Hydraulic Fracturing – A technology under debate

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, is a critically and controversially debated technology that di-vides opinion among both politicians and the general pub-lic. At the same time, hydraulic fracturing is a prerequisite for two applications significant in terms of economic and energy policy: the production of unconventional gas from shale formations (shale gas) and the utilisation of heat energy from petrothermal reservoirs deep underground.

It is against this multi-layered background that acatech has elaborated this POSITION. Addressing the various facets of fracking, the paper wishes to contribute to objectifying the debate. It aims at broad-ening the available information base by a comprehensive scientific and technical overview of the method and its risks and benefits. This will allow decision-makers from politics as well as interested members of the public to draw their own conclusions about hydraulic fracturing and to decide on the further use of the technology.