Fracking could pose major risks for future energy projects

Since 2009, the U.S. has been experiencing a major boom in the application of natural gas.

Only recently has the fuel begun to hit a slump in terms of implementation. Some of called this slump the end of renewable energy for the country. Indeed, the price of natural gas has been falling to levels that may make it economically unviable in the future. The Department of Energy claims that this is due to oversupply caused by hydraulic fracking. This is the process of harvesting pressurized fuel from rocks deep beneath the surface of the Earth.

Critics of the U.S.’s controversial fracking procedures claim that the practice poses major risks to the future of alternative energy projects.

Fracking will produce a massive amount of carbon emissions and completely saturate the energy market with cheap, semi-renewable fuel. While this is considered a good thing by the federal government, the idea of producing harmful emissions for the sake of renewable fuel is contrary to the goals of the country’s own carbon reducing initiatives.

If fracking becomes the way U.S. gets its renewable fuel in the future, other alternative energy projects are expected to suffer as a result.

This is because fracking is taking the majority of the federal government’s attention. As such, natural gas will likely become a very inexpensive type of fuel, which will make it nearly impossible for hydrogen, wind and solar energies to compete in a market that will quickly become over saturated.