So, what’s all this rumpus about shale gas?  Well it’s highly topical at the moment – see the guardian’s recent top story.  It’s all about natural gas trapped in shale formations with a method known as fracking to enable extraction. It’s controversial for all sorts of interesting reasons but congruently a potential major source of alternative energy. Big in the States and Canada but also being tested out in the UK.

If you want to read more about this new technology, try the IET Virtual Library resource.  Knovel has two Engineering Cases:

Shale Gas: The Facts about Chemical Additives by Henry Craddock © 2012 and What to Do with the Brine? A Zero-Discharge Solution from CLLEEN™ Water and Power by Anthony Migyanka © 2012

And take a look at these articles and many more on EbscoHost databases

Benefits of Shale Gas Outweigh Risks; 8 In 10 Americans Connect

Natural Gas with Jobs.  March 2012 in the Pipeline & Gas Journal

Impact of Shale Gas Development on Global Gas Markets.

By Medlock III, Kenneth B. Natural Gas & Electricity. April 2011

Is Shale Gas Shallow or the Real Deal? By Maize, Kennedy in Power.

December 2012

Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale

formations. By Howarth, Robert W.; Santoro, Renee; Ingraffea,

Anthony. Climatic Change. 2011

Splitting rock vs. splitting atoms: What shale gas means for nuclear

power. By Levi, Michael. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. July 2012

The Shale Gas Extraction Process and Its Impacts on Water

Resources. By Reins, Leonie. Review of European Community &

International Environmental Law. 2011 

In March the IET’s Clerk Maxwell lecture is on this topic so why not read up about it before you attend? 

If you have a specific research enquiry please see http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/services/research/index.cfm and use the online form to send your request.

Happy searching in 2013!