H Y DR AULIC FR ACTUR ING AND THE ENERGY INDUSTRY IN THE US
BY JUAN M. CORREDOR
“Fracking is a symptom of a much larger problem in our society, an oligarchy a complete separation of people making decisions and those whose lives they affect.” —Helen Slottje
Environmental Attorney
Introduction
the industrialization of the world has brought a rapid and increasing consumption of the planet’s resources. We face the challenge of global warming in different fronts and our decisions on how to more efficiently use energy could determine our survival in this planet.In our short history we have destroy too much, too fast and reverting it it’s hard but hopefully not impossible. Fracturing or “fracking”, consists on a technique to extract oil and natural gas from rock formations deep underground, by using water, sand and a cocktail of chemicals (many unknown) at high pressures, cracks are made from which the resources are taken to the surface. It has been around since 1947, but it hasn’t until the last years that it has become one of the main activities to stimulate the economy and supply the large energy demand of the U.S. It brings many economic benefits, but the impact to the environment can not be underestimated or ignored, the contamination of drinkable water and air are latent
risks, jeopardizing people’s health and damaging the land. Fracking has divided audiences across the U.S. and the world, with so much information both approving it and rejecting it is getting people have a hard time identifying facts, with many more being completely uninformed of what it is. Topics such as sustainability have become noise in the background as people have got use to them without reacting accordingly, which indicates lack of impact and low recognition. Design could play a critical role to direct attention to this problem and promote action. It’s of extreme importance to spread energy literacy, while we push the planet’s ability to sustain civilization as we know it, we need to slow down and change paths before we reach a point of no return.
Contents
10
28
CHAPTER 2
12 The Trigger of Growth
30
What is It
14
32
Water
18 The Green House Effect
34
Chemicals
20 The U.S. Landscape
40
Fracking in the U.S.
CHAPTER 1
ENERGY
Energy in the World
FRACKING
42 The Main States 46 The Controversy 50 The Political Conflict 52 The Social Conflict 54
Reaching the Peak
58
What’s Next
62
CHAPTER 3
RENEWABLES
64 The Next Energy Economy 66
Solar Energy
68
Wind Energy
70
Geothermal Energy
72
Bionergy
74
Ocean Power
76
Hydroenergy
ENERGY
CH A P T E R 1
CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
The Trigger of Growth
for many years, human kind has struggle to harness and redirect energy. Animal power for example aided greatly in the growth of agriculture, just like blacksmithing allowed the development of different tools. Eventually the use of coal in England opened the doors for the Industrial Revolution, then oil and gas followed some years later. As we have become more efficient with energy, the number of things we can materialize just keeps getting bigger and also the demand for more energy to sustain such growth. For some decades, oil and natural gas have been the most efficient resources we have been able to harness energy, it has brought wealth and development, no doubt. But the problem is that as demand for more energy increases, our resources are not supplying as much as before, we have reached a peak of production. Then whats next? What should we do to keep the same rate of growth, comfort and wealth that the energy revolution has brought to many nations?
12
“A nation that can’t control its energy sources can’t control its future.” —Barack Obama President of the United States
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CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
Energy in the World
our energy consumption went from wood to a fast growing need for three major forms of fossil fuels: oil coal and natural gas, main sources of energy of the current world. The age they were formed is called the Carboniferous Period. It was part of the Paleozoic Era. As the trees and plants died, they sank to the bottom of the swamps of oceans. They formed layers of a spongy material called peat. Over many hundreds of years, the peat was covered by sand and clay and
14
other minerals, which turned into a type of rock called sedimentary. More and more rock piled on top of more rock, and it weighed more and more. It began to press down on the peat. The peat was squeezed and squeezed until the water came out of it and it eventually, over millions of years, it turned into coal, oil or petroleum, and natural gas.
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CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
16
To this date, we still heavily rely in fossil fuels to power our daily activities.
RENEWABLES 2.71%
NUCLEAR 4.42%
HYDRO 6.72%
GAS 23.73%
COAL 30.06%
OIL 32.36%
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CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
The Greenhouse Effect
our constant efforts to keep things moving has not only reshaped our society but also the planet’s normal cycles and climate. Is not news that there is a green house effect created by releasing hydrocarbons to the atmosphere, trapping the sun’s heat, increasing the planets temperature and disrupting the delicate balance of nature.
GREEN HOUSE GASES ATMOSPHERE SUN
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If this keeps progressing, there is a risk of melting the polar caps, rising ocean levels and making life as we know it completely impossible.
