Ali Ayoub

Critical Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Topic: Shale oil and gas are the alternative energy sources of the future: Do you
agree? What are the consequences for the environment?
Introduction: Shale oil and gas are types of unconventional fossil fuel that can be
extracted from shale rock formations. Shale gas extraction witnessed a huge increase
during the last decade, especially in the US due to new emerging technologies, and
its considered by many to be a transition source of energy due to its lower
environmental impact. Many people argue about the magnitude of the environmental
impact of shale oil and gas, mainly due to the use of Hydraulic Fracturing technique
for extraction. The following critical annotated bibliography will discuss this topic
from different perspectives. In my opinion, shale gas should always be considered as
a transition fuel that prepares us for the era of clean renewable energy, this is why the
environmental effects of shale oil an gas extraction should be minimized as much as
possible using clean technologies the prevent leakage of chemicals and methane to
water resources and the atmosphere.
References:
Howarth RW, Santoro R, Ingraffea A (2011) Methane and the greenhouse-gas
footprint of natural gas from shale formations. Climatic Change 106: 679-690
DOI 10.1007/s10584-011-0061-5
Despite the consideration of Shale gas as a transition fossil fuel that starts an era of
more environmentally sound energy sources; the GHG footprint of this
unconventional energy source is proving to be higher than that of conventional
sources. Written by professors in ecology and environment in Cornell University, this
article shows that fugitive methane emissions during the course of shale gas
extraction, processing and transportation is significantly higher than other major
energy sources. Although most of the natural gas fugitive emissions are released
during transport, storage and distribution, emissions during well completion make the
difference with shale gas, where approximately 1.9% is lost in comparison with
0.01% for conventional gas. These losses are emitted during the flowback and the
drill out periods of hydraulic fracturing, also causing the GHG footprint of shale gas
to be drastically higher than other sources when projected over 20 and 100 years.
Green technologies can be used to notably reduce methane leakages during the well
completion stage and even at later stages. Ultimately, the classification of shale gas as
an energy source to combat climate change is not accurate, since methane is an
important factor in climate change and the extent of its emissions from shale gas is
still ambiguous, thus more thorough research should be done in order to fully
understand the impacts (Howarth, et al., 2011). This article views the impacts of shale
gas from an environmental perspective, aiming mainly at the reduction of GHG
emissions and basing the conclusion on results that ignore other environmental and
economic benefits.
Jenner S, Lamadrid AJ (2013) Shale gas vs. coal: Policy implications from
environmental impact comparisons of shale gas, conventional gas, and coal on
air, water, and land in the United States. Energy Policy 53: 442-453 DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.11.010

This journal article provides a comprehensive view for the scientific audience on the
environmental issues associated with shale along with other conventional energy
sources, and their effect on policies in the U.S., combining the expertise of both
authors who come from the environmental and business fields. The relatively
significant use of natural gas in several energy generation sectors in the U.S that is
expected to increase as shale gas goes under the spotlight. Shale gas being considered
as a new alternative to conventional energy sources in terms of environmental
protection, public health and occupational safety, particularly after several accidents
involving coal, oil and nuclear energy lead to the loss of lives and serious
environmental implications. The first part of the article emphasizes on comparing the
effects of both coal and shale gas on global warming, the authors present the argument
that shale gas has a higher GHG footprint due to methane leakages, and a counter
argument that the footprint is lower over an entire lifecycle, concluding that shale gas
comes after conventional gas, but its better than coal in terms of GHG footprint.
Concerning their effect on public health through primary air pollutants, coal evidently
comes last after conventional and shale gas. When assessing water consumption,
natural gas also consumes less water than coal, with an advantage for conventional
gas since hydraulic fracturing requires large amounts of water. With regard to public
safety concerns related to water pollution by shale gas, this article examines three
major issues; contamination of groundwater aquifers by fracturing fluids, methane
seepage into the water supply system is not properly isolated, and the presence of
radioactive material in the flowback water. Technical solutions are presented in the
second part of the article, where most issues can be prevented through cautionary
measures, but groundwater contamination remains a major disadvantage against shale
gas. In land use comparison, shale gas uses least land and coal uses the most. In order
to minimize the environmental impacts of shale gas, technical solutions are presented,
such as methane leakage reductions technologies, the reuse of flowback water and
using alternative fracturing fluids. After comparing the environmental health effects of
shale gas and coal, and offering technical solutions for shale gas problems, the article
concludes by recommending shale gas as an alternative to coal as an energy source
(Jenner and Lamadrid, 2013). The first part of this article was more relevant to the
research question, as it delivered a full comparison of environmental impacts
supported with scientific facts from several sources, which resulted in a stronger
argument.
Kotsakis A (Jenner and Lamadrid) The Regulation of the Technical, Environmental
and Health Aspects of Current Exploratory Shale Gas Extraction in the United
Kingdom: Initial Lessons for the Future of European Union Energy Policy.
Review of European Community & International Environmental Law 21: 282290 DOI 10.1111/j.1467-9388.2012.00759.x
The academic background of this articles author is environmental law, which gives
him the authority to accurately discuss the subject of his article. While shale gas
extraction activities have started to take place in the United Kingdom, concerns about
the absence of specific regulatory frameworks of these activities are beginning to
emerge, arguing that there is a major gap in the current laws and that they do not
account for the full environmental health impacts of shale gas extraction. This article
provides a comparison between the U.S and U.K in terms of regulations, and in order
not to have the same mistakes that produced national opposition to this matter, the

