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Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation pp 1–14Cite as

Fracking

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Abstract

Natural gas has gained a dominant role in current world clean energy development due to the significant advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking that is now increasing exponentially across the world, is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers or other tight rock formations within the earth. Specifically, horizontal drilling combined with traditional vertical drilling allows injection of highly pressurized fracking fluids into the shale layers to create new channels within the rock, from which natural gas is released at much higher rates than traditional drilling. For example, the USA holds the largest known shale gas reserves in the world. Fracking in the USA has boosted economy and local community growth. However, studies have found that hydraulic fracking threatens water resources, harms air quality, changes landscapes, and damages ecosystems. Furthermore, methane emissions from drilling, fracking processes, and the related natural gas storage and transportation have become a critical issue, which raises the question whether hydraulic fracking can mitigate world climate change. Some studies have obtained significantly different conclusions of climate mitigation impacts of fracking. More studies and further measuring and observational surveys are needed in order to have a comprehensive understanding of hydraulic fracturing’s impacts on climate mitigation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, 39762, USA

    Qingmin Meng

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  1. Qingmin Meng
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Correspondence to Qingmin Meng .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Mississippi Dept. Chemical Engineering, University, Mississippi, USA

    Wei-Yin Chen

  2. Advanced Manufacturing Research Inst. Functional Assembly Technology Group, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST), Nagoya, Japan

    Toshio Suzuki

  3. und Technische Biowissenschaften, TU Wien Inst. Verfahrenstechnik, Umwelttechnik, Wien, Austria

    Maximilian Lackner

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Meng, Q. (2015). Fracking. In: Chen, WY., Suzuki, T., Lackner, M. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_62-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_62-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6431-0

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    The Impacts of Fracking on Climate Change
    Published:
    10 November 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_62-2

  2. Original

    Fracking
    Published:
    03 February 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6431-0_62-1

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