article thumbnail

NRC report concludes hydraulic fracturing poses low risk for causing earthquakes, but risks are higher for wastewater injection wells; CCS impact undetermined

Green Car Congress

Schematic diagram of a shale gas well following hydraulic fracture treatment, with the relative depths of local water wells shown for scale. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) extracts natural gas by injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals in short bursts at high pressure into deep underground wells.

Oil-Sands 250
article thumbnail

CU-Boulder technique finds major class of fracking chemicals no more toxic than common household substances; “fingerprinting”

Green Car Congress

EO28), were identified in hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water using a new application of the Kendrick mass defect and liquid chromatography/ quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Surfactants reduce the surface tension between water and oil, allowing for more oil to be extracted from porous rock underground.

Oil-Sands 225
article thumbnail

Devil in the Details: World Leaders Scramble To Salvage and Shape Copenhagens UNFCCC Climate Summit

Green Car Congress

February, 2009 : Record heat waves in late January and early February overloaded urban energy, water, and transport systems in the southernmost states of South Australia and Victoria and intensified hundreds of seasonal and man-made bushfires throughout the countryside, killing 374 people. Canada’s 2009 GHG emissions are 48.7%

Climate 236