author suggests implementing the best practices and modifying them to fit the U.K
and EU context, which according to the author, is not happening. To support his
arguments, the author mentions examples from the current situation such as the
extraction of shale gas without the necessity of an EIA, absence of proper shale gas
well monitoring, and ignoring significant factors that have potential environmental
impacts (effect of fracturing fluid on groundwater), all these actions are being
practiced now due to dealing with shale gas as a conventional energy source and not
accounting for the new challenges created by the extraction of this energy source. The
article also highlights the possible change in policies if shale gas proved to be a
beneficial energy source in the E.U, fearing that it would be considered as an
alternative instead of a transition energy source, which might reflect on existing EU
sustainable energy and climate policies and current precautionary governance
policies. The final recommendation is that any future EIA study should take into
account all the possible impacts that are specifically associated with shale gas
extraction, including the risk of induced seismicity, hoping that the shale gas
regulations currently under study help in preventing environmental degradation and
allowing the benefit from this promising energy source (Kotsakis, 2012). In summary,
the article views shale gas as a main potential future energy source in the EU, voicing
concerns about the current laws and future European policies.
Sultan N (2013) The challenge of shale to the post-oil dreams of the Arab Gulf.
Energy Policy 60: 13-20 DOI
Nabil Sultan, the author of this article who comes from an academic business
background, is widely recognized as an expert in the Arab Gulfs socioeconomic
affairs and renewable energy. Sultan expresses that the rapid economic and social
development in the Arab gulf during the last 30 years, can be mainly attributed to oil
and gas revenues and proper planning. Then he voices concerns about the depletion of
non-renewable energy sources in the future which pushed countries in the Arab gulf to
consider alternative sources of energy to prepare for the post-oil era and cater for the
increasing energy demand of its growing economic sectors. Among other gulf
countries, UAE and Saudi Arabia are the most determined in searching for alternative
sources of energy. The UAE is investing in renewable energy, mainly solar and wind
power. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is considering nuclear energy in addition to
solar energy that is starting to provide a big part of the total power generation. The
authors believes that worldwide shale oil and gas extraction will have potentially
negative effects on the economies and projects of gulf countries, especially for KSA
that has the largest reserve of oil globally. Since many countries will be self-sufficient
and the oil prices with drastically fall in the future, funds allocated for renewable
energy projects will reduce too, severely influencing Arab gulf countries economically
and politically (Sultan, 2013). The authors views on the issue of shale gas from a
pure business perspective, specifically focusing on the Arab gulf, and ignoring the
environmental benefits associated with the global adoption of shale gas as a transition
energy source, concluding that shale gas might be the future, but this future is
pessimistic for Arab gulf countries.
Vengosh A, Warner N, Jackson R, Darrah T (2013) The Effects of Shale Gas
Exploration and Hydraulic Fracturing on the Quality of Water Resources in the
United States. Procedia Earth and Planetary Science 7: 863-866 DOI
10.1016/j.proeps.2013.03.213

The environmental aspect of shale gas exploration has been getting much attention in
the past three years, and thats what this articles authors deal with, specifically
explaining the effects of Hydraulic Fracturing on water resources in the U.S, where
they work in the field of environment. This article opens by expressing that this
development in technologies for extracting shale oil and gas has become notably more
advanced from 5 years ago till now, which encouraged higher adoption rates at much
larger scales, also raising awareness to environmental consequences the accompany
such processes, especially the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water quality. Adding
that Hydraulic fracturing potentially affects the quality of water resources in three
different ways: shallow groundwater contamination through the release of methane
and fracturing fluids from shale gas basins situated above them, leaching of chemicals
through hydraulic pathways and connectivity between deep shale gas wells and
shallow drinking water aquifers, and pollution resulting from the disposal of highly
saline and radioactive flowback water (Vengosh, et al., 2013). The article provides a
brief and broad idea on the effect of shale gas extraction on water resources,
recommending that proper management of extraction sites and flowback water should
be executed in order to reduce the impact of shale gas extraction on water resources.
Wang Q, Chen X, Jha AN, Rogers H (2014) Natural gas from shale formation The
evolution, evidences and challenges of shale gas revolution in United States.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 30: 1-28 DOI
10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.065
Discussing the case of the United States regarding shale oil and gas and targeting the
general audience, this articles authors come from various countries and academic
backgrounds, dealing mainly with energy and ecology. This article starts by stating
that the extraction of shale oil and gas in the U.S is considered a breakthrough in the
energy sector during the 21st century, helping the country to shift from being a huge
importer to become self sufficient in a decade, which was a great benefit for the
economy and the job market. The second part focuses on how the rapid advancement
and implementation of Shale gas extraction triggered environmental research on this
topic, finding out that serious environmental are associated with the process of shale
gas extraction such as water contamination, water withdrawal in large volumes, effect
on climate change through the release of methane gas, and the risk of induced
earthquakes. Eventually, they conclude that in order to keep the shale energy sector
running, all these factors should be dealt with more strictly, by enforcing more
stringent regulations that significantly increase the cost of extraction, but also reduce
the environmental and health risks (Wang, et al., 2014). Despite the articles length, it
gives a complete overview of the history, trends and impacts of the shale industry in
the U.S, aided by a considerable number of graphs and figures to better support all
arguments.
Search Strategy: Keywords: shale, energy, environmental. Number of results per
database: Science direct (816 results), Wiley (5780 results), Springer link (1298
results). After retrieving 15 relevant articles, and skimming through them, top 6
articles where chosen according to their timeline (all after 2011), authority of the
writers and their credibility based on their background, and the writing style, so the
chosen articles all satisfy this criteria.