China's confidence has been bolstered by a new report of its estimated reserves of shale gas, which shows them to be, by far, the largest in the world.
The U.S. Energy Information Agency in a report last month estimates China holds 36.1 trillion cubic meters (1,275 trillion cubic feet) of technically recoverable shale gas reserves -- significantly higher than the 24.4 tcm (862 trillion cubic feet) in the United States, which has the second-most.
Industry estimates in China peg shale gas resources slightly lower -- but still huge -- at 26 trillion cubic meters (tcm), although they have yet to give their own forecasts of how much of that is recoverable.
Thomas Friedman might have to scale back on his periodic homages to the green, reasonably enlightened elites in Peking.
But that isn't even the best part of this story, as fun as a shot at America's most over-rated deep thinker is.
You know how China got on to this gas shale business? Well, somebody else who believed the Greens here back when they said that natural gas was a good energy source decided to help the Chinese:
The shale rush only really began in China when President Barack Obama signed a cooperation pact on shale gas in November 2009 during a state visit to Beijing, just weeks before the Copenhagen climate talks. Washington thought that if China could increase gas usage at the expense of dirty coal, it would reduce the carbon footprint of the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluter.
Fancy that. I assume American Greens will punish President Obama at the voting booth next year for his sin against Gaia.
Life is good. It really is.
