A strange thing happened on the way to dealing1 with climate change: Advances in hydraulic2 fracturing put trillions of dollars worth of previously3 unreachable oil and natural gas within humanitys grasp. The environmental cosplayts -- and benefits -- from fracking, which requires blasting huge amounts of water, sand and chemicals deep into underground rock formations, are the subject of new research that synthesizes 165 academic studies and government databases. The survey covers not only greenhouse gas impacts but also frackings influence on local air pollution, earthquakes and, especially, supplies of clean water.The authors are seven environmental scientists who underscore the real consequences of policy decisions on people who live near the wells, as well as some important remaining questions.Society is certain to extract more gas and oil due to fracking, said Stanford environmental scientist Robert Jackson, who led the new study. The key is to reduce the environmental cosplayts as much as possible, while making the most of the environmental benefits.Frackings consumption of water is rising quickly at a time when much of the United States is suffering from drought, but extracting natural gas with hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling compares well with conventional energy sources, the study finds. Fracking requires more water than conventional gas drilling; but when natural gas is used in place of coal or nuclear fuel to generate electricity, it saves water. From mining to generation, coal power consumes more than twice the water per megawatt-hour generated than unconventional gas does.Unconventional drillings water demand can be better or worse than alternative energy sources, the study finds. Photovoltaic solar and wind power use almost no water and emit no greenhouse gas, but cheap, abundant natural gas may limit their deployment4 as new sources of electricity. On the other hand, fracked gas requires less than a hundredth the water of corn ethanol per unit of energy.Frackings impact on both climate change and local air pollution is similar to its impact on water, finds the study The Environmental cosplayts and Benefits of Fracking, published in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources.
点击收听单词发音
1 dealing n.经商办法，待人态度 参考例句： This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因交易公道而享有极高的声誉。 His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得大家的信赖。
相关文章推荐
