Hydraulic Fracturing Essay

Hydraulic fracturing in other words fracking is a technique used to extract natural gas from rocks. In the deeper layer within the earth, about 7000 feet below, rocks like shale contains gases, water and oil in their pores. Drilling companies carry out a horizontal drilling to the rock layer along with a traditional vertical drilling to create new routes or to extend the existing pipes for the extraction of natural gas. They allow these gases to escape by injecting a fluid under high pressure causing the rocks to fracture and to release resources from the rock pores where they have been trapped. A few stages of concretion are set in within the metal pipes, to seal it and to prevent any contamination of surrounding groundwater. The fluid used …show more content…
I understand the fact it is not only the drilling companies that could benefit, but as a whole country, the United Kingdom’s future energy needs can be met. The cost of the gases can also bring down now that the UK can import gas itself and not gases being imported from other countries such as Russia. But according to the Annual Review of Environment and Natural Resources studies, I believe fracking enhances the greenhouse effect and can result in the UK to suffer from drought if were permitted, as water would become scarce in many regions of the UK. Insufficient or a potential harm to the water resources also suggest crisis in the existing economies. In other hand, considering the benefits of fracking, better methods can be brought such as recycling the used water which reduces the amount of water being used. Another alternative could be using Liquefied petroleum gases such as propane, butane or pentane as a substitute for water also converting fossil fuels to a non carbon forms of energy by means of wind and solar can be taken into account . All these methods can reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide emission and can save water as well as energy for the future