The Boom
How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World
Book - 2014
Presents an unstinting exploration of controversial fracking technologies to consider the arguments of its supporters and detractors, profiling key contributors while explaining how the practice is changing the way energy is used
"Fracking has vociferous critics and fervent defenders, but the debate between these camps has obscured the actual story: Fracking has become a fixture of the American landscape and the global economy. It has upended the business models of energy companies around the globe, and it has started to change geopolitics and global energy markets in profound ways. Gold tells the story of this once-obscure oilfield technology--a story with an incredible cast of tycoons and geologists, dreamers and drillers, speculators and skeptics, a story that answers a critical question of our time: Where will the energy come from to power our world--and what price will we have to pay for it?" -- from publisher's web site
"Fracking has vociferous critics and fervent defenders, but the debate between these camps has obscured the actual story: Fracking has become a fixture of the American landscape and the global economy. It has upended the business models of energy companies around the globe, and it has started to change geopolitics and global energy markets in profound ways. Gold tells the story of this once-obscure oilfield technology--a story with an incredible cast of tycoons and geologists, dreamers and drillers, speculators and skeptics, a story that answers a critical question of our time: Where will the energy come from to power our world--and what price will we have to pay for it?" -- from publisher's web site
Publisher:
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2014
Edition:
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition
ISBN:
9781451692280
1451692285
9781451692303
1451692293
9781451692297
1451692285
9781451692303
1451692293
9781451692297
Branch Call Number:
333.8 Gold 2014
Characteristics:
vii, 366 pages : map ; 24 cm
Alternative Title:
Frackistan : the promise and peril of America's energy revolution



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Add a CommentA tough slog of a read. I did not learn anything
As controversial as it is profitable, hydraulic fracturing - or "fracking" - has evolved from an obscure mechanical process to a commonplace practice: 100 wells are drilled every day in the United States; each one of them is fracked. In The Boom, investigative journalist Russell Gold, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal as well as a Pulitzer Prize finalist, describes how North America's extensive shale deposits and technology that facilitates fuel extraction have contributed to the rise of natural gas as a serious competitor to coal and nuclear power. He also reflects on the consequences of prolonging the life of an energy economy based on fossil fuels at a time when the threat of climate change looms large. Nature and Science December 2014 newsletter.