In the Green River Formations the United States has some of the largest deposits of shale in the world. That is great news for an energy craving nation, because shale is a rock that contains oil. Even better news is that it is estimated that there are more than 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil in these formations. Shale is aptly named “the rock that burns”.
As with every fairy tale there are pitfalls and villains. The oil trapped in shale is extremely more difficult and more expensive to retrieve than traditional oil. The rising price of oil in the last few years has made shale look more promising, but hurdles remain. The other big villain is emissions. This will not be resolved by the continued use of fossil fuels.
The United States consumes roughly 21 million barrels of oil a day. When we do perfect the process for getting oil from the Green River Formations we will have access to enough oil to supply our needs (based upon today’s usage) for 104 years! The hurdles have to be overcome of course, but once that day comes the dynamics of our energy needs will change.
While shale oil seems like the solution to our energy crisis it should not be. We need to focus on our other resources just as diligently. Our goal should be to develop alternative energy sources to meet our needs and export shale oil to the rest of the world. We could become the Saudi Arabia of the 21st century.
Our economy would be stable for generations to come. Our exports would be to nations not able to afford the greener technology like massive wind farms or geothermal power plants. Our carbon emissions would hopefully reduce to offset the worlds continued dependence on fossil fuels. Eventually the entire world would be able to make use of alternative energy, but until that time comes our economy could use the shot-in-the-arm that shale oil can produce.
Resources:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/basics/quickoil.html
http://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/oilshale/index.cfm
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