Water wars in the western US and around the world are predicted with increasing frequency as climate fears grow, debilitating droughts persist and human population growth climbs steadily higher. Concerns about fresh water supplies coming under pressure and the increasing cost of supplying fresh water to people, crops and livestock seem to grow more urgent… Keep reading →
The potential for water scarcity touches several segments of the energy sector, from hydraulic fracturing to hydropower to power plant cooling to growing algae or crops for biofuels. As water needs from the sector rise, this raises the question of how water use in energy should be regulated. Commentators with expertise in various aspects of… Keep reading →
While various wastewater recycling technologies have the same ultimate goal – to give drillers a cost-effective means of reusing flowback and produced water – there is no clear consensus on how to achieve it. Some companies use chemicals, others use electrical pulses. Some see removal of solids as mandatory, some see it as costly and… Keep reading →
The ongoing debate over how and whether hydraulic fracturing poses a threat to the environment covers a whole host of issues – land use, earthquakes, drinking water contamination, methane emissions, and even the sustainability of fossil fuel use. While some issues remain mired in a lack of hard data or fundamental philosophical differences, companies… Keep reading →
