Workers drill for shale gas in Pennsylvania. The emergence of access
to shale gas in the U.S.—and the low natural gas prices that
followed—has created an extra hurdle for renewables.
Although renewable energy made impressive advances this year, its
impact has been dwarfed by the changes caused by the surplus of cheap,
abundant natural gas made possible by hydrofracturing—fracking—of
shale deposits. It will also be hard for renewables to equal the
impact of shale gas in the coming years.
As utilities shift electricity production from coal plants to natural
gas ones, carbon dioxide emissions have dropped to levels not seen for
20 years. In China, the government has set ambitious goals to scale up
fracking and shale gas production there as well.
Similar drilling technology has led to a surge of oil production in
the United States that could have it rivaling the production of oil in
Saudi Arabia. It's led to credible estimates that within a couple of
decades—with the help of rigorous fuel economy standards—North America
could produce as much energy as it consumes.
Shale gas is having a major impact on renewable sources of energy as
well. For example, as a result of cheap natural gas, some companies
that had been founded to produce biofuels from renewable sources—and
entrepreneurs who had dedicated much of their lives to developing such
technologies—have given up and turned instead to making fuels with
natural gas. At the same time, cheap natural gas has made it far more
difficult for renewable sources of energy to compete.
Meanwhile, the prospects for solar, wind, biofuels, and advanced
vehicles took a decidedly bearish turn this year.
Solar companies went bankrupt left and right. Electric vehicles sales
were less than expected and A123, a once-promising advanced battery
company, declared bankruptcy and was auctioned off at a fraction of
the amount that had been invested in it.
Yet incremental progress is being made. Hybrid vehicle technology is
now often profitable. There have also been some developments in
improving internal combustion engines. Efficient internal combustion
engines could be cheaper than batteries and electric motors, and so
work their way into mainstream sales faster than electric vehicles,
having a bigger impact on fossil fuel consumption over the next
decade.
for complete details
:http://m.technologyreview.com/news/508951/what-mattered-in-energy-innovation-this-year/
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