How shale gas can boost US manufacturing

The American shale gas boom has the potential to revitalize domestic manufacturing, and a new report from a University of Michigan-led panel recommends steps to make that happen in a responsible manner.

Those steps include increasing public trust of hydraulic fracturing, monitoring and reducing methane emissions, and using shale gas profits to advance renewable energy technologies, among other efforts.

The report, "Shale Gas: A Game-Changer for U.S. Manufacturing," summarizes and expands on the U-M-sponsored daylong conference of the same name held this spring in Washington, D.C. In addition to U-M faculty members, representatives from industry, environmental organizations and government agencies participated.

In recent years, the techniques of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have enabled energy companies to extract vast quantities of natural gas from deep shale rock formations.

Copyright, phys.org, 2014.