A review of water and greenhouse gas impacts of unconventional natural gas development in the United States
- PDF / 1,082,134 Bytes
- 21 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 109 Downloads / 181 Views
MRS Energy & Sustainability: A Review Journal page 1 of 21 doi:10.1557/mre.2015.5
REVIEW A review of water and greenhouse gas impacts of unconventional natural gas development in the United States
Douglas Arent, Jeffrey Logan and Jordan Macknick, Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA William Boyd, Law Department, University of Colorado Boulder, Regent Administrative Center, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0552, USA Kenneth Medlock III, Center for Energy Studies, Baker Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251-1892, USA Francis O'Sullivan, MIT Energy Initiative, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA Jae Edmonds and Leon Clarke, Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, College Park, Maryland 20740, USA Hillard Huntington, Energy Modeling Forum, Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-6106, USA Garvin Heath and Patricia Statwick, Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA Morgan Bazilian, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA Address all correspondence to Douglas Arent at [email protected] (Received 12 July 2014; accepted 14 April 2015)
ABSTRACT This paper reviews recent developments in the production and use of unconventional natural gas in the United States with a focus on water and greenhouse gas emission implications. If unconventional natural gas in the U.S. is produced responsibly, transported and distributed with little leakage, and incorporated into integrated energy systems that are designed for future resiliency, it could play a significant role in realizing a more sustainable energy future; however, the increased use of natural gas as a substitute for more carbon intensive fuels will alone not substantially alter world carbon dioxide concentration projections. This paper reviews recent developments in the production and use of unconventional natural gas in the United States with a focus on environmental impacts. Specifically, we focus on water management and greenhouse gas emission implications. If unconventional natural gas in the United States is produced responsibly, transported and distributed with little leakage, and incorporated into integrated energy systems that are designed for future resiliency, it could play a significant role in realizing a more sustainable energy future. The cutting-edge of industry water management practices gives a picture of how this transition is unfolding, although much opportunity remains to minimize water use and related environmental impacts. The role of natural gas to mitigate climate forcing is less clear. While natural gas has low CO2 emissions upon direct use, methane leakage and long term climate effects lead to the conclusion that increased use of natural gas as a substitute for more carbon intensive fuels will not substantially alter world carbon dioxide concentration projecti
Data Loading...
