Shale Gas & Fracking - Week 1

I have commenced the Shale Gas & Fracking: the Politics and Science MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), delivered by The University of Nottingham for FutureLearn.  Shale gas is a hot topic in the news right now and I felt this course would be an ideal follow-on to the Climate Change MOOC that I completed last year.  I will be interested to see if the knowledge that I gain from the course will change any of my views on fracking.  At the moment, I strongly believe that fracking is perpetuating the combustion of fossil fuels and therefore, exacerbating global warming and climate change.  In my opinion, the effort and resources directed towards fracking could be better spent developing green energy, for which the technology is available but frankly, the political will seems to be lacking.  So that's what I feel now!  It will be interesting to see the views that I express in my Week 4 blog post at the conclusion of the course.

This week I have learnt about the geology of shale gas, how it is extracted by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the story so far from the developments in the USA and the locations and resource estimates in the UK.  I have learnt that there is a big difference between what might be present (resource) and how much can be commercially extracted (reserve).  So far the UK is in the exploration stage for shale gas and oil and it is too early, therefore, to determine its commercial viability.

So that's the story of my course so far.  I'll keep you posted!