MORE RE-RADIATED HEAT ESCAPING TO SPACE
When humans enhanced natural greenhouse effect, the heat that should be irradiated back to space gets trapped increasing earths temperature LESS RE-RADIATED HEAT ESCAPING TO SPACE
SUN
SOME OF THE HEAT IS TRAPPED IN EARTH
TEMPERATURE RISES 19
CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
The US Landscape the entire world is going through a drilling boom, every year, more countries start considering the need to implement fracking, but what makes the U.S. so particularly advanced in this technique? The regulatory framework appears to be designed to give too much freedom to the oil and gas industry. A large infrastructure has been built over the years. Transportation, extraction, refinement and more. Water policies does not include fracking as a concern, rather is an exemption to the rules. Property and mineral rights make everything easier for the oil and gas industry, it seems as if they could simply disrupt any territory with no opposition. Expertise in fracking is considerably superior in the U.S. All this developments have made gas and oil, relatively cheap, the price becomes another strong reason fro fracking to boom.
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“As energy became more plentiful and less costly, emphasis naturally shifted from using less energy to acquiring more of it.” —Paul Roberts Journalist. Expert in Economics
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CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
The US alone, spends 20% of the global energy consumption.
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CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
100%
80%
60%
40% for many decades, the population had to survive with wood as their main source of energy, later during the 19th century, coal became important before being replaced by petroleum in the middle of the 20th century.
20%
1850
24
Wood
Natural Gas
Coal
Oil
Share of energy consumption in the US
1900
1950
2014
25
“As energy became more plentiful and less costly, emphasis naturally shifted from using less energy to acquiring more of it.” —Paul Roberts
Journalist. Expert in Economics
FRACKING
CH A P T E R 2
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
What is It?
fracturing or “fracking”, consists on a technique to extract oil and natural gas from rock formations deep underground, by using water, sand and a cocktail of chemicals (many unknown) at high pressures, cracks are made from which the resources are taken to the surface. It has been around since 1947, but it hasn’t until the last years that it has become one of the main activities to stimulate the economy and supply the large energy demand of the U.S. It brings many economic benefits, but the impact to the environment can not be underestimated or ignored, the contamination of drinkable water and air are latent risks, jeopardizing people’s health and damaging the land. Fracking has divided audiences across the U.S. and the world, with so much information both approving it and rejecting it is getting people have a hard time identifying facts, with many more being completely uninformed of what it is.
30
“It has been around since 1947, but it hasn’t until the last years that it has become one of the main activities to stimulate the economy ”
fracking tower
w at e r a q u i f e r s
w at e r
sand
chemicals
gas e x tracted from cracks
31
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
Water
water is by far the largest component of fracking fluids. An initial drilling operation itself may consume from 6,000 to 600,000 US gallons of fracking fluids, but over its lifetime an average well may require up to an additional 5 million gallons of water for full operation and possible restimulation frac jobs.
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The extraction of so much water for fracking has raised concerns about the ecological impacts to aquatic resources, as well as dewatering of drinking water aquifers. It has also been estimated that the transportation of a million gallons of water requires hundreds of truck trips, increasing the greenhouse gas footprint.
8 MILLION LITERS OF WATER ARE USED PER OPERATION 33
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
Chemicals
more than 600 harmful chemicals are believed to be involved in fracking, some thing there are way more, but many of them are unknown since regulations don’t make gas companies disclose details on their operations. The chemical cocktail specifically, is protected by law as intellectual property making it impossible to determine 100% the components in the mix. This dangerous cancer-causing chemicals are released into the air, according to a new study that further corroborates reports of health problems around hydraulic fracturing sites. One of the few that has been identified, is Benzene, know for being extremely toxic, almost 4 times stronger than carbon dioxide. According to David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany-State University of New York and lead author of the study, “Cancer has a long latency, so
you’re not seeing an elevation in cancer in these communities. But five, 10, 15 years from now, elevation in cancer is almost certain to happen.” The health effects of living near a fracking site have been felt elsewhere. A study published last month by researchers from the University of Washington and Yale University found residents within a kilometer of a well had up to twice the number of health problems as those living at least 2 kilometers away. Among those living within a kilometer of the wells, 13 % reported skin problems like irritation, burning, itching and hair loss, and 39% said they had sinus problems, sore throats, itchy eyes and nose bleeds. Those living more than 2 kilometers away, by contrast, reported far fewer symptoms: just 6 percent said they had skin problems, and only 18 percent said they had upper respiratory issues.
“One of the few that has been identified, is Benzene, know for being extremely toxic, almost 4 times stronger than carbon dioxide.”
