With the Académie des Sciences in 2013-2014

PeRFORminG the ROLe OF An eXPeRt AnD ADViSOR

shale gas: wishing for more research

Elements to Clarify the Shale Gas Debat, an Advice Note, November 2013

France, which imports 98% of the gas it uses, would be,

with Poland, the greatest shale gas reservoir in europe. the

idea to reach energy autonomy through the exploitation of

shale gas is thus a tempting one. it appears nevertheless

necessary to first take an up-to-date stock of the risks

induced by their extraction and provide a rational appraisal of

the uncertainties. the Académie des Sciences has taken the

initiative to study this complex issue it had already mentioned

in its report La recherche scientifique face aux défis de

l’énergie (December 2012).

it expounds in this Advice note the main aspects that should be taken into account in matters of environmental risk

control:

water availability: admittedly, the necessary volume is high, yet it should be compared to other water consuming

activities, including leisure, and other sectors that produce energy;

preventing the contamination of ground water: such contamination, caused by methane or products used in fracturing,

is possible but it can be avoided by respecting minimum vertical distances between the fracturing zones and the

aquifers. the sealing of the casings, to prevent leakage into the aquifers involves, for its part, techniques that are well

known and handled by the gas and fuel industry, but whether drillings will remain sealed in the long run is a question

that should be thoroughly investigated;

recovering water used for drilling and fracturing: it is advisable to initiate research aimed at developing agents that

improve fracturing efficiency and mitigate the impacts on the environment. Water used for drilling is a potential

contaminant and, before any exploration or exploitation should occur, relevant wastewater treatment processes

should be defined and implemented;

greenhouse impacts: for the same quantity of energy produced, using gas implies a two-fold decrease of cO

emissions, compared to using coal. moreover, using gas avoids emitting pollutants that are proper to coal (heavy

metals and natural radioactive elements). the balance of replacing coal by natural gas is thus a positive one, provided,

though, that the level of methane leakage remains low;

induced seismicity: it appear lower than natural seismicity or seismicity linked to mining activities. nevertheless, the

risk should be assessed depending on the local conditions and requires implementing strict and efficient seismicity

monitoring procedures.

to progress on all these aspects, the Académie des Sciences recommends that

“an independent multidisciplinary scientific

authority be created to monitor any action taken to objectively evaluate shale gas resources and exploitation methods”

scientific publishing: time to change the model?

The challenges Facing Scientific Edition, a Report, July 2014

The Académie des Sciences considers that the current models of scientific publishing to not ensure

the whole international scientific community equal access to high-quality, immediately available

information. It recommends a restructuration along two major lines of work: open archives and an

Open Access institutional framework based on the ratification of national, or even international,

agreements, between the States and publishers. In this report, the Académie des Sciences also

mentions the primordial role played by scientific publishing in the assessment of researchers and

the negative drifts that may be expected from this.