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A review of water and greenhouse gas impacts of unconventional natural gas development in the United States
- Douglas Arent, Jeffrey Logan, Jordan Macknick, William Boyd, Kenneth Medlock III, Francis O'Sullivan, Jae Edmonds, Leon Clarke, Hillard Huntington, Garvin Heath, Patricia Statwick, Morgan Bazilian
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- MRS Energy & Sustainability / Volume 2 / 2015
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 04 June 2015, E4
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- 2015
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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 projections, and that other zero or low carbon energy sources will be needed to limit GHG concentrations. We conclude with some possible avenues for further work.
Chapter 5 - Energy and Security
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- By Aleh Cherp, Central European University, Adeola Adenikinju, University of Ibadan, Andreas Goldthau, Central European University, Francisco Hernandez, Lund University, Larry Hughes, Dalhousie University, Jaap Jansen, Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Jessica Jewell, Central European University, Marina Olshanskaya, United Nations Development Programme, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Oxford University, Benjamin Sovacool, National University of Singapore, Sergey Vakulenko, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Morgan Bazilian, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, David J. Fisk, Imperial College London, Saptarshi Pal, Central European University, Ogunlade Davidson, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources
- Global Energy Assessment Writing Team
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- Book:
- Global Energy Assessment
- Published online:
- 05 September 2012
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- 27 August 2012, pp 325-384
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Summary
Executive Summary
Uninterrupted provision of vital energy services (see Chapter 1, Section 1.2.2) – energy security – is a high priority of every nation. Energy security concerns are a key driving force of energy policy. These concerns relate to the robustness (sufficiency of resources, reliability of infrastructure, and stable and affordable prices); sovereignty (protection from potential threats from external agents); and resilience (the ability to withstand diverse disruptions) of energy systems. Our analysis of energy security issues in over 130 countries shows that the absolute majority of them are vulnerable from at least one of these three perspectives. For most industrial countries, energy insecurity means import dependency and aging infrastructure, while many emerging economies have additional vulnerabilities such as insufficient capacity, high energy intensity, and rapid demand growth. In many low-income countries, multiple vulnerabilities overlap, making them especially insecure.
Oil and its products lack easily available substitutes in the transport sector, where they provide at least 90% of energy in almost all countries. Furthermore, the global demand for transport fuels is steadily rising, especially rapidly in Asian emerging economies. Disruptions of oil supplies may thus result in catastrophic effects on such vital functions of modern states as food production, medical care, and internal security. At the same time, the global production capacity of conventional oil is widely perceived as limited. These factors result in rising and volatile prices of oil affecting all economies, especially low-income countries, almost all of which import over 80% of their oil supplies.
Chapter 11 - Policy, Financing and Implementation
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- By Catherine Mitchell, Janet L. Sawin, Govind R. Pokharel, Daniel Kammen, Zhongying Wang, Solomone Fifita, Mark Jaccard, Ole Langniss, Hugo Lucas, Alain Nadai, Ramiro Trujillo Blanco, Eric Usher, Aviel Verbruggen, Rolf Wüstenhagen, Kaoru Yamaguchi, Douglas Arent, Greg Arrowsmith, Morgan Bazilian, Lori Bird, Thomas Boermans, Alex Bowen, Sylvia Breukers, Thomas Bruckner, Sebastian Busch, Elisabeth Clemens, Peter Connor, Felix Creutzig, Peter Droege, Karin Ericsson, Chris Greacen, Renata Grisoli, Erik Haites, Kirsty Hamilton, Jochen Harnisch, Cameron Hepburn, Suzanne Hunt, Matthias Kalkuhl, Heleen de Koninck, Patrick Lamers, Birger Madsen, Gregory Nemet, Lars J. Nilsson, Supachai Panitchpakdi, David Popp, Anis Radzi, Gustav Resch, Sven Schimschar, Kristin Seyboth, Sergio Trindade, Bernhard Truffer, Sarah Truitt, Dan van der Horst, Saskia Vermeylen, Charles Wilson, Ryan Wiser, David de Jager, Antonina Ivanova Boncheva
- Edited by Ottmar Edenhofer, Ramón Pichs-Madruga, Youba Sokona, Kristin Seyboth, Susanne Kadner, Timm Zwickel, Patrick Eickemeier, Gerrit Hansen, Steffen Schlömer, Christoph von Stechow, Patrick Matschoss
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- Book:
- Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation
- Published online:
- 05 December 2011
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- 21 November 2011, pp 865-950
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Summary
Executive Summary
Renewable energy can provide a host of benefits to society. In addition to the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, governments have enacted renewable energy (RE) policies to meet a number of objectives including the creation of local environmental and health benefits; facilitation of energy access, particularly for rural areas; advancement of energy security goals by diversifying the portfolio of energy technologies and resources; and improving social and economic development through potential employment opportunities. Energy access and social and economic development have been the primary drivers in developing countries whereas ensuring a secure energy supply and environmental concerns have been most important in developed countries.
An increasing number and variety of RE policies–motivated by a variety of factors–have driven substantial growth of RE technologies in recent years. Government policies have played a crucial role in accelerating the deployment of RE technologies. At the same time, not all RE policies have proven effective and efficient in rapidly or substantially increasing RE deployment. The focus of policies is broadening from a concentration almost entirely on RE electricity to include RE heating and cooling and transportation.
