Shale Gas and the Future of Energy

Dernbach and May have brought together a marvelous collection of essays that join two inseparable issues: shale gas and sustainability. Each of the 12 articles, written by important authors, together with an introduction and conclusion from Dernbach and May, offers insightful recommendations on how to explore shale gas around the globe in a sustainable way.'

- Marcelo Dantas, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (UNIVALI), SC, BrazilThe rapid growth of shale gas development has led to an intense and polarizing debate about its merit. This book asks and suggests answers to the question that has not yet been systematically analysed: what laws and policies are needed to ensure that shale gas development helps to accelerate the transition to sustainability?

In this groundbreaking book, more than a dozen experts in policy and academia assess the role that sustainability plays in decisions concerning shale gas development in the US and elsewhere, offering legal and policy recommendations for developing shale gas in a manner that accelerates the transition to sustainability. Contributors assess good practices from Pennsylvania to around the planet, discussing how these lessons translate to other jurisdictions. Ultimately, the book concludes that major changes in law and policy are needed to develop shale gas sustainably.

Policymakers and educators alike will find this book to be a valuable resource, as it tackles the technical, social, economic and legal aspects associated with this sustainability issue. Other strengths are its clear language and middle-ground policy perspective that will make Shale Gas and the Future of Energy accessible to both students and the general public.

Contributors: D.A. Brown, T. Daya-Winterbottom, J. Glazewski, B.D. Goldstein, P. Ko, B. Kolb, K.T. Kristl, J.A. 'Skip' Laitner, J. McElfish, J. Morgan, J.H. Quigley, P. Salkin, D.B. Spence, D. Stares, J. Ubinger, Jr., J. Williamson