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City
AM
If
you really care about the environment you should love fracking.
Here's why
by
Guy Bentley
December
6, 2013
A
report released on Friday by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has
found that increasing use of shale gas can massively reduce some of
the world's deadliest air pollution.
As
well as slashing carbon emissions and providing enticing economic
prospects the findings of the report should present a compelling case
for those who value the environment to embrace fracking.
Reduce
deadly PM2.5
PM2.5
are microscopic dust particles created from burning fuel. These tiny
particles can penetrate the lungs where they are absorbed into the
blood and lead to cardiorespiratory disease and are one of the major
contributors to air pollution.
The
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that PM2.5 is
responsible for about 75,000 premature deaths per year in the US. The
use of coal for energy is a major source of rising levels of PM.25.
In
the US, shale gas production has grown by a factor of 17 over the
past 13 years. Shale now supplies 35 per cent of US natural gas.
Compared to coal, shale gas results in a 400-fold reduction of PM2.5,
a 4,000-fold reduction in sulphur dioxide, a 70-fold reduction in
nitrous oxides, and more than a 30-fold reduction in mercury. Air
pollution is still major killer globally with the Health Effects
Institute estimating that air pollution led to 3.2m deaths in the
year 2010.
Slash
CO2 emissions
While
shale gas is a fossil fuel, most of the increases in CO2 are coming
from increasing coal use in developing countries. The CPS report
estimates if their increased energy needs could be met from natural
gas instead of coal, global warming could be slowed by a factor of
two to three.
This
would mean that instead of having 30 to 50 years before the world
reaches twice the preindustrial carbon dioxide levels the we may have
60 to 100 years. If developing countries continue to use coal their
PM2.5 and greenhouse emissions will also continue to grow...
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the rest of this article at City AM
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