RE policies have promoted an increase in RE capacity installations by helping to overcome various barriers. Barriers specific to RE policymaking (e.g., a lack of information and awareness), to implementation (e.g., a lack of an educated and trained workforce to match developing RE technologies) and to financing (e.g., market failures) may further impede deployment of RE.
Chapter 8 - Integration of Renewable Energy into Present and Future Energy Systems
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- By Ralph Sims, Pedro Mercado, Wolfram Krewitt, Gouri Bhuyan, Damian Flynn, Hannele Holttinen, Gilberto Jannuzzi, Smail Khennas, Yongqian Liu, Lars J. Nilsson, Joan Ogden, Kazuhiko Ogimoto, Mark O'Malley, Hugh Outhred, Øystein Ulleberg, Frans van Hulle, Morgan Bazilian, Milou Beerepoot, Trevor Demayo, Eleanor Denny, David Infield, Andrew Keane, Arthur Lee, Michael Milligan, Andrew Mills, Michael Power, Paul Smith, Lennart Söder, Aidan Tuohy, Falko Ueckerdt, Jingjing Zhang, Jim Skea, Kai Strunz
- Edited by Ottmar Edenhofer, Ramón Pichs-Madruga, Youba Sokona, Kristin Seyboth, Susanne Kadner, Timm Zwickel, Patrick Eickemeier, Gerrit Hansen, Steffen Schlömer, Christoph von Stechow, Patrick Matschoss
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- Book:
- Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation
- Published online:
- 05 December 2011
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- 21 November 2011, pp 609-706
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To achieve higher renewable energy (RE) shares than the low levels typically found in present energy supply systems will require additional integration efforts starting now and continuing over the longer term. These include improved understanding of the RE resource characteristics and availability, investments in enabling infrastructure and research, development and demonstrations (RD&D), modifications to institutional and governance frameworks, innovative thinking, attention to social aspects, markets and planning, and capacity building in anticipation of RE growth.
In many countries, sufficient RE resources are available for system integration to meet a major share of energy demands, either by direct input to end-use sectors or indirectly through present and future energy supply systems and energy carriers, whether for large or small communities in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or non-OECD countries. At the same time, the characteristics of many RE resources that distinguish them from fossil fuels and nuclear systems include their natural unpredictability and variability over time scales ranging from seconds to years. These can constrain the ease of integration and result in additional system costs, particularly when reaching higher RE shares of electricity, heat or gaseous and liquid fuels.
Existing energy infrastructure, markets and other institutional arrangements may need adapting, but there are few, if any, technical limits to the planned system integration of RE technologies across the very broad range of present energy supply systems worldwide, though other barriers (e.g., economic barriers) may exist. Improved overall system efficiency and higher RE shares can be achieved by the increased integration of a portfolio of RE resources and technologies.
Chapter 9 - Renewable Energy in the Context of Sustainable Development
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- By Jayant Sathaye, Oswaldo Lucon, Atiq Rahman, John Christensen, Fatima Denton, Junichi Fujino, Garvin Heath, Monirul Mirza, Hugh Rudnick, August Schlaepfer, Andrey Shmakin, Gerhard Angerer, Christian Bauer, Morgan Bazilian, Robert Brecha, Peter Burgherr, Leon Clarke, Felix Creutzig, James Edmonds, Christian Hagelüken, Gerrit Hansen, Nathan Hultman, Michael Jakob, Susanne Kadner, Manfred Lenzen, Jordan Macknick, Eric Masanet, Yu Nagai, Anne Olhoff, Karen Olsen, Michael Pahle, Ari Rabl, Richard Richels, Joyashree Roy, Tormod Schei, Christoph von Stechow, Jan Steckel, Ethan Warner, Tom Wilbanks, Yimin Zhang, Volodymyr Demkine, Ismail Elgizouli, Jeffrey Logan, Susanne Kadner
- Edited by Ottmar Edenhofer, Ramón Pichs-Madruga, Youba Sokona, Kristin Seyboth, Susanne Kadner, Timm Zwickel, Patrick Eickemeier, Gerrit Hansen, Steffen Schlömer, Christoph von Stechow, Patrick Matschoss
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- Book:
- Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation
- Published online:
- 05 December 2011
- Print publication:
- 21 November 2011, pp 707-790
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Executive Summary
Historically, economic development has been strongly correlated with increasing energy use and growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Renewable energy (RE) can help decouple that correlation, contributing to sustainable development (SD). In addition, RE offers the opportunity to improve access to modern energy services for the poorest members of society, which is crucial for the achievement of any single of the eight Millennium Development Goals.
Theoretical concepts of SD can provide useful frameworks to assess the interactions between SD and RE. SD addresses concerns about relationships between human society and nature. Traditionally, SD has been framed in the three-pillar model—Economy, Ecology, and Society—allowing a schematic categorization of development goals, with the three pillars being interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Within another conceptual framework, SD can be oriented along a continuum between the two paradigms of weak sustainability and strong sustainability. The two paradigms differ in assumptions about the substitutability of natural and human-made capital. RE can contribute to the development goals of the three-pillar model and can be assessed in terms of both weak and strong SD, since RE utilization is defined as sustaining natural capital as long as its resource use does not reduce the potential for future harvest.