Under ground sea water…that sounds interesting.
Millions of years ago alberta was a shallow tropical sea
Pictures from the Oil Sands
Under ground sea water…that sounds interesting.
There is a helluva lot of high salt content water in Alberta's ground. It is often used for sagd extraction as it is completely useless for anything else.
Shell is developing an electrical extraction method, and SAG-D is widely used to extract at a fraction of the impact.
So … even more intensive use of electrical power in a province that is power-limited, and whose power is almost entirely derived from hydrocarbon sources?
Kn.
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity.
When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called religion.
So … even more intensive use of electrical power in a province that is power-limited, and whose power is almost entirely derived from hydrocarbon sources?
Kn.
Say herro to site C.
Pastor of Muppets
There's nothing better than an Orangina after cheating death with Digger.
Perhaps those air and satellite photos should be balanced with photos of large metropolitan areas like New York City, Los Angeles, Hong Kong etc.
Debate? Bikes are made for riding not pushing.
Maybe I am a little jaded, but I could give a flying frack what happens to Alberta, I just want my energy to be as carbon neutral as possible and the tar sands are not what I consider to be the future. Get our energy elsewhere, the price of oil drops, and the tar sands are not profitable anymore. Simple.
Perhaps those air and satellite photos should be balanced with photos of large metropolitan areas like New York City, Los Angeles, Hong Kong etc.
Gotcha covered.
There's nothing better than an Orangina after cheating death with Digger.
Is anyone in this thread actually arguing that the Oil Sands are environmentally sound and that they are the ideal way to produce petroleum and energy products?
Looks fine to me, no different than any other mine in the world.
Here's my take on the oil sands.
Whether it's obtained through drilling, or processing the oil sands, our society's current reliance on hydrocarbon energy is unsustainable. This is becoming more and more recognized as environmental impacts and sustainability are part of the global discussions. The problem is that at this point we have no alternative. The machine runs on oil, and people are willing to pay to use it - seemingly no matter the price.
Canada is obviously a resource rich country, but our non-renewable oil resources obviously won't last forever. I see the oil sands as an opportunity - tax oil production/sales, and increase carbon taxes on gasoline sales. The proceeds from these taxes should go directly to providing research grants and subsidies for Canadian companies developing new technologies for production of renewable energy - solar, wind, hydro, tidal. Maybe then when our resources run out, we'll have developed a real manufacturing industry for something that matters - fixing our global dependence on oil. Use it for now because we have to, but work towards a cleaner future.
:canada:
Bicycles!
Canada is obviously a resource rich country, but our non-renewable oil resources obviously won't last forever. I see the oil sands as an opportunity - tax oil production/sales, and increase carbon taxes on gasoline sales. The proceeds from these taxes should go directly to providing research grants and subsidies for Canadian companies developing new technologies for production of renewable energy - solar, wind, hydro, tidal. Maybe then when our resources run out, we'll have developed a real manufacturing industry for something that matters - fixing our global dependence on oil. Use it for now because we have to, but work towards a cleaner future.
Dinner dinner chicken winner.
Couldn't agree more.
I agree, but I think our environmental concerns outweigh the risk of running out of sources of oil. I used to be very interested in the idea of peak oil but what I have realized is that we keep finding ways to push that date further back by developing hard to develop sources like the tar sands or deep water drills and everyone becomes complacent again.
Our biggest obstacle is Harper and the Conservatives. There is no way that a unregulated market worshipper will ever put up the kind of public investment required for research and infrastructure preferring to let the market decide, and of course the market could give a rat's ass about the environment or the transition from oil dependency.
Here's my take on the oil sands.
Whether it's obtained through drilling, or processing the oil sands, our society's current reliance on hydrocarbon energy is unsustainable. This is becoming more and more recognized as environmental impacts and sustainability are part of the global discussions. The problem is that at this point we have no alternative. The machine runs on oil, and people are willing to pay to use it - seemingly no matter the price.
Canada is obviously a resource rich country, but our non-renewable oil resources obviously won't last forever. I see the oil sands as an opportunity - tax oil production/sales, and increase carbon taxes on gasoline sales. The proceeds from these taxes should go directly to providing research grants and subsidies for Canadian companies developing new technologies for production of renewable energy - solar, wind, hydro, tidal. Maybe then when our resources run out, we'll have developed a real manufacturing industry for something that matters - fixing our global dependence on oil. Use it for now because we have to, but work towards a cleaner future.
:canada:
I agree, but I think our environmental concerns outweigh the risk of running out of sources of oil. I used to be very interested in the idea of peak oil but what I have realized is that we keep finding ways to push that date further back by developing hard to develop sources like the tar sands or deep water drills and everyone becomes complacent again.
Our biggest obstacle is Harper and the Conservatives. There is no way that a unregulated market worshipper will ever put up the kind of public investment required for research and infrastructure preferring to let the market decide, and of course the market could give a rat's ass about the environment or the transition from oil dependency.
Agreed. I think we'll keep finding new deposits for the foreseeable future as well. The environmental concerns are definitely the issue.
Anyone else notice the increasing talk about re-addressing the moratorium on drilling off the BC coast?
Bicycles!
several mine sites have now been brought back to their original state, often times with the same plants that were there when they were stripped - not the same species, but the same plants.
Unfortunately, there's more to be lost in those areas than just plants
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=oil-sands-co2-emissions-higher-than-thought
Contrary to claims made in the media, peatland destroyed by open-pit mining will not be restored. Current plans dictate its replacement with upland forest and tailings storage lakes, amounting to the destruction of over 29,500 ha of peatland habitat. Landscape changes caused by currently approved mines will release between 11.4 and 47.3 million metric tons of stored carbon and will reduce carbon sequestration potential by 5,7347,241 metric tons C/y.
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