IBTimes: Global Shale Gas Boom Potential 'Blessing' for Environment

A boom in unconventional energy resource production such as shale gas "may be a blessing for the environment", according to academics

The research paper by the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford noted the sharp reduction in coal production and imports in the US since 2007, when shale gas production took off.

Coal imports have fallen to "negligible levels", while domestic production of the traditional fossil fuel has dropped by a third. The US has reduced consumer energy bills as a result and is now less beholden to energy-sensitive geo-politics.

"A global shale gas boom could therefore indeed lead to a crowding out of most pollution energy sources, such as coal," said the research.
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