In the U.K. there is a big ridiculous row over this well concealed gas well in Balcombe, that the Balcombe Parish Council didn’t even object to when Cuadrilla’s application for planning permission to drill for shale gas went before them.
The noise being made by the anti-frackers in America is equally ridiculous, they can’t even protest the right well sites. “The protesters do not seem concerned with such details”
Josh writes:
Given the recent protests about Fracking, I thought some cartoons on the subject might be a good idea.
Suggestions for further Fract Sheets are very welcome!
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
A classic Josh, Thank you.
I am a member of the Co-operative society. I recently became aware that the co-op is sponsoring some of the anti-fracking campaigners. I will soon no longer be a member of the co-operative society.
the eco-loons simply cannot see the irony of the footprint of 300′ turbines all over the land compared to a 3 1/2″ hole in the ground.
Perfect example where a cartoon reflects reality. The left is trying to turn our energy supply system into the world’s biggest “Rube-Goldberg” machine – it costs a fortune, is incredibly complex and accomplishes nothing useful. Of course it does accomplish what the left wants – poverty, misery and loss of freedom.
well done!
Great propaganda, well done!
Gail Combs says:
A classic Josh, Thank you.
Exactly. A classic case of deliberate misinterpretation. A brilliant visual straw man.
The main objection to fracking would seem to be the danger of pollution of the ground water.
This kind of deliberate twisting the facts is what we’ve come to expect from warmists. Seems that many here are just as happy to applaud the same so long as it goes their way.
I really wish the API would file suit on Josh Fox, just to make his life miserable for awhile.
Kit Carruthers says: Great propaganda, well done!
Propaganda indeed.
Perhaps Josh will give up driving then as the figures WRT the number of birds killed by automobiles every year are not difficult to access!
AleaJactaEst says: the eco-loons simply cannot see the irony of the footprint of 300′ turbines all over the land compared to a 3 1/2″ hole in the ground.
If was just a 3 1/2″ hole in the ground, I’m sure no one would object. Do you have any evidence of you eco-loons objecting to a 3 1/2″ hole in the ground?
They are protesting against fracking for shale gas but at this site in Balcombe the work being undertaken is to drill for oil.
I know of mineshafts that are less than 6ft across – you could leap across them I suppose. But if that athletic act somehow went wrong, there’s a second dimension to take into account as some of them are hundreds of feet deep!
It’s funny, but I did notice that the Single Shale Well does not produce electricity. The power plant should be included for a fair comparison.
Read a piece a few weeks ago that claimed whooping Crane population has had a rapid sudden decline, threatening extinction. The author, a bird enthusiast, suspects wind turbines.
Greg:
Josh provides an amusing cartoon which accurately presents facts.
At August 9, 2013 at 8:20 am you ask
Yes. For example, your above post at August 9, 2013 at 8:16 am
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/09/friday-funny-fracktional-thinking/#comment-1385463
But, like all ‘Green’ objections to anything, your post pretends there are imagined risks in addition to reality.
Richard
“Matthew R Marler says:
August 9, 2013 at 8:29 am
It’s funny, but I did notice that the Single Shale Well does not produce electricity. The power plant should be included for a fair comparison.”
Indeed, as should the multiple horizontal wells extending for kilometres from the main well, the fugitive methane releases, the other wells in the areas, the equipment required to be constantly kept on site for well work-over, and the potentially polluted groundwater over several square km.
But that’s OK, because shale gas is extracted by cuddly fluffy companies with only our best interests at heart 😉
REPLY: hey Kit, how is your home in Edinburgh Scotland (from your avatar link) heated? Peat, wood, coal, oil, gas, or electricity derived from one of the former sources?- Anthony
Anthony, not being Kit but also living in the UK – who needs heat right now? It’s 20C plus outside! We don’t generally need heating from May through to late October. Logs for me in winter – cut ’em myself from fallen trees on neighbouring farms, by arrangement with landowners.
Kit Carruthers and Matthew R Marler:
Get real!
The well-head need be no more than the size of a small cottage and could resemble a barn. It will produce gas which will be piped from the well-head.
So, what will be seen of the well-head is accurately predicted in the Josh cartoon.
Fracked gas will fuel an existing power station or add to household gas supplies. This requires no additional infrastructure.
As the Josh cartoon indicates, windfarms do not reduce need for existing power stations or household gas supplies but add to the need for back-up power stations.
Oil and gas companies are no more “cuddly fluffy companies with only our best interests at heart” than are windfarm companies.
Assertions of “fugitive methane releases” and “potentially polluted groundwater” are deplorable and unsubstantiated scare-mongering.
Richard
Anthony, solar gain and gas central heating. What’s your point?
REPLY: My point is that your are a hypocrite when you complain about gas extraction, since you make use of it. – Anthony
5 acres = one 600 Megawatt power plant. (2x 200 Megawatt natural gas fired combustion turbines, plus 1x heat-recovery steam generator also about 200 Megawatt )
Runs 24 hours per day. 365 days per year, needs no backup,
Let’s see.
One 2 megawatt wind turbine per 80 acres. See: http://www.aweo.org/windarea.html
Worldwide, one wind turbine runs only 23% of the time. (Wind turbine capacity factor averages 23%)
A wind turbine needs a constantly running, greatly inefficient natural gas fired backup.
The NG backup breaks every 8 months (steel cracking and bearing and generator cracks) due to constant heatup and cooldown rates as load changes, so you actually need TWO NG backup generators to keep ONE running all the time at an inefficient off-peak load rate.
So you need 300 wind turbines (to theoretically generate that original 600 Meg’s of electricity that you still need)/.23 efficiency rate => 1304 wind turbines x 80 acres per turbine =>104,000 acres. Plus the thousands of miles of NEW high voltage towers and expensive copper cables connecting all of those wind turbines.
\
And all of this assumes that the wind is even blowing regularly at this location in the nation: from Louisiana through North Carolina, the Bermuda High prevents ALL wind from being used across 1/4 of the country..
That cartoon is brilliant.
Kit Carruthers says:
August 9, 2013 at 8:14 am
“Propaganda” is defined as:
noun 1. information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement , institution, nation, etc.
With that definition in mind, can you explain to the rest of us what there is in Josh’s cartoon that you would consider to be “propaganda”?
Much appreciated, Kit.
And if nothing if forthcoming, we’ll consider your comment as “propaganda”.
Kit Carruthers says:
August 9, 2013 at 8:35 am
“But that’s OK, because shale gas is extracted by cuddly fluffy companies with only our best interests at heart ;-)”
Sorry, but the cuddly fluffy bunnies have very sensitive ears and have all left the country due to Wind Turbine Syndrome.
Josh might be able to graphically make a comparison of how long the supply of gas will last as opposed to how long the windmills will last.