Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1945 to 2007, the U.S. nuclear industry received more than 50 per cent of all federal
The energy landscape of the United States is currently in flux thanks to a sudden
abundance of cheap natural gas from the hydraulic fracturing of shale ('fracking'). Energy
experts refer to this as the 'shale gale'. It has resulted in a sudden drop in funding
for alternative sources, whether from government or venture capitalists. With the U.S.
government under intense political pressure to cut spending and investors more interested
in quarterly earnings than long-term prospects, the temptation of short-term gain is hard to
resist. The words of oil tycoon and erstwhile champion of wind power T. Boone Pickens
sum up the prevailing rationale: “Today we have the gas. We're fools if we don't use
it” (Biello
2013e
). For the moment, fracking is uncommon outside North America. Some
countries, such as France and Germany, have even banned it because of environmental
concerns.
The'shale gale' illustrates thestructural difficulty ofextricating oursocieties fromfossil
fuel dependency. Governments, private investors, and the general public tend to embrace
renewables in much the same way that yo-yo dieters adopt exercise regimes: enough to
see some results, then it all seems like too much trouble and they fall back into the old
habits. The analogy is apt, as both cases refer to energy use and overuse, and in both cases
systemic change is needed to alter the existing pattern of behaviour.
The task of changing the fossil-fuel-based energy system is hardly less onerous than
that of an obese person changing their eating and exercise habits. In fact, in the case
of the energy economy, there is an additional challenge: infrastructure. Coal mines, oil
and gas fields, refineries, pipelines, tankers, power plants, transformers and transmission
lines, filling stations and hundreds of millions of engines that run on petroleum derivatives
comprise the most elaborate, extensive and expensive energy infrastructure humanity
has ever created. According to Smil, replacing the current supersystem “with an equally
extensive and reliable alternative based on renewable energy flows is a task that will
require decades of expensive commitment. It is the work of generations of engineers”
Economics will play a crucial role in the emergence of renewables. For most renewable
technologies, the unfortunate truth is that they cannot compete with conventional energy
