Technology:

Geothermal Energy: Why It Is Different From Shale Gas (Renewable Energy World)

by Philippe Dumas, Secretary General, and Luca Angelino, Policy and Project Officer, at the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC).

Drilling operation at Egoci project - EGS (France)
(Courtesy EGEC)

The possibility of producing shale gas in some European countries has triggered a very heated debate about the environmental and social impacts of the technique used to extract gas from shale rocks (today only in the US and Canada); this technique is widely known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

Recently, part of the gas industry has claimed that fracking for shale gas is comparable to the hydraulic stimulation process used for geothermal exploration and that the granting of geothermal exploration permits whilst those for shale gas are rejected is creating a double standard.  Whilst there are similarities, it is important to understand the intricacies and differences between the two technologies.

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