The following charts, the first from a 2013 Scientific American article and the second from Wikipedia, are useful context for current debates about fracked shale gas. Energy Return On Investment is a measure of how much energy you get out compared with how much you put in (expend) to get that energy out. Shale gas is obviously going to have lower EROI than shale oil (which is a much more energy-dense fuel). Clearly, some renewable energies are far superior to fossil fuels in this respect, with hydroelectricity and wind being the clear winners on this measure, and even Solar PV being superior to shale oil (and therefore by implication also superior to shale gas). And I'm guessing these data currently exclude the energy expense of any Carbon Capture and Storage processes associated with each fossil fuel, since CCS is neither a mandatory requirement nor widely deployed yet.
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The Decentralised Energy Forum yesterday in London (organised by Climate Action) was an excellent event. In my capacity as Treasurer of Low Carbon Hub, I was able to fly the flag for the transition to a low carbon decentralised energy system where community-owned renewable energy is a strong element. With my personal hat on, Martin Chilcott (MC at one point in the day) gave me an opportunity to express my frustrations at the potential (if not actual) conflicts between the UK Governmental energy policy priorities of security of supply, minimisation of bills to customers and enhancement of the environment (aka "Natural Capital"). In my humble opinion, there is too much emphasis currently being placed (in the UK and many other countries) on economic growth, and not enough on green growth. I could have been even more controversial and gone on to talk about steady-state economics, where green growth in some sectors would be allowed but degrowth in other sectors would be required in order to keep the whole system in sustainable equilibrium, but I had limited time on the microphone so tried to 'quit while I was ahead'. The best speaker of the day was Julia Groves from Trillion Fund - entertaining, witty, optimistic and inspirational. Like myself (with my former work in BP) she is, in some sense, 'poacher turned gamekeeper' because of her past life in British Airways. All I can say is that she's atoning for her past carbon-emission-sins in great style. Here are a couple of pics from the event. The first features Robert Rabinowitz from Pure Leapfrog. The second (apologies for blurriness) is Julia Groves (Trillion Fund), Malcolm Ball (Green Investment Bank) and Bill Edrich (Bristol City Council). More information (including slides from the presentations) should be available soon at the Climate Action webpage linked here.
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About the BloggerI'm David Calver - an Accountant with a passion for sustainability. Categories
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