GC: n
CT: Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is shunned by the environmentalists that laud renewable energy sources. However, by not supporting both initiatives, they may be working at cross purposes. Natural gas, booming largely because of fracking, complements renewable energies on the grid. The two seemingly opposite technologies are, for the moment, inextricably linked.
Renewable energies like solar and wind produce most of their output at times of the day when not that many people need it. Peak demand for electricity is usually in the morning and evening. Solar production is highest during the middle of the day and afternoon, and wind reaches its highest production at night. Because there is no large-scale economical way to store that energy and reconcile the misaligned supply and demand, most of our peak demand must still rely on non-renewable fuel sources.
Electricity outputs from burning different fossil fuels also have different characteristics. Output from coal-fired plants is particularly inefficient to ramp up and down to meet changes in demand. However, natural gas-fired plants can quickly meet those hourly variations. Some natural gas can even ramp up or down at a moment’s notice to meet minute-to-minute fluctuations.
S: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/05/why-fracking-may-support-renewables.html (last access: 3 February 2016)
N: 1. along with frack (v.), by 2000 in engineering jargon, short for hydraulic fracturing and with a -k- to keep the -c- hard.
2. Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside.
Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.
The process can be carried out vertically or, more commonly, by drilling horizontally to the rock layer and can create new pathways to release gas or can be used to extend existing channels.
The term fracking refers to how the rock is fractured apart by the high pressure mixture.
3. Fracking vs. Renewables? The issue of ‘Hydraulic Fracturing’ or ‘Fracking’ for short, is currently receiving a great deal of media attention and has been seen as both a panacea to concerns about energy availability and prices domestically and internationally and conversely as an ecologically damaging, polluting and unnecessary industry. Renewable energy technologies are also often seen in very binary terms; as either an ecological panacea or as money making scams that damage landscapes. The issue of ‘fracking vs. renewables’, as clearly put forward in a recent Guardian article (Williams, 2013) is most definitely not a case of either/or. In order to evaluate the issues involved, what is meant by each term must be defined and the various benefits and limitations of each examined in relation to the wider energy context.
4. Hydraulic Fracturing or ‘Fracking’ for short, is a method of extracting hydrocarbon gas or liquid from a type of sedimentary rock called ‘shale’ deposits where it is trapped in very fine cracks in the rock (BBC News, 2013). In conventional oil/gas wells it is trapped in a pocket below a layer of impermeable rock, a hole simply needs to be bored through this layer and the oil or gas can be pumped up to the surface. Up until relatively recently the inaccessibility of shale hydrocarbons has meant they have not been viewed as a viable energy source. However, fracking uses technologically novel techniques to access them:
Initially holes are dug vertically to a layer of shale rock, the drill is then turned horizontally running for miles underground (BBC News, 2013). Once the hole has been dug “slick water” is pumped at high pressure into the hole forcing the cracks in the rock to widen (BBC News, 2013). The slick water also contains small grains called “propens” (very much like sand) which hold the fissures open (BBC News, 2013). As the rock is broken up, the gas is released and flushed back to the surface and captured (BBC News, 2013).
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fracking&allowed_in_frame=O (last access: 3 February 2016). 2. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401 (last access: 3 February 2016). 3 & 4. http://www.euenergycentre.org/component/content/article/251-fracking-vs-renewables (last access: 3 February 2016).
GV: fraccing
S: GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=26529164 (last access: 3 February 2016)
SYN: hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, hydraulic fracking, hydrofracking, hydraulic fractionation.
S: GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=26529164 (last access: 3 February 2016)
CR: hydrocarbon, natural gas, petroleum, shale gas.
