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Geothermal, and high pressure undeground storage of water are two experimental techniques being studied for short-term storage of wind and solar energy. Since both sources are intermittent, the generation capacity is often not available when needed. Batteries are not the only solution, “hot rock” and subterranean pressurized caverns present alternatives.

It remains to be seen if the dangers of fracking can be avoided with these wells.

How a Technology Similar to Fracking Can Store Renewable Energy Underground Without Lithium Batteries – Inside Climate News

Three Houston startups are using fracking-like techniques to create underground storage caverns for pressurized water, which when released drives a turbine to send power to the grid.

(The accused says it wasn’t them, the politician says it’s premature to fix blame, the EPA says fracking is the likely source — the familiar dodge. Meanwhile, the victims must tough it out. Fracking does nothing good for locals. Moreover, the gas they want to sell is speeding us all toward more climate disasters.

Studies of mussels downstream of a fracking water treatment facility found them to have radium which was likely from the produced water of fracked wells. “[The researcher explained] that other types of wastewater generally do not contain many radioactive particles, but oil and gas wastewaters found deep in the earth and brought out by fracking often contain specific unique element ratios—a kind of signature that can be traced. The unique ratios of radioactive elements allowed the team to identify that the source of the contaminants is likely the treated Marcellus Shale wastewater.”

Mussels downstream of wastewater treatment plant contain radium, study reports

Burrowed into streambeds and rarely moving for their decades-long lifespans, freshwater mussels are biomonitors, meaning they indicate how clean their environment is, according to Penn State researchers. As the bivalves feed on organic matter and filter the water around them, their inner tissues and hard shells begin to reflect whatever is in their environment—including radioactive particles.

The evidence keeps piling up. The harmful effects and risks of fracking are serious, and the benefits to society are next to nil. We know we need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, but the energy industry seeks to obscure and marginalize the risks. Moreover, it has a poor record of doing the right thing to mitigate the damage it causes.

The water produced by fracking operations contains a lot of nasty stuff. However, commercially interesting amounts of lithium might be recoverable. The article below doesn’t deal with the question of what we do with all other rest of the nasty stuff. It says, “And once the lithium is extracted, there is still the issue of disposal of the remaining wastewater that could still contain toxic substances, whether it gets used to frack another well or if it gets shipped off to a deep injection well for disposal.”

Could Pennsylvania’s fracking wastewater hold the key to the country’s energy transition?

The U.S. will need a lot more lithium to make the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale has a ton of it.

No, it’s not a clean way to frack. Fracking, but whatever it means, does nothing to improve the environment. New York should ban it.

Dr. Sandra Steingraber urges Hochul to sign carbon dioxide fracking ban

The practice uses CO2 instead of water to extract shale gas.

It would seem an obviously bad idea to use a greenhouse gas for fracking, wouldn’t it?

They are orphans because the people who profited from them left it for the rest of us to be responsible and close them. It looks like even $4.7 Billion won’t be enough to plug the orphans.

Potential Opportunities and Risks of Orphaned Wells | PSE | Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy

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