Fracking reduces the need for fuel from coal-burning plants, which would be better for the environment. As with many technological advances, the fracking process might undergo some adjustments if it is to satisfy global warming activists.
Fracking is the term used for hydraulic fracturing. Fluid is injected into a borehole at high pressure through rocks to extract shale gas. The method includes horizontal drilling, which enables access in a variety of directions within the earth to bring up even more gas and oil.
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Because of the ease of extracting natural gas, compared to other methods, fracking revolutionized the energy industry in a short time. With the abundance of gas, the U.S. became the world's largest oil producer.
Prices at the pump soon began dropping significantly in 2014. Motorists began using their cars more often due to the decreasing prices. Although the fracking method produced cleaner energy by avoiding the use of coal, there was an increase in gas carbon emissions.
The key now is to figure out ways to curtail the carbon emissions while continuing the environmental advantages of hydraulic fracturing, according to fracking advocates.
"The shale gas revolution can be very consistent with low-carbon development," said Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He called fracking "a bridge technology" in the pursuit of reducing carbon dioxide emissions,
according to the Daily Mail.
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The shift away from coal alone should be enough to make people rejoice, according to Stephen Moore, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation.
Moore pointed out in a column for The Washington Times that the shift "accounts for more than 60 percent of the carbon-dioxide emission reductions in the United States."
Some fracking enthusiasts may not believe global warming poses as much danger as climate change activists claim, or that the impact is minimal.
The increase in driving because of the low gas prices shows that people are willing to balance their needs with limited effects from burning fuel. Drivers are "willing to tolerate their local impacts for their apparent greater benefit,"
writes Rob Wile in Business Insider.
Even advocates of alternative energy sources are realizing the benefits of fracking. A ban on fracking, as called for by many anti-fracking activists, would only bring "more coal," says Ray Pierrehumbert, a geophysicist at the University of Chicago,
reports Mother Jones. He believes activists can advocate environmental policies, such as taxing natural gas revenues to finance the production of renewables.
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