Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Fracking for Gas Uses Less Water than Coal Plants, Study Finds

It's well known that it takes 4 million to 5 million gallons of water to hydraulically fracture a well to extract natural gas.  Use that gas to fire up a power plant, and you need more water for steam.

But a new University of Texas study suggests that the steam turbines on coal plants consume 25 to 50 times more water than is used in both gas extraction, or fracking, and the natural gas-powered generation.

The study took a closer look at the 2011 drought in particular, finding that for every gallon of water consumed for fracking natural gas, 33 gallons were saved by not using coal plants.

Fracking for Gas Uses Less Water than Coal Plants, Study Finds

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