Revealed: The Next Energy 'Revolution'

John Richard Cookson

Security,

While the last decade was about the energy buried in the earth and how to get it out, the next decade will be about how energy already removed from the earth is moved across it.

Świnoujście, Poland, on the frigid Baltic Sea where that country meets Germany seems to have little in common with the swampy heel of Louisiana where that state meets Texas. However, the sites are connected—and connected with many others around the world—in their importance to the next revolution in energy.

Over the last decade, the biggest change in energy was how and where hydrocarbons were removed from the earth. The United States led this change. Take hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” which allows natural gas to be collected from shale rock formations. As the use of this method has taken off, shale gas has gone from 4 percent of the total natural gas produced in the United States in 2005 to a projected 40 percent this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). Or take oil—in the last decade U.S crude oil production has increased from five million barrels a day to its current pace of more than nine million barrels a day. However, a different kind of energy revolution will take place between now and 2025. While the last decade was about the energy buried in the earth and how to get it out, the next decade will be about how the energy already removed from the earth is moved across it.

Natural Gas: