Extreme energy is change to use of techniques for the production of energy from unconventional resources  which share characteristics of being environmentally damaging or risky. Examples include exploitation of oil sands and shale oil

Shale oil

Shale oil, known also as kerogen oil or oil-shale oil, is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil and gas...

, deepwater drilling

Deepwater drilling

Deepwater drilling is the process of oil and gas exploration and production in depths of more than 500 feet. By this definition, there are approximately 600 deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico....

, hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing

Considerable controversy surrounds the current implementation of hydraulic fracturing technology in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of utilizing pressurized water, or some other liquid, to fracture rock layers and release petroleum, natural gas, or other...

, mountaintop removal mining, petroleum exploration in the Arctic

Petroleum exploration in the Arctic

The exploration of the Arctic for petroleum is more technically and physically challenging than for any other environment. However, with increases in technology and continuing high oil prices the region is now receiving the interest of the petroleum industry....

, and natural gas hydrates

Methane clathrate

Methane clathrate, also called methane hydrate, hydromethane, methane ice, "fire ice", natural gas hydrate or just gas hydrate, is a solid clathrate compound in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming a solid similar to ice...

. The concept was originated by Michael Klare

Michael Klare

Michael T. Klare is a Five Colleges professor of Peace and World Security Studies, whose department is located at Hampshire College, defense correspondent of The Nation magazine, and author of Resource Wars and Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency...

 of Hampshire College

Hampshire College

Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...

, Five Colleges

Five Colleges (Massachusetts)

The Five Colleges comprises four liberal arts colleges and one university in the Connecticut River Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, totaling approximately 28,000 students. The schools belong to a consortium called Five Colleges, Incorporated, established in 1965...

 professor of Peace and World Security Studies.

The International Energy Agency

International Energy Agency

The International Energy Agency is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis...

 predicted in 2011 that production of unconventional oil, mostly from heavy oil or oil sands in Venezuela and Canada would reach 10 million barrels a day by 2035. The degree to which production is economically viable remains uncertain as only high prices resulting from high demand can support the increased cost of production from unconventional sources.

Further reading

• Klare, Michael T. The Race for What's Left: The Global Scramble for the World's Last Resources, Metropolitan Books; First Edition edition (March 13, 2012), hardcover, 320 pages,

External links

• "The Relentless Pursuit of Extreme Energy: A New Oil Rush Endangers the Gulf of Mexico and the Planet" by Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch.Com, May 18, 2010