LPG and is extremely eco-friendly. It is designed in a way that it immediately starts fermenting the load and creates methane that can be used as fuel for the gas range; the consequential waste is dried out by the appliance and composed in a tank at the bottom that can be disposed of later - http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-appliance-seokmoon-woo-s-hybrid-gas-solution/

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Methane To Markets - Partnership Overview and Oil & Gas Opportunities in India - Interesting PDF presentation on the potential provided by methane as an alt energy source - http://www.methanetomarkets.org/events/2006/landfill/docs/22feb07-bylin_oandg_m2m_pres.pdf

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Cow belches, not farts, emit methane - Cows produce methane as a result of enteric fermentation by symbiotic bacteria living in their digestive systems. But most enteric fermentation occurs in cow stomachs, not intestines, so most methane emitted by a cow - up to 98% according to one scientist - is through belching, not farting. - http://envirovore.com/content/view/279/9/

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Methane is another greenhouse gas - Outside of CO2, methane is another greenhouse gas released from rice paddies, landfills and animal flatulence (methane's contribution 24% of GHG) -

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Landfills are number one contributor of methane - landfills, they contribute to the production of methane, which is released into the atmosphere as greenhouse gas emissions. Landfills are the number-one generator of man-made methane into the atmosphere, according to the EPA. -

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Micro-organisms produce methane - Micro-organisms living inside ruminant animals, in termites, and in peat bogs produce more than 1 billion T of methane per year -

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Ultimate total natural gas - Ultimately recoverable natural gas from conventional sources could be around 400 tcm. Non-conventional resources - coalbed methane, tight gas sands and gas shales are over 900 tcm, with 25% in the US and Canada cmobined! (IEA, 2008) -

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Landfill methane power plants - In 1990, 117 landfill methane power plants were in operation (where? In the US?) -

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Hydrogen from methane - Previously - before coal gasification - the cheapest means of producing hydrogen was by breaking down methane from natural gas -

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Cow Manure to Biogas - This is an interesting source of energy often used in developing and poor countries -

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China and India Exploit Icy Energy Reserves - China and India have reported massive finds of frozen methane gas off their coasts, which they hope will satisfy their energy needs. But environmentalists fear that tapping these resources could have adverse effects on the world climate. - http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,523178,00.html

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World reserves of methane - World reserves of the frozen gas are enormous. Geologists estimate that significantly more hydrocarbons are bound in the form of methane hydrate than in all known reserves of coal, natural gas and oil combined. - http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,523178,00.html

in Natural Gas and Cleantech

Methane hydrates could heat up the world - many scientists see the flames licking out of samples in Indian and Chinese laboratories as a warning sign. They fear that one day the methane from the ocean floor will heat up the world's climate to a far greater extent than coal, oil and natural gas do today. - http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,523178-2,00.html

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CO2 and methane released from permafrost - Unexpectedly large amts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere as result of "feedback loops" that are speeding up natural processes...a cycle in which higher temperatures are beginning to melt the arctic permafrost, which could release hundreds of billions of tons of CO2 and CH4 into atm. Permafrost holds 1 trillion tons of carbon, and as much as 10 percent of that could be released this century. Melting permafrost also releases CH4, 25 times more potent a GHG than CO2. -

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Gallons equt of methane from cow dung - Hilarides Dairy happens to have this exact problem, and it's turning it into a solution. Over 10,000 cows will happily provide enough dung to generate 226,000 cubic feet of biomethane gas each and every day. That amount of gas (literally) is enough to cut 650 gallons of diesel fuel fuel per day from the farm's fleet of vehicles. - http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/20/semi-trucks-converted-to-run-on-biomethane-from-cow-manure/

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