Future Directions for the U.S. Geological Survey's Energy Resources Program (2018) / Chapter Skim
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6 Recommendations
6 Recommendations
Pages 95-112
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From page 95... ...
Exploring and developing geologic energy resources in an environmentally and socially responsible manner; 3. Overcoming technical and economic barriers to new resource development processes; and 4.
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From page 96... ...
Individual recommendations do not respond to the individual challenges described above, but collectively address how ERP activities need to evolve. The committee developed its consensus recommendations in consideration of the constantly changing national and global energy landscape and based on input from consumers of ERP products.
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From page 97... ...
The ERP needs to prioritize its activities based on constant consideration of the current and emerging energy resource needs; the form and function of ERP products most useful to its stakeholders; and the strengths and competencies of the program. For example, oil and gas resource assessments -- and specifically continuous (unconventional)
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From page 98... ...
Emerging geologically based energy resources or geologic issues related to the nation's energy mix that require the attention and expertise of the ERP to address are those associated with geothermal energy, methane hydrates, and opportunities for subsurface energy storage. The near-term contributions for future energy sources such as methane hydrates, renewables, and nuclear power are less predictable given evolving government policies and regulations and on technological advances that are still in development.
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From page 99... ...
Geothermal Although geothermal energy is a relatively small contributor to the nation's energy mix, the geothermal energy potential of the United States is substantial, with the added advantage that geothermal energy is a renewable resource that provides baseload energy. To develop geothermal energy resources and reduce exploration and development risk, advances in subsurface exploration strategies and engineering technologies are required.
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From page 100... ...
Continued ERP collaboration on hydrate research activities in the United States and internationally and expanded consideration of environmental consequences have the potential to make the United States the world leader in methane hydrates as an energy asset. The importance of hydrates to the nation's future energy mix, however, is highly uncertain, given expected availability and reliance on natural gas and given the uncertainty regarding when responsible hydrate production technologies will be feasible.
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From page 101... ...
energy resource mix, but given that when and how those resources are developed will depend on a changes in technologies and market and regulatory conditions, it is difficult to quantify their contributions to the future energy mix. The ERP needs to retain core skills in these areas to ensure that it can respond to future needs of the nation.
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From page 102... ...
ERP uranium resource assessments are the sole source of public information on quantities and grades of uranium deposits in the country developed using the most modern methods. ERP publications and data are unique sources of information on the national endowment of this strategic metal and on the potential environmental impacts of developing these resources.
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From page 103... ...
To produce such assessments, the ERP could partner, for example, with the Ecosystems mission area of the USGS or with other agencies that would conduct research on the impacts of resource development on ecological, water, and air quality. The ERP could then incorporate the geospatially relevant work of those research results into ERP products to highlight the relationships between energy resources and environmental vulnerabilities to impacts.
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From page 104... ...
They direct the ERP to consider end goals in energy resource management: safe, responsible, and productive energy development that best serves the long-term needs of the nation. The next-generation resource assessments will provide the data to support full-lifecycle and full-systems analyses by ERP product consumers and will include information about the quality, quantity, and recoverability of multiple commodities, as well as spatial information related to production needs and the impacts on infrastructure and the environment over the lifecycle of development.
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From page 105... ...
The ERP provides assessments of in-place geologic resources and the fraction of which that are technically recoverable, given today's technologies. The value of ERP assessments to many of its stakeholders would increase substantially by including analysis layers with information about resource quality, economic recoverability, and information that would support the development of robust energy resource supply curves by others (see Box 3.2)
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From page 106... ...
Future ERP assessments might include information about linked processes relevant to the available resources. To provide accurate descriptions of all geologic energy resources in a given sedimentary basin or region, the ERP needs regularly to create geologic models that describe systematic interactions among geologic processes at a basin scale.
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From page 107... ...
. The ERP now maintains some databases relevant to the development of geologic energy resources (e.g., geochemistry of source rocks, oil and gas, and produced waters)
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From page 108... ...
Improving Timeliness Recommendation 9: Improve the timeliness of ERP products and related data. The time the ERP takes to release complete resource assessments yields products that may be -- or may be considered by consumers to be -- outdated and therefore irrelevant.
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From page 109... ...
In addition, ongoing interaction is needed for: • identifying emerging issues that affect the accessible energy resource inventory; • identifying new geologic energy resources as well as assessment and development methods to be investigated; • identifying opportunities to leverage resources and collaborate on research; • reviewing ERP methodologies and products; • reviewing program competencies to make sure they are consistent with current and future needs; and • establishing priorities for ERP activity. Assessing product use could begin by tracking the number of page visits or downloads of various products from ERP websites.
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From page 110... ...
• Partnering more with other USGS units to expand the breadth and depth of ERP products. The ERP has already demonstrated this approach to some extent with the Geothermal Resource Investigations Project and with contributions from multiple USGS units along with federal, state, academic, and industry collaborators.
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From page 111... ...
Indeed, national energy planning is best accomplished with an ERP that delivers timely, usable, and cutting-edge information on geologic energy resources and their development.
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