Are natural gas companies the unsung heroes of water conservation? The industry is notorious for the scale of its water needs in this era of scarcity and drought, but there is reason to believe that the rise of this form of energy production may actually help conserve water.
“As the U.S. has undergone a rapid and massive shift to natural gas from coal, one benefit has gone almost entirely overlooked: the amount of water needed to cool the nation’s power plants has dropped substantially,”Climate Central reported.
“The widespread adoption of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology has led to dramatically higher natural gas production in the U.S. since 2005. The resulting drop in natural gas prices, coinciding with new EPA air quality regulations for coal-fired power plants, has led to a surge in natural gas-fired electricity generation nationwide,” the report continued.
As the fracking industry grows, less water is needed to cool power plants, Climate Central reported:You can read more by clicking right here.
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