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11-23-2012, 02:11 PM | |
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Fracking to lead to a new golden age?
Dunno if this should be in DC or not, but it seems more societal than political. I thought it was interesting and had no idea that fracking would have that big an impact.
I added the bold formatting in places because doing so will draw your attention to it since I think it's interesting. http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/23/busine...html?hpt=hp_c1 U.S. set for fracking bonanza, says historian Ferguson By Andrew Stevens, CNN updated 12:30 PM EST, Fri November 23, 2012 Hong Kong (CNN) -- If there's been one consistent thread running through the U.S. economic story since 2008, it's been the steady drumbeat of gloom. Outright recession or sub-standard growth, stubbornly high unemployment and fiscal crises have been the topics du jour when it comes to the world's biggest economy. But now an unlikely champion for U.S. growth under the Obama administration has emerged -- a former adviser to a Republican Party presidential candidate and Harvard history professor, Niall Ferguson, who says America could actually be heading toward a new economic "golden age." And it has nothing to do with Washington and everything to do with energy. Ferguson, who is also an author and commentator, believes the production of natural gas and oil from shale formations via a process known as "fracking" -- forcing open rocks by injecting fluid into cracks -- will be a game changer. "This is an absolutely huge phenomenon with massive implications for the U.S. economy, and I think most people are still a little bit slow to appreciate just how big this is," he said in Hong Kong this week. "Conceivably it does mean a new golden age." U.S. energy production has been booming in recent years. The International Energy Agency made a jaw-dropping forecast two weeks ago that the U.S. would pass Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer by the end of this decade -- and would achieve near energy independence by the 2030s. That energy boom, asserts Ferguson, will create jobs in the United States. Lots of jobs. The energy sector currently supports 1.7 million American jobs directly or indirectly, according to economic forecaster IHS global Insight. That could rise to 3 million by 2020, it says. "It's not only in the extraction industry and infrastructure, but more importantly cheap energy is going to create employment in manufacturing. I think you'll see a renaissance in manufacturing," said Ferguson. "That is being helped by the fact U.S. labor costs have been pretty competitive over the past decade, even as labor costs are going up in China." It is also, he says, a big deal for the dollar. "As the U.S. moves towards energy independence and becoming the biggest producer in the world, the dollar can only benefit. Anybody who thought the financial crisis was going to lead to the demise of the dollar as an international currency is wrong -- it's quite the opposite." And what of U.S. engagement in the Middle East? Ferguson says it would be naive to assume that Washington would withdraw in any significant way from the region. "Nobody is going to step in and take the job of being global policeman in charge of Middle Eastern stability. I think everyone would be nervous, if the Chinese suddenly volunteered to take that job on, which by the way they are not going to do anytime soon," he said. For the recently reelected U.S. president though, the energy boom looks like it could provide a welcome tailwind for his second term. It's something that Ferguson acknowledges -- though one suspects through gritted teeth. As a supporter of Mitt Romney he penned a controversial pre-election cover story in Newsweek headlined "Hit the Road, Barack," which was highly critical of the president's first term. He concedes the irony that the president will now be the beneficiary of the "good times that lie ahead." |
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11-24-2012, 08:10 PM | #91 | |
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11-24-2012, 08:15 PM | #92 | |
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Denver has three other convention drinking water treatment plants that treats river water. Each of those plants are between 250 to 300 MGD. So somewhere around 3% of Denver's water is currently recycled. You can read about the conventional treatment process here: http://www.denverwater.org/WaterQual...atmentProcess/ This process is designed to move turbidity (particles that make the water cloudy, probably very little from those mountain streams) and microorganisms. It won't remove salts and dissolved organics that might be part of fracking fluids. The fracking fluids can be removed from water, but it might make the water 4 or more time expensive to treat. Your tent style water purification system requires distillation. For the little amount of water that is required for a camper or two, solar energy can provide the needed energy. To distill 900 MGD or so would require a tremendous amount of energy and be prohibitively expensive. Your statement about the earth being a closed system with respect to water is correct. But it is a matter of the amount of fresh water available at a given location. Of the total amount of water in the world only ~0.007% of it is in lakes and streams and ground water supplies that are easily accessible for human use. Growing population, the lack of water where people live, and increasing pollution levels, and changing precipitation patterns due to climate change all put additional stress on water supplies. It's a monumental problem on a global scale. |
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11-24-2012, 08:48 PM | #93 |
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Which is why we need to be far more conscious and careful of our water resource ... not more daring and potentially abusive.
Have you ever drunk from a clean, clear spring, Mr. cdcox? Or a rock-bottom, mountain creek in the early spring? It tastes pretty darn good and it's good for you, too. I'm thinking that whoever had the pure, clean, natural water idea had a pretty good one. FAX |
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11-24-2012, 09:29 PM | #94 |
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I'm really glad that they remove the turbidity from my recycled sewer water.
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11-24-2012, 09:37 PM | #95 |
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The recycled water plant has a lot more steps in the treatment process. It takes effluent from the sewer plant, treats it, an dumps it into the drinking water reservoir. I think the regular treatment plants are located between the reservoir and your faucet. So water that is flushed down the toilet is treated by three different treatment plants before you drink it again: the sewage treatment plant, the recycle plant and the drinking water plant.
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11-24-2012, 10:07 PM | #96 |
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Fracking has been going on in the oil fields since the the '70's, nothing new.
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11-24-2012, 10:30 PM | #97 |
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I was being a bit sarcastic when I made my previous post. I have no doubt that energy companies will meet the absolute minimums when it comes to the environment. They are out to maximize profits. I'm not an idiot. If the groundwater gets contaminated, oh well... they don't live there.
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11-24-2012, 10:37 PM | #98 | |
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Maybe this is normal, but I learned something odd a while back. I was at a conference in the mountains, and one of the things we did was a boat tour of a lake. (It was an outdoor recreation conference.) The local guide said that swimming isn't allowed in the lake because it's part of Denver's water supply. I guess I wouldn't have thought that a few swimmers would really make a difference next to all of the dirt and rocks and raccoons washing crayfish and stuff.
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11-25-2012, 01:08 AM | #99 |
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There is no way you can guarantee that prices would fall and it's most particularly relevant that it would be used state side.
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11-25-2012, 01:11 AM | #100 | |
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You're talking Fusion. Fusion is this close? If Fusion were to be realized, not only would the world's energy problems be solved in less than a decade after implementation, all transportation would almost immediately be converted to electric and for the most part, the world would be free of human pollution. Also, that energy source would be used to power starships and the push toward the speed of light could begin. It's seriously that close? I've never heard that before. |
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11-25-2012, 03:15 AM | #101 | |
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Where that specific oil ends up being consumed doesn't matter as long as it expands the supply in the global market.
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11-25-2012, 09:12 AM | #102 |
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It seems to me that whether it is used domestically, or internationally is irrelevant. It's all about the net import or export when measuring trade deficits, and that's a pretty important factor as well. If we can make more money by exporting our oil than we can by using it domestically, then why not export it? That situation implies that the oil we are exporting is worth more than the oil we are importing. If that is true, why wouldn't we sell oil for more than we spend to buy it?
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11-25-2012, 09:32 AM | #103 | |
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Nuclear power works for me, but even then, it would be a massive and costly conversion from fossil fuel vehicle power to EV.
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11-25-2012, 09:33 AM | #104 | |
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11-25-2012, 09:34 AM | #105 | |
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