The Fracking Debate

The search for cheap, plentiful and reliable energy has become one of the holy grails of modern industrial society. Since the Western technologically-advanced nations own supplies began to deplete from the 1970s those economies became increasingly dependent on foreign oil, especially from volatile (and potentially hostile) areas in the Middle East, and gas from the world's major producer - Russia. The discovery of large deposits of shale oil and gas in North America and across other parts of the world has been a major game changer as it puts the control of energy back in the hands of the US and its European partners. These countries had been trying to develop alternative, renewable resources for many years without any real major breakthrough and these sources still only offer a very small percentage of the total (and growing) energy requirements. Shale gas and oil offers abundant supply within the geographical areas of US and Europe and self-sufficiency for, potentially, another century. But the method of extracting these resources fracking has become an area of major controversy, sparking one of the great political and economic debates of modern times. Shale gas and oil promises massive benefits to the US and other economies; but are the health and environmental risks just too great?

Auteur

Michael Marcovici: Marcovici was born in 1969 in Vienna, he became interested in technology, especially electronics and mathematics, at the age of seven. By 12, he had worked as a programmer, and quit school at 17. He then started his first business in the financial field, publishing analysis on the financial markets a stock newsletter and managing funds, . From 1995 on he was the publisher of werk-zeug, a technology and art magazine, as well as streetfashion, a magazine featuring fashionable people on the streets of the world. He was also active as a software developer and inventor. Marcovici holds international patents for climbing equipment, bicycle gears, trading systems and electronic payment systems In 2001 Marcovici started to publish books on various polarizing topics from gun laws over finance, technology, society and much more. Marcovici is usually working together with bloggers and experts to give the reader a good overview over the topic from different angles and point of views.