56% increase shale gas 2012-2040; 100% 200% increase solar 2012-2014

Projected 56% fracked methane increase over 28 years sets a Wall Street analyst a-twitter, while solar already went up 400% in four years and will continue to do so for the next decade. Which would you rather bet on? More “natural” gas pipelines that would take twice the land to produce as much power as solar panels, or just go straight to installing the solar panels, faster, cheaper, and with local jobs and reduced electric bills?

David Alton Clark wrote for seekingalpha 20 June 2014, Kinder Morgan: Is The Party Over?

1) Shale gas provides the largest source of growth in U.S. natural gas supply.

A 56% increase is expected in total natural gas production from 2012 to 2040 resulting primarily from increased development of shale gas, tight gas, and offshore natural gas resources.

He claims U.S. demand is still leading production, but:

2) Natural gas production is currently growing faster than use. The EIA predicts the U.S. will become a net exporter of natural gas before 2020.

He’s real excited about this phenomenal fracked methane growth story, to profit a few fossil fuel companies by taking local Americans’ land for LNG export.

Meanwhile, as we’ve already seen, U.S. solar power production already increased more than 400% in four years, and there’s every reason to believe that kind of solar growth will continue for another decade. This is why in less than a decade, as former FERC Chair Jon Wellinghoff predicted, solar will overtake every other U.S. power source.

-jsq