Sustainable development index of shale gas exploitation in China, the UK, and the US

Abstract

While shale gas could complement the world's natural gas supply, its environmental tradeoffs and sustainability potential should be cautiously assessed before using it to satisfy future energy needs. Shale gas development in China is still in its infancy but has been progressing by the Central Government at a fast pace nowadays. Advanced experience from North America would greatly benefit sustainable design and decision-making for energy development in China. However, the lack of consistency concerning internal and external parameters among previous investigations does not allow an integrated impact comparison among shale gas-rich countries. Herein, we applied a meta-analysis to harmonize environmental tradeoff data through a comprehensive literature review. Greenhouse gas emission, water consumption, and energy demand were selected as environmental tradeoff indicators during shale gas production. Data harmonization suggested that environmental tradeoffs ranged from 5.6 to 37.4 g CO2-eq, 11.0–119.7 mL water, and 0.027–0.127 MJ energy to produce 1 MJ shale gas worldwide. Furthermore, sustainable development indexes (SDIs) for shale gas exploitation in China were analyzed and compared to the United States and the United Kingdom by considering environment, economy, and social demand through an analytic hierarchy process. The United States and China elicit higher SDIs than the United Kingdom, indicating higher feasibility for shale gas exploitation. Although China has relatively low scores in the environmental aspect, large reservoirs and high future market demand make Chinese shale gas favorable in the social demand aspect. Region-specific SDI characteristics identified among representative countries could improve the sustainability potential of regional development and global energy supply.