In 2008, unscientific analysis of the shale gas deposits contained in the Marcellus Shale Basin claimed?that there was enough natural gas to power America for at least 100 years.
Almost overnight, new?markets were created, investments in wind energy declined and the shale-gas boom began. Several?prime-time TV ads now tell us that natural gas is America?s choice of clean energy for reasons of?lowering greenhouse gas emissions and improving our energy security. Indeed, shale gas even comes?out of the ground as red, white and blue, whispering ?sustainable, sustainable.?
Reduction in GHG?emissions; Really? Let?s do some higher-level math here:
Our ridiculous consumption rate produces a shitload of GHG emission; NG is twice as?clean as coal; half a shitload is still a shitload.
Oh wait, we no longer live in a world where quantitative reasoning matters because, hey, there?s an app for that.
Hence, when some NG advocate says that we can replace one million gallons a day of gasoline?with clean-burning NG and thus prevent climate change, everyone in America buys that because, well?hey, one million is a big number.
We have the quantitative reasoning power of a turnip ? we cannot reason?that since there are 100 million working households in the U.S. using at least one gallon of gas a day to?commute to work, that we must be using at least 100 million gallons a day.
We have seen this kind?of turnip PR before. When the Deepwater Horizon malfunctioned in April 2010, BP fooled the nation?by saying, ?Oh, gee, it?s just a small leak at 1,000 barrels a day.? Hmm, let?s see, your rig was processing?20,000 barrels a day ? then someone cut your pipeline in half and only 1,000 barrels a day is coming out ? what happened to the other 19,000 barrels? Wait a minute, isn?t this leak coming out at the bottom of?5,000 feet of water ? wouldn?t the pressure of the hydraulic head squelch a leak at 1,000 barrels a day?
Subsequent measurements verified that this internal pressure-driven leak was closer to 100,000 barrels?a day. Thus, we live in a country where we set policy and have responses to environmental incidences?based on arbitrary numbers that can be off by a factor of 100. Long live the turnips ? who cares about?numerical accuracy ? there?s an app for that, right?
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