34
UP TO 600 CHEMICALS ARE USED IN FRACKING FLUIDS 35
CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
Just to mention a few, here are some of the most well known chemicals used in the process.
Methane Chemical compound with the chemical formula CH4. It is the simplest alkane and the main component of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an attractive fuel, though capturing and storing it poses challenges due to its gaseous state found at standard conditions for temperature and pressure. In its natural state, methane is found both below ground and under the sea floor.
Benzene Benzene is a natural constituent of crude oil, and is one of the most elementary petrochemicals. It is mainly used as a precursor to heavy chemicals, such as ethylbenzene and cumene, which are produced on a billion kilogram scale. It is an important component of gasoline, most non-industrial applications have been limited by benzene’s carcinogenicity.
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Ethenol Also commonly called ethyl alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol is the principal type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts. Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a slight chemical odor. It is used as an antiseptic, a solvent, a fuel, and, due to its low freezing point, the active fluid in post-mercury thermometers.
Toluene Toluene is widely used as an industrial feedstock and as a solvent. Like other solvents, toluene is sometimes also used as an inhalant drug for its intoxicating properties; however, inhaling toluene has potential to cause severe neurological harm. Toluene is an important organic solvent. Its economic significance is considerable.
37
CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
But the best case scenario would be that new laws force the disclosure of every single chemical, fallowed by studies on how they behave once used underground.
38
39
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
Fracking in the U.S.
according to the department of Energy at least two million oil and gas wells in the US have been fractured, and that of new wells being drilled, up to 95% are hydraulically fractured. The output from these wells makes up 43% of the oil production and 67% of the natural gas production in the United States. Environmental safety and health concerns about hydraulic fracturing emerged in the 1980s, and are still being debated at the state and federal levels. The controversy over hydraulic fractur-
40
ing has led to legislation and court cases over primacy of state regulation versus the rights of local governments to regulate or ban oil and gas drilling. Some states have introduced legislation that limits the ability of municipalities to use zoning to protect citizens from exposure to pollutants from hydraulic fracturing by protecting residential areas.
32 OUT 0F 50 STATES ALLOW FRACKING 41
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
The Main States
1. Arkansas
12. Michigan
23. Pennsylvania
2. Alabama
13. Mississippi
24. South Dakota
3. Arizona
14. Minnesota
25. Tennessee
4. California
15. Montana
26. Texas
5. Colorado
16. New Mexico
27. Utah
6. Florida
17. Nevada
28. Virginia
7. Kansas
18. North Dakota
29. Washington
8. Kentucky
19. Nebraska
30. West Virginia
9. Louisiana
20. Ohio
31. Wisconsin
10. Indiana
21. Oklahoma
32. Wyoming
11. Maryland
22. Oregon
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Pennsylvania is historically one of the most, if not the most active state on the energy development of the United States.
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CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
44
“Fracking is different. The risks of any single well are tiny compared to a nuclear power plant. But several hundred wells? Several thousand?” — Russell Gold
The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World
45
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
The Controversy
the industry suggests pollution incidents are the results of bad practice, rather than an inherently risky technique. There are concerns that the fracking process can cause small earth tremors. Two small earthquakes of 1.5 and 2.2 magnitude hit the Blackpool area in 2011 following fracking. “It’s always recognised as a potential hazard of the technique”, says Professor Ernie Rutter from the University of Manchester, “But they’re unlikely to be felt by many people and very unlikely to cause any damage.” Finally, environmental campaigners say that fracking is simply distracting energy firms and governments from investing in renewable sources of energy, and encouraging continued reliance on fossil fuels. “Shale gas is not the solution to the UK’s energy challenges,” said Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Tony Bosworth. “We need a 21st century energy revolution based on efficiency and renewables, not more fossil fuels that will add to climate change.”
46
47
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
“Knowledge itself, se make people with di opposed views more they’re right.”
1
48
fracking’s environmental impacts are a big concern don’t have not enough regulations. While scientists remain concerned about a number of environmental damages caused by fracking, the data collection has not kept pace with the boom in extraction, and a great deal of uncertainty remains regarding pollution from fracking.
eems to iametrically e sure that
2
fracking allows drilling firms to access difficult-to-reach resources of oil and gas. In the US it has significantly boosted domestic oil production and driven down gas prices. Gas bills have dropped 13 billions per year while big consumers of electricity like the industrial and commercial sectors saw economic gains of 74 billions thanks to fracking.
