Fossil Shale gas to fire up US air condtions instead of coal, kills US cleantech?

Greenhouse-gas emissions US 12 percent down by 2020 ?

New rules from the Environmental Protection Agency that could come as early as today, has put the country on course to cut domestic greenhouse-gas emissions 12 percent by 2020, on par with what the failed cap-and-trade legislation aimed to achieve

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that failed to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol

Progress came from an unexpected source: a fossil fuel

As a result of the surge in fracking, natural gas prices are at their lowest levels in a decade,

putting the cost of generating electricity from gas close to or cheaper than coal.

With the increased use of natural gas in the U.S. the Energy Information Administration predicts that in 2035, carbon- dioxide emissions will total 5.8 billion metric tons, a cut of 8 percent from a forecast just last year. That’s also down 40 percent from the prediction made in 2005, before the recession,

In fact, with automobile standards set to be phased in through 2025 and state-level solar and wind mandates, the reductions likely will be even greater than the agency forecast in its model. Auto standards alone will cut emissions by a further 6 percent or more in 2035,

The environmental research group is funded by foundations, government grants and

companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) ???

Hydraulic fracturing, in which chemically treated water is forced underground to shatter rock and let gas flow, has opened up vast new shale-gas deposits to companies such as

Chesapeake Energy (CHK) and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG)

As a result of the surge in the drilling technique, known as fracking, natural-gas prices are at their lowest levels in a decade, putting the cost of generating electricity from gas close to or cheaper than coal. That can mean huge benefits for the climate: Each of the top 10 facilities releasing the most carbon dioxide in the U.S. is a coal-fired power plant.

Coal Versus Gas

Coal’s share of electricity production had already dropped below 40 percent by the end of 2011, the first time it had been that low since 1978, the Energy Information Administration said March 9. The share of natural gas used in power production is likely to grow to 27 percent by 2035 from 19 percent in 2005, while coal is likely to slip to 39 percent from 42 percent last year and 50 percent in 2005, according to agency data.

Water

communities complain that their water is being polluted by the chemicals leaking into wells from fracking. Local opposition has prevented fracking in New York and Maryland as state rules are developed, and the EPA and other federal agencies are considering a series of regulations to force disclosure of the chemicals used during drilling, mandate wastewater cleanup and limit toxic air emissions.

Methane Leakage

Meanwhile, two academic studies question whether natural gas is even better for the climate than coal

Liberated methane gas from fracking destroys Ozone layer

Robert Howarth, a Cornell University professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, published a paper last year that said fracking allowed so much methane to be released during drilling that natural gas ends up doing more climate damage than coal.

source: bloomberg.com

Explainer: Shale gas en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_gas

Fossil Shale gas emits Methane

Shale gas emits larger amounts of methane greenhouse gas,

than does conventional gas, but less than coal

Drinking Water

contamination by fracking

Hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' forces

chemicals into the ground to pry open

trapped gas deposits.

source: thetyee.ca

source: ctv.ca