Shale Gas: The Promise and the Peril

Vikram Rao, PhD, is Executive Director of the Research Triangle Energy Consortium (RTEC), a nonprofit in energy founded by Duke University, North Carolina State University, RTI International, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Its mission is to illuminate national energy priorities and by extension those of the world, and to catalyze research to address these priorities.

While in a pro bono advisory capacity to a major nongovernmental organization (NGO), Dr. Rao became very familiar with the environmental issues related to shale gas. This added to his previous knowledge of shale-gas-related technology and operations. As an organization, RTEC was increasingly viewing natural gas as a transitional fuel to reach a future dominated by renewables. Also readily apparent was the fact that the nation was deeply divided regarding the ability to safely produce the needed natural gas domestically. Since rhetoric was often overtaking knowledge, Dr. Rao decided to use his background, augmented by more recent research, to illuminate both sides of the debate with a book designed to be readable by the lay public. This is the result.

Dr. Rao serves on the board of Intelligent Well Controls Ltd. and also advises venture capital firm Energy Ventures AS, and firms BioLargo, Inc., Global Energy Talent Ltd., and Integro Earth Fuels, LLC. He retired as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Halliburton Company in 2008 and followed his wife to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she is on the faculty of the University of North Carolina. Later that year he took his current position.

Dr. Rao is an engineer by training. He received his B Tech in metallurgy at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, followed by an MS and PhD in materials science and engineering at Stanford University. He has been married for 38 years to Susan J. Henning, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They have three sons. Justin, an economist, works in New York City. Colin, a mechanical engineer, works in Houston, as does his twin brother Mitchell, a computer scientist. The Raos’ aging dog, Kalu, stands ready to defend their home by lavishing love on any intruder.