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CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
The Political Conflict
the conflict of interests in this issue is huge, Democrats and Republicans have very contrasting opinions, but the biggest concern is how people follow a political party without considering what they are really talking about. They support their claims without further analysis which only makes the dispute even worse. In the same way one party just blames the other
50
without trying to resolve the issue in the best possible way. With that much money involved is understandable why fracking represents such a big conflict. More regulations on fracking will most likely damage the volume of profits, but it would give more guarantees to peoples safety and minimize environmental concerns.
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CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
The Social Conflict
the controversy might be evident at the political stage, but the social part is usually ignored, people that live close to fracking wells have also divided opinions. In one hand we have people that benefits from the oil industry by leasing their land if they happen to live in an area with resources, earning really good money in no time. In the other hand we have people
52
that have an emotional attachment to their home and fracking really disrupts their peace and alters the background. Tons of material have to be moved and all of the sudden a very peaceful town gets invaded by heavy trucks, disgusting smells and the risk of getting pollution in their air and water.
53
CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
Reaching the Peak
it is complicated to determine how much oil remains exactly, but we can name two kinds “proven” and “undiscovered”. Proven means that there are deposits that have been discovered but not yet pumped out. While undiscovered is the oil that has not been confirmed yet to exist but has strong geological indications to be there. We are not running out of oil soon, but the easy oil certainly is over, the oil that remains is the one found really deep underground that has an inferior quality and is way harder and expensive to get. At some point the amount of effort needed to extract the resources is not going to be profitable vs the money that will be made from the extraction. We are slowly getting closer to this scenario.
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Is not only about how much oil still remains, but about how expensive and unefficient will be to reach new sources. We are here
1900
2000
2100
55
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
The three main threats of the energy system are: depletion, environmental degradation and geopolitics.
56
57
CHAPTER 1 | ENERGY
Whats Next?
most of the responsibility has to come from the government, new laws and regulations are necessary to confront the future energy crisis, more budget has to go to renewables and a new infrastructure needs to be developed to sustain such transition. That doesn’t mean that the common citizen is powerless with no choice but to wait a favorable outcome, people can actively pressure the government if they knew how. New technologies have started to become available to the public, like installing solar panels in households, little by little the population can use this new technologies, but again is a matter of how affordable it can be an how much knowledge people have about the existing of this possibility. Once people begin to actively seek renewables the industry and economy will fallow to support the demand and the government will have more reasons to make the right changes for a new era.
58
59
CH A PTER 2 | FR ACKING
60
“More policymakers now seem to understand that the energy system is in serious trouble and that without a fundamentally new approach we are almost assured of a catastrophic failure.” —Paul Roberts
Journalist. Expert in Economics
61
RENEWABLES
CH A P T E R 3
C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
The Next Energy Economy
how the government will react to supply the energy demand becomes quite unpredictable, protecting the current status quo will provide temporal solutions aggravating future scenarios. The initiative of America is of extreme importance to allow significant change to happen, despite the efforts of smaller nations like Germany or Norway, unless China, Russia and other important players take action we wont be able to avoid a shocking situation.
64
States could develop carbon penalties at the same time that more effort is placed into developing better green technologies. Awareness in consumers will not only generate rejection to perpetuation of fossil fuels, but will also create a new market for renewables, as demand increases supply will fallow and new laws will be made around it. Energy literacy in the population can have a huge impact into giving the step forward to an easier transition.
carbon penalty
improvement of green technologies
development of clean coal
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C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
Solar Energy SOLAR CELL
solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun harnessed using a range of ever evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis. The large magnitude of solar energy available makes it a highly appealing source of electricity, It is several times larger than the total world energy consumption. Developing solar energy will increase a countries’ energy security through reliance on an inexhaustible and mostly independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating global warming, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise.
MODULE
PANEL
ARRAY
66
SUN LIGHT
TO / FROM THE GRID
CONVERTER
SOLAR PANELS
BREAKER BOX
67
C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
Wind Energy
wind energy is extracted from air flow using wind turbines or sails to produce mechanical or electrical energy. Win mills are used for their mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping, and sails to propel ships. Wind power as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, and uses little land. The net effects on the environment are far less problematic than those of nonrenewable power sources. Wind farms consist of many individual wind turbines which are connected to the electric power transmission network.
