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Uncomfortable Nuance: Natural Gas Edition

2019-05-31 · explainer · Hank · 3:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Explainer

Hank argues that coal's collapse in the UK and US, very good news for the climate, was largely brought about by cheap natural gas from fracking, which is genuinely bad for local environments; he urges accepting that climate solutions carry their own environmental costs rather than inventing villains.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's viral tweet about an infographic of UK coal use

  • ★★ Hank recently had a tweet go viral: a quote tweet of a tweet citing an infographic of UK coal use over the last eight years, responding, more vulgarly, 'we can do this'. — 00:00:00 · Twitter, United Kingdom
  • ★ Hank says that with only 240 characters on Twitter you have to be more attention-grabbing, maybe more vulgar and outraged, a topic for another video. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:00 · Twitter

00:00:40 — UK coal displaced by natural gas, a cleaner, lower-carbon fuel

  • ★★★ Hank says that facing a climate crisis, many call the solutions impractical or impossible, but we can do this. — 00:00:40 · climate change
  • ★★ Hank says the UK used to be the center of the coal world, and now there are some days when it produces no coal-fired power at all. — 00:00:40 · United Kingdom
  • ★★★ Hank says what really hit UK coal was natural gas, a cleaner fuel that produces less carbon dioxide per megawatt of energy. — 00:00:40 · United Kingdom
  • ★★ Hank says the US would produce far more carbon dioxide without the sudden supply of cheap natural gas, which is kind of putting coal out of business. — 00:00:40 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says renewables like wind and solar are also part of coal's decline, but natural gas is a really important part. — 00:00:40

00:01:27 — Fracking made gas cheap; its harms; gas as a flexible complement to wind and solar

  • ★★★ Hank says natural gas became cost-competitive with coal because of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Hank agrees with environmental circles that fracking is bad: it harms local environments, uses huge amounts of water, risks spills, affects wildlife, poses health hazards and, done poorly, releases methane, a greenhouse gas. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Hank says natural gas complements wind and solar, which don't match output to demand: unlike always-on coal plants, gas plants switch on and off to cover demand spikes or calm, cloudy spells. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Hank says other long-term solutions may exist, but right now natural gas is a really good way to balance renewables and makes the transition to them much easier. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Hank says regulations can reduce fracking's potential harms, but there is no way to eliminate them completely. — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — Uncomfortable nuance: mitigation has impacts, gas as a bridge, no villain blocking a magic solution

  • ★★★ Hank says, as he does over and over, that climate change is like the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. — 00:02:26 · climate change
  • ★★★ Hank says the ways we mitigate climate change will themselves have environmental impacts, which is uncomfortable to think or talk about. — 00:02:26 · climate change
  • ★★★ Hank won't decide in four minutes whether fracking is ultimately good or bad: it depends on how and where it's done, and it is not a long-term solution but a bridge to the future we need. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Hank says it is far too easy to create a villain standing in the way of some magical solution that isn't really there. — 00:03:06
  • ★★ Hank says the energy transition will take a long time but has to be done as fast as possible. — 00:03:06
  • ★★★ Hank says that in the last ten years coal has become an economically unviable way to make power, at least in America: huge, very good news, brought largely though not entirely by fracking. — 00:03:06 · United States
  • ★★ Hank, often mad at all fossil fuels, says he has to include fracking's role in his worldview and his picture of the path out of this mess. — 00:03:36

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Hank almost titled the video 'Is fracking good?' but the answer is obviously no: anything that increases the fossil fuels we can extract is bad. — video description
  • ★★ The description adds that natural gas heats much of America, and skyrocketing gas prices would hurt poor people who sometimes must choose between bills. — video description · United States
  • ★ The description credits Our World in Data for most of the video's data. — video description
  • ★★ Hank notes that the Our World in Data figures do not show the growth in coal use in Asia over the last two years, which is terrible news because coal plants run for decades once built. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank says more regulated fracking in Asia could help bring an immediate end to new coal plants in China and India, probably the most important short-term goal for curbing the climate crisis. (hedged) — video description · China, climate change

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: climate change · coal · hydraulic fracturing · natural gas

Also: Organizations: Twitter

Concepts: carbon dioxide · energy transition · fossil fuel · greenhouse gas · methane · solar power · wind power

Places: United Kingdom · United States

Only in the description or credits: Asia · China · India · Our World in Data

Also centred on coal: May 30th: Ranavalona and Clean Coal · Trees are Destroying the Earth (Again) · The Molecule that Changed Everything

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