Recently I went to a public debate about fracking in the Karoo. The motion debated related to the moratorium that’s been imposed — should it be permanent or simply scrapped altogether?
The four speakers — two in favour of the moratorium, and two against — each presented their views and spoke about numerous aspects of the fracking technique: the chemicals used, the water it would require, impacts on the Karoo environment etc. (Although invited, neither Shell nor Sasol came to the debate; Sasol simply said it did not wish to talk about the issue in public.)
What I found frustrating was that talk seldom went further than the fracking method itself: whether it could be done safely and with sufficient regulations. The underlying assumption seemed to be that if we could get the technique right, there would little reason for us not to go ahead with shale gas exploitation.
To their credit, the side in favour of the moratorium did refer to shale gas as a fossil fuel. One of the speakers even spoke about it as the very last “dregs” of fossil fuel available to us.
I think that’s the crux of the issue.
As we (rightly) endeavour to supply energy to more and more people, we are going to extremes to find new power sources to feed this burgeoning demand. And as the demand increases and traditional supplies — like oil and natural gas reserves — are no longer able to satisfy this demand, so other fossil fuel reserves — previously too costly or too risky — suddenly become attractive.
At the moment we are seeing this in the Arctic, where Carin Energy is attempting to explore for new oil reserves. As oil prices rise steadily, so the chance of striking oil in the Arctic is too much for oil companies to resist; once too risky and costly, now Arctic drilling is seen as the next frontier; the risk of an oil spill is just part of the game, given the profits that are up for grabs!
The same applies to fracking. We’re looking for a quick fix to our energy needs, and our short-sightedness means we aren’t looking beyond fossil fuels for that “fix”. And while the proponents of fracking rightly talk about energy security and our need to get off coal, switching from one fossil fuel to another is not energy security, it’s just short-sighted.
We hear that fracking will be good for jobs. No exact figures were given at the debate, and it wasn’t specified whether the jobs would be directly related to fracking, or just linked to the economic growth it would supposedly inspire. I also don’t have any stats on fracking and job creation, but what I do have is figures showing that investing in renewable energy is incredibly potent when it comes to job creation.
A recent Greenpeace report found that investing in renewable energy in South Africa would create almost 150 000 jobs by 2030 — and those are jobs directly tied to renewables. Many more jobs would be created in knock-on effects. And of course if South Africa became the hub for renewable energy industries in Africa, well then that’s even more jobs.
The switch to renewables would cut our carbon emissions significantly more than investing in shale gas would. At the debate Prof Philip Lloyd pointed out that shale gas has a far lower greenhouse gas emissions footprint than coal — something like 1.7 times less if I trust my notes. Some preliminary research is disputing this seemingly low carbon footprint, arguing that the methane emissions cause by fracking make it a far more potent contributor to climate change than coal. But even if its footprint is 1.7 times less than that of coal, we need somewhere in the region of a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. Shale gas won’t get us there.
This for me is the heart of the issue. Fracking is about so much more than the method used — it’s about South Africa’s future and the steps we take today towards sustainability. It’s about us desperately needing to shift off fossil fuels in favour of clean, renewable energy. We need a new energy system that replaces dirty fossil fuels with power we can use sustainably — and shale gas is not that.
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