Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of drilling into the Earth (10,000 ft or so) so a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals can be shot down at high pressure into the sediment to fracture the rock and release the gas trapped below the surface of the Earth. Fracking is, in a way, a displacement of the gas under the surface of the Earth using the mixture of water, chemicals, and sand. Each well can be fractured up to 18 times, and with around 500,000 wells in the U.S., that creates a lot of fracking.

On average, around 400 tanker trucks are necessary to transport the water, sand, and chemicals to and from each gas well. Anywhere from one to eight million gallons of water are used for each fracture and about 40,000 gallons of chemicals are used for each fracture. The chemicals that are mixed in with the water and sand include: hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, radium, mercury, lead, uranium, and up to 600 more.

You may ask yourself: how is this all effecting our environment? I would say that fracking is in fact harming our environment more than we are benefitting from it. If we do the math, 500,000 wells times 40,000 gallons of chemicals and 1-8 million gallons of water comes out to 20 billion gallons of chemicals and in the trillions of gallons of water that we are pumping into the Earth. This all contributes to the overall pollution of our atmosphere and the contamination of a large amount of fresh water and drinkable water in the areas where the fracking wells are located.

While fracking does provide the U.S. with lower gas prices and allows us to reach these resources like gas and oil, it causes a lot of harm as well. We have become more and more dependent of these fossil fuels which has acted as blinders that focus our vision away from other renewable energy sources. Contamination of nearby drinking water and adding to the pollution of our atmosphere are two other major problems that come with fracking.

Introduction

http://www.dangersoffracking.com

http://www.nrdc.org/energy/gasdrilling/

The U.S. power grid is an electrical system that connects the producers of electricity to the consumers through power lines and facilities. The grid is comprised of generating stations where mass quantities of electricity are produced, however these massive quantities of electricity need to be produced simultaneously to keep the grid stable because large amounts of electricity are not able to be store effectively and efficiently. Along with the generating stations, the large transmission lines actually transport the electricity from producer to consumer. These power lines do lose some of the electricity throughout the process or transporting it, but we are able to increase the voltage on these lines which allows us to increase the amount of power being transported. This increase in the carrying capacity of these transmission lines makes the transmission of electricity more efficient. The electricity itself has varying ways in which it is created and produced. The main ways include using coal, hydroelectric, and natural gas. In the U.S. there are three power grids operating constantly, so we do not have a nation wide grid.

The emerging Smart Grid is a new way we are starting to deliver electricity and information between consumer and producer. The new grid system is a two-way communication network between the producer and consumer or electricity. Simply put, making the grid “smart” is just saying that we are computerizing the power network. The Smart Grid allows the power industry monitor the grid and system more closely because of the information they receive back from each consumer. This advancement creates a quicker and more efficient way to transport electricity with a more simple way to detect outages and fix them. Some pros to the Smart Grid are being able to use and handle the power produced from wind and solar sources, lower prices for electricity consumption, and easier ways for larger consumers to monitor and maintain a desired level of consumption. Some of the cons include an expensive rebuilding of the grid and hackers that may get into the system and tamper with meters because of the advance in technological networks that would be implemented in the new Smart Grid.

http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/power_grid.cfm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_grid

http://energy.gov/oe/services/technology-development/smart-grid

https://electrical-systems-lighting.knoji.com/pros-and-cons-of-the-smart-grid/