The Anonymous Widower

Matt Ridley on Shale Gas

Matt Ridley is one of my favourite authors. I first read his book,Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, as an understandable introduction to the subject. I then followed this with Nature via Nurture: Genes, experience and what makes us human, which I found fascinating.  I shall be reading The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

He has written an article for the Times today about extracting gas from shale rock and how it could solve the energy gap.

Here’s a couple of paragraphs.

Whether Mr Huhne likes it or not, a dash for gas is coming. What’s more, it is almost all good news. The discovery of how to exploit huge global reserves of gas encased in shale rock is causing epochal change in the energy scene. Shale gas is like any other gas except that it is everywhere: from Poland to Pennsylvania, from Queensland to Sichuan. There is even some in the Wirral and the Weald, but don’t hold your breath that the Nimbys will let much of it be tapped.

America, where the shale gas revolution began, has 50 years, probably more, of increasingly cheap supplies. The US is not just turning away liquefied-natural-gas tankers from Qatar (hence the current low price of gas), but considering turning gas-import terminals over to exports. Shale gas is popular with those who do not like being dependent on Putins and Ahmadinejads, so unpopular with those two martinets.

I’ll add my thoughts to his on the various ways of generating electricity or heat.

• Coal – Dirty, polluting and kills those that mine it, either directly or slowly with nasty lung diseases.
• Nuclear – Clean, but unloved by the greens and many of the general public.
• Wind – Loved by the greens, but unsightly, very inefficient and needs to have some form of backup generation.
• Solar – Alright in the Sahara, but problematic elsewhere.
• Oil – Works, but too valuable for other purposes to burn.
• Tidal – Expensive and unpopular.
• Gas – Clean, less than half the CO2 of coal and doesn’t need unsightly overhead lines, as you can distribute the gas by hidden pipes.

So as Ridley says gas from shale has a lot going for it.

I agree for now!  But who’s to say something even better won’t come along in a couple of years. Never underestimate the ingenuity of the human mind and the politician’s ability to always look up the backside of a gift horse, rather than check the important parts, like the legs, heart, lungs and temperament.

November 25, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | World | Books, Energy, Nimbies, Politics