The research team, led by Professor Sarah O’Hara and Professor Mathew Humphrey, University of Nottingham, studied the public perception of shale gas extraction in the UK over a 16-month period (March 2012 to July 2013) to look at the people’s view of shale gas. Their results show that the British public is beginning to warm to the idea of shale gas. The survey addressed general issues linked to shale gas such as: shale gas and earthquakes, shale gas’s association with contamination of drinking water, as well as questions related to clean energy, cheap energy resources and greenhouse gas emissions.

The key findings of the study are:

• Over 60 % of the respondents associate earthquakes with shale gas.
• The association of fracking with water contamination dropped from 45 % to 36 %, whereas the belief that fracking will not result in water contamination rose from 24 % to 29%.
• The majority of the respondents do not consider shale gas to be a clean energy source (45 % - 39 %), but during the interview time there was a 7 % increase in the number of people who consider shale gas as a clean fuel.
• The proportion of respondents considering shale gas to be a cheap energy resource rose from 40 % to 53 % during the survey.
• The majority of respondents stated that they don’t know whether shale gas has a positive or negative impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

In summary, “despite warnings about earthquakes, water contamination, and increasing carbon emissions, the UK public increasingly approve of the exploitation of shale gas as an energy source.”

In the light of the current protests against hydraulic fracturing in Balcombe, Sussex in Great Britain and the resulting presence of the topic in the media, a continuation of the acceptance study would be very interesting.

Reproduction of the Press Release of University of Nottingham