Enormous shale-gas reserves have rewritten the global energy order. So writes Robert Samuelson in a wide-ranging column in today’s Washington Post. The award-winning journalist, who has been writing for the Post since 1969, makes several points worth reiterating:
Until recently, scarce U.S. natural gas reserves suggested increasing dependence on expensive foreign supplies of liquefied natural gas. No more. Also, natural gas emits about 50 percent less carbon dioxide — the major greenhouse gas — than coal. Substituting gas for coal in electricity plants could temper emissions. Finally, shale gas in Europe and Asia has huge geopolitical implications. It could reduce dependence on Russian natural gas and frustrate any gas cartel mimicking OPEC.
Samuelson credits Texas energy executive George Mitchell with unlocking the secrets of tightly packed shales, and he believes an immediate use in the U.S. market will be with fleets of heavy-duty trucks:
So fuel switching will likely focus on heavy-duty trucks with regular routes that require few stations. If 500,000 heavy-duty trucks changed to natural gas, oil consumption would drop almost half a million barrels a day, estimates Michael Eaves of Clean Energy, a builder of natural gas filling stations. That’s about 5 percent of U.S. imports. The impact is large because trucks travel about 100,000 miles a year and get only about five miles to a gallon, says Eaves.
Read the column HERE.