he world is witnessing the dawn of a new era in energy production. And manufactur- ers—who innovate, engineer and supply the tools needed to extract, capture, gener- ate, store and transport that energy—are at the forefront.
Thanks to their innovation and engineering, a surge in shale oil and natural gas produc- tion in the US has put energy independence in the nation’s sights. In fact, it is causing the world to redraw its global energy map, as well as the financial and political maps inevitably influenced by the world’s intense demand for energy.
ME Senior Editor James Sawyer laid witness to this development on a recent visit to Pittsburgh, an old hotbed of energy production and manufacturing made new again by fracking in the Marcellus Shale play, calling it “Houston on the Monongahela.” You can see his article at http://tinyurl.com/newenergymfg
Indeed, this explosion of North American oil and gas development will be a hot topic at
SME’s HOUSTEX event in Houston Feb. 26-28. But it’s not just the very real explosion of fracking in the US that’s causing all the buzz. New energy innovations are cropping up in wind, solar and elsewhere as companies “go green,” not just to be politically correct, but because they are concerned about global warm- ing and believe that energy is the next frontier in the lean movement. There are risks to this happy new energy future, of course. The increasing output of shale oil and natural gas is disrupting the energy market and hurting the case for renewables, which is why that industry has been celebrating the extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), a subject of this month's NewsDesk. Meanwhile, those on the fracking frontier, where there is always a risk of accident, must be careful to take seriously their efforts to protect the environment as they go about their business. Last month, the movie, The Promised Land, was released. It stars Matt Damon as a salesman trying to convince poor residents of a small town to sell the drilling rights to their properties, and it may raise fears about fracking and its impact on water supplies. The impact of such concerns should not be taken lightly. A December Wall Street Journal article, “Global Gas Push Stalls,” showed that environmental concerns are a major obstacle for US energy firms trying to expand their shale oil and natural gas business to plays outside of North America. But that old saying “You can’t stop progress” is relevant here. The genie is out of the bottle and, regardless of what- ever protests or regulations may come, a new energy era is upon us.
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