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WIND MOVES THE HUGE BLADES, SPINNING THE GENERATORS THAT CREATE ELECTRICITY
THEN IS TRANSMITTED TO THE GRID
A SUBSTATION ALLOWS ELECTRICITY TRAVEL LONG DISTANCES
A TRANSFORMER INCREASES THE VOLTAGE FROM TRANSMISSION TO SUBTRACTION
69
C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
Geothermal Energy geothermal energy is generated and stored in the Earth. Is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. The energy of the Earth’s crust originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials. It is now better known for electricity generation worldwide. Geothermal power is reliable, sustainable, cost effective and environmentally friendly, but has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological advances have dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for applications such as home heating, opening a potential for widespread exploitation. Geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth, but these emissions are much lower per energy unit than those of fossil fuels. As a result, geothermal power has the potential to help mitigate global warming if widely deployed in place of fossil fuels.
70
HEAT EXCHANGER
HEAT EXCHANGER
GRID
GENERATING STATION
COLD WATER
HOT WATER
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C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
SOLAR ENERGY + CARBON DIOXIDE
Bioenergy
bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. As a fuel it may include wood, wood waste, straw, manure, sugarcane, and many other byproducts from a variety of agricultural processes. In its broader sense it includes biomass, the biological material used as a biofuel, as well as the social, economic, scientific and technical fields associated with using biological sources for energy. One of the advantages of biomass fuel is that it is often a by-product, residue or waste-product of other processes, such as farming, animal husbandry and forestry.
BIOMASS
MINERALS
72
CARBON DIOXIDE RELEASED
BIOFUELS
BIOREFINERY
73
C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
Hydropower
hydropower is the power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. In order to generate electricity from the kinetic energy in moving water, the water has to move with sufficient speed and volume to spin a propeller-like device called a turbine, which in turn rotates a generator to generate electricity. Roughly speaking, one gallon of water per second falling one hundred feet can generate one kilowatt of electricity.
RESERVOIR
INTAKE
74
DAM
TRANSMITION LINES CONDUCT THE ELECTRICITY TO HOMES AND BUSINESSES
THE KINETIC ENERGY OF THE WATER SPEEDS UP THE TURBINES TO CREATE ELECTRICITY
GENERATOR
TURBINE
RIVER
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C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
POWERBUOY
WATERLINE
Ocean Energy
ocean energy or ocean power refers to the energy carried by ocean waves, tides, salinity, and ocean temperature differences. The movement of water in the world’s oceans creates a vast store of kinetic energy, or energy in motion. This energy can be harnessed to generate electricity to power homes, transport and industries. The oceans have a tremendous amount of energy and are close to many if not most concentrated populations. Ocean energy has the potential of providing a substantial amount of new renewable energy around the world. One recent technology to harvest this energy is called a PowerBuoy. Designed by Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. This energy conversion system generates power even in moderate wave environments.
SPAR
HEAVE PLATE
76
THE RELATIVE MOTION OF THE FLOAT WITH RESPECT TO THE SPAR DRIVES A MECHANICAL SYSTEM CONTAINED IN THE SPAR THAT CONVERTS THE LINEAR MOTION OF THE FLOAT INTO A ROTARY ONE.
THE ROTARY MOTION DRIVES ELECTRICAL GENERATORS THAT PRODUCE ELECTRICITY FOR THE PAYLOAD OR FOR EXPORT TO NEARBY MARINE APPLICATIONS USING A SUBMARINE ELECTRICAL CABLE.
UNDERSEA SUBSTATION
CABLE TO SHORE
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C H A P T E R 3 | R E N E WA B L E S
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“I think that the world is in the middle of a huge transition that we have to make to renewable energy. We have to transition away from fossil fuels very quickly” —Josh Fox American Film Director, and Environmental Activist
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Afertword
the first step is to educate people in the current state of affairs, let them know why is so important to be aware of where we are and where we need to go. Energy literacy is specially difficult to spread since Its hard to engage people in something that involves laws and economy. Thats way this book contains a brief, but concise introduction of what energy is, what is the energy situation of the U.S. as a major player and influencer in the world, what is fracking and which choices there are available to transition. From there we can go to a more active role, by involving people. Thats the next step, to catch their interest, not only to wait for politicians to make the moves, but to create opportunities to have some influence even at the individual level, which is something that will be explored in the next book. How to create a coalition to fight fracking in a specific area, how to approach the legal part, which tools are available,how to support environmental institutions, which are the major players in the U.S. and how
to be part of the new energy economy by installing solar panels or adopting simple and better habits to save energy at home. We are at a stage where there is a lot of uncertainty, a lot of information and little time, we need fast decisions and as much people involved as possible.
“The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.” —Richard Rogers Architect
copyright
©2017 Juan Manuel Corredor. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2017 www.juancorredor.com