John Deutch (MIT and former gov bigwig) is the latest to tout the "revolution" on the horizon. He worries that accidents like BP's Gulf disaster or Three Mile Island (great example) have too much lasting--and negative--impact on US energy policy.
Actually, the entire Core stands to benefit from the shale gas revolution, as it re-empowers a host of countries who previously viewed themselves as energy dependent.
Two huge impacts:
- Short-run: gas crowds out coal in electricity generation--crucial for coal-gobbling China especially (although hard to shift percentages when your energy use grows that fast); and
- Long run: gas becomes more attractive for transportation.
Guess who leads the world in NG use in transpo?
That would be Pakistan, with 2.4m vehicles and 3000 fueling stations. The US has only 100k vehicles and 1300 stations, meaning gas now accounts for 0.1% of the 12mbd oil we use for transpo.
As energy "independence" arguments go (I usually hate them), this one is pretty sound.