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Shale gas

Better modelling for the energy mix

Nature volume 515, page 198 (2014)Cite this article

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Contrary to Haewon McJeon and colleagues' implications (Nature 514, 482–485; 2014), natural shale gas and renewables are not necessarily competitors. They are driven by different policies and markets.

Over the next decade or so, natural gas can reduce coal consumption and can be rapidly dispatched to balance the intermittency of energy from wind and solar sources. In the longer term, say over the next 50 years, this mix can provide a path to an affordable, low-carbon energy system, especially if it is configured as a backup or coupled with energy storage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Haynes and Boone, Washington DC, USA

    Alexander Q. Gilbert

  2. Aarhus University, Denmark

    Benjamin K. Sovacool

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  1. Alexander Q. Gilbert
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  2. Benjamin K. Sovacool
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Correspondence to Benjamin K. Sovacool.

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Gilbert, A., Sovacool, B. Better modelling for the energy mix. Nature 515, 198 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/515198b

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  1. Steve Davis

    The fact that Gilbert and Sovacool can imagine a world in which natural gas is used only to support and complement renewables is hardly compelling. Thus far, gas is not being used to balance variable renewable generation so much as it is supplying base load power. See, for example, the period of [negative power prices](http://cleantechnica.com/20... in Texas and California as operators try to offload excess wind power while keeping the natural gas plants spinning. The point is that energy-climate analysts cannot evaluate technological trends through the lenses of mythical policies; they must confront the reality of policies that exist (or not). In the case of gas, existing and anticipated policies are in fact pitting gas against renewables.

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