Bill Powers - Cold, Hungry and in the Dark: Exploding the Natural Gas Supply Myth

Praise for

Bill Powers cuts through the deceptions of the natural gas industrys PR machine with a little bit of historyweve been here before!and a meticulously researched survey of the current disturbing trends in North American natural gas production. Powers step-by-step dismantling of the abundance myth ought to alarm policymakers, corporate managers, investors, business owners and concerned citizens alike. That alarm needs to translate into action along lines he suggests in order to meet the very real and daunting energy challenges we face.

Kurt Cobb, author, Prelude (a peak oil novel), and frequent contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Everyone should be aware of Bills work because it is going to change nearly all current expectations about energy in the US if he is correct.

Jim Rogers, author, Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets; Investment Biker; A Bull in China; Hot Commodities; and Adventure Capitalist

As our master resources of oil and gas dwindle and get much less cheap, the master wish in a wishful society is the wish to keep driving to WalMart forever. Bill Powers disperses the smoke and shatters the mirrors of a nation wishing itself to death. He lays out in lucid detail why shale gas is not the game-changer touted in Wall Streets propaganda mills and he is brave enough to draw conclusions that Americans desperately need to hear, if were to have any chance of passing successfully through the great bottleneck of history that looms just ahead.

James Howard Kunstler, author, The Long Emergency and Too Much Magic, and the World Made By Hand novels

Bill Powers has an outstanding ability to see the patterns within a large diverse set of data. He has made it clear why natural gas in North America will experience severe supply issues, resulting in much higher prices in the near future. Highly recommended for investors in the natural gas and energy sector.

Harley Kempthorne, P. Eng.

Cold, Hungry and in the Dark is a deep dive into the data on shale gas, and a must-read for anyone involved in energy policy, journalism, or investing. Energy data nerds will love this book. Powers retelling of the history of natural gas production and policy provides a very useful context for understanding where we are in the progression of gas development, and his careful debunking of the oversold expectations for gas is timely and important. There is no doubt that horizontal drilling and hydrofracking of gas-bearing shales is a triumph of technology that brought us a new abundance of gas in a remarkably short time, but we should heed his warning that it could have a much shorter life than is generally believed. The future of shale gas is uncertain, and this study offers some immensely useful signposts that have been lacking until now.

Chris Nelder, author, Profit from the Peak and Investing in Renewable Energy and editor, www.getreallist.com energy blog

The rhetoric around 100 years of gas and growing production from shale with low prices for decades is pervasive, and is setting the US economy up for an energy shock that is completely off the political radar. Bill Powers brings a crystal clear focus to the realities of future gas production and prices, and dissects the pervasive hype. It is a must read for understanding the risks of accepting conventional wisdom of eternal cheap energy on long term US energy security. Gas will be a very important input to US energy for the foreseeable future, but assuming it will be cheap and abundant ad infinitum is unrealistic and dangerous in terms of energy policy development this book provides the facts on future gas supply and prices that are critical in designing a more sustainable energy future.

Dave Hughes, Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and Geologist Emeritus of the Geological Survey of Canada

Copyright 2013 by Bill Powers. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh. Flame image iStock (alessandroiryna)

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-743-5 eISBN: 978-1-55092-528-9

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages.

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Cold, Hungry and in the Dark should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.

To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Powers, Bill, 1970Cold, hungry and in the dark : exploding the natural gas supply myth / Bill Powers ; foreword by Art Berman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-86571-743-5

1. Natural gas reserves Economic aspects United States. 2. Natural gas Prices United States. I. Title.

HD9581.U52P69 2013 333.82330973 C2013-901315-6

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council-registered acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC-registered stock. New Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com