Natural Gas “Play”
The opinion page of the Wall Street Journal recently claimed that “unconventional natural gas” may well revolutionalize the challenges and opportunities for alternative energy. The natural gas previously locked in impermeable shale around the nation is now becoming available due to hydraulic fracturing techniques. Thus the domestic gas supplies are increasing, and at a much lower unit cost than previously thought possible. The author suggests that this makes gas fired electric generation more available to back up intermittent energy from solar or wind generation. That is the optimistic perspective. The more realistic outcome is that cheap natural gas will lead to natural gas generation being preferred ahead of alternative energy supplies, unless some sort of carbon tax makes that option less desirable. After all, the natural gas that was locked up contains the carbon that climate change is all about.
