Learn how the United Kingdom measures the safety and the impact on energy security of extracting shale gas via fracking

Gas is a central component of the UK energy system. It's the main way we heat our homes and cook our food, and it also powers about 40% of our electricity. But when the energy and climate change committee launched an inquiry into shale gas in 2010, few people in Britain had even heard the term "fracking."

Fracking is a form of drilling used to extract hard-to-reach shale gas deposits. In America, this unconventional method has caused an energy revolution. Before fracking could happen in the UK, questions had to be answered about its feasibility, its impact on the environment, what it meant for energy security.

Our first major inquiry on the potential for shale gas looked at the lessons learned in other countries, and put the issue on the national agenda. So we established that shale gas extraction is safe, provided that there's good regulation. We cautioned that shale gas is unlikely to be a game-changer here, as it has been in America, because of differences in geology, in regulation and in public attitudes.

Our second inquiry looked at its impact on energy security and on gas prices here in the UK. We concluded that it was impossible to be sure how much shale gas can be recovered in Britain unless and until practical production experience has been gained. We therefore urge the government to encourage exploratory shale gas operations.

To proceed in order to improve current estimates, always providing the public concern over environmental impacts, is recognized and taken into account. We urged the communities affected by shale gas development should share in the material financial benefits of any drilling in their area. Eight months after our report, the prime minister announced that local councils will be able to keep 100% of the rates they collect from shale sites, double the usual 50%, and an idea that we'd voted in our report.