The shale gas industry, may be headed for a meteoric rise as
global demand for the ‘cleaner’ fossil fuel grows, but the word
‘clean’ will need to be applied to the gas extracted 2 miles
below the surface to 10 miles above the surface. Somehow the
irony of extracting a ‘clean’ fossil fuel, that ‘only’ emits
half the CO2 of oil encapsulates the trade-offs the world is
attempting to address climate change. Even the global forum of
Rio+20, now taking place, reflects a half-hearted attempt to try
to find a global solution to the pressing environmental issues.
Shale gas becomes representative of our times. “We’ll try to be
clean, but we also like being a little dirty.” Becoming a
celibate renewable energy and energy efficient world, even when
the potential of ‘green jobs’ is floated, like now in Rio de
Janeiro or in the EU’s new energy efficient directive, is not
enough. Because society, politicians and capital markets are
only slowly developing innovative and joined-up strategies to
incentivize a new energy paradi