Oil Sands Profits into Green Energy
James M. Byrne, PhD., Professor, University of Lethbridge
Please, wake up Alberta? Remember the Slave Lake fire? They lost 374
properties in the firestorm on May 15, 2011. How about the January 4
Nanton grass fires? Slave Lake and Nanton should have been snow covered.
Downunder - Australia summer 2013 – they are burning up. The USA 2012:
record heat, forest fires and storms in 2012; and of course, Hurricane
Sandy. We all heard about record Arctic and Greenland ice melt. The
International Energy Association Annual Report released November 2012 says
no more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed
prior to 2050 if the world is to limit global warming to 2 C. North
Dakota oil production from the Bakken Formation has gone from zero to
almost a million barrels/day .. and growing.
Our governments are so wrong betting on oil sands. We will only market a
tiny fraction of the current reserves of 170 billion barrels – then those
$12 billion plants will be mothballed and no cleanup will occur. Bitumen
production emits too many climate-warming pollutants and pollutes water and
air.
The USA gets climate change. We all watched the impacts of Hurricane Sandy
on the Caribbean, USA and Canada. Record flooding from heavy rain and an
unprecedented storm surge flooded New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy
was a hybrid storm – combining tropical and cold polar air. Expect more of
the same - coastal populations will suffer heavy rains and much higher
storm surges on top of substantial sea level rise.
We saw many 10,000s of heat records set in North America, accompanied by
extreme drought and an unprecedented wildfire season across the USA. The
drought, combined with severe weather in India and other locales, has set
world food prices rising. There will be tens, more likely hundreds, of
millions of people hungry around the world in 2013.
The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication says 70% of Americans
believe climate change in happening. That report was release in mid
October, before Sandy happened. How will USA post-Storm Sandy opinions
impact purchases of GHG intensive oil sands investments with a 40-year
lifespan?
The attached pie chart presents the government view of the Alberta GDP in
2011. Twelve sectors contribute to the economy, and the biggest is
energy. Is this diversity? Two primary industries: energy, 27.6% and
agriculture, 1.8%. Would any economist or any Canadian argue the remaining
sectors are not dependent on the energy sector? A decline in the energy
industry will lead to a decline in all sectors. Alberta is headed for an
economic crash.
The USA is working on realistic change to their energy options in the next
few decades. Richard Alley, a leading global change scientist from Penn
State forecasts USA fossil fuel consumption in 2030 will be around 13% of
the total energy use, compared to 78% today. Mark Jacobson from Stanford
University has worked out the engineering to move the world to renewable
energy in a few decades. Green energy, generated in the USA, will save
their economy close to half a trillion dollars in foreign oil costs while
creating many jobs. The US will also save almost $120 billion on health
care cost related to fossil fuel pollution, according to the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences.
China is investing a small amount of their budget in oil sands short term
while they lead the world in green technology research and investment.
China does not have to keep buying oil sands products. They are building
electric cars and green technology to minimize their long-term demand for
petroleum. In the near future we will be buying our green technology from
China – a further burden on an economy invested in fossil fuels that will
soon be uneconomic.
There is a solution. Forget new pipelines and new oil sands markets.
These have no economic longevity. Work with current oil sands on a real
clean up of the pollution they emit. Then, diversify! Have the courage
to stop the massive flow of fossil fuel profits out of Canada. We have
immense renewable energy potential in solar and wind in the southern
prairies. Developing that potential with current fossil fuel profits will
diversify our economy and create many jobs in Alberta and Canada.
Wake up to climate change Alberta. Wake up to the bad long-term economy of
oil sands; and to the vast potential we have in renewable energy. Wake up
to the fossil fuel economy cliff.
Oil Sands Profits into Green Energy
James M. Byrne, PhD., Professor, University of Lethbridge
Please, wake up Alberta? Remember the Slave Lake fire? They lost 374
properties in the firestorm on May 15, 2011. How about the January 4
Nanton grass fires? Slave Lake and Nanton should have been snow covered.
Downunder - Australia summer 2013 – they are burning up. The USA 2012:
record heat, forest fires and storms in 2012; and of course, Hurricane
Sandy. We all heard about record Arctic and Greenland ice melt. The
International Energy Association Annual Report released November 2012 says
no more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed
prior to 2050 if the world is to limit global warming to 2 C. North
Dakota oil production from the Bakken Formation has gone from zero to
almost a million barrels/day .. and growing.
Our governments are so wrong betting on oil sands. We will only market a
tiny fraction of the current reserves of 170 billion barrels – then those
$12 billion plants will be mothballed and no cleanup will occur. Bitumen
production emits too many climate-warming pollutants and pollutes water and
air.
The USA gets climate change. We all watched the impacts of Hurricane Sandy
on the Caribbean, USA and Canada. Record flooding from heavy rain and an
unprecedented storm surge flooded New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy
was a hybrid storm – combining tropical and cold polar air. Expect more of
the same - coastal populations will suffer heavy rains and much higher
storm surges on top of substantial sea level rise.
We saw many 10,000s of heat records set in North America, accompanied by
extreme drought and an unprecedented wildfire season across the USA. The
drought, combined with severe weather in India and other locales, has set
world food prices rising. There will be tens, more likely hundreds, of
millions of people hungry around the world in 2013.
The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication says 70% of Americans
believe climate change in happening. That report was release in mid
October, before Sandy happened. How will USA post-Storm Sandy opinions
impact purchases of GHG intensive oil sands investments with a 40-year
lifespan?
The attached pie chart presents the government view of the Alberta GDP in
2011. Twelve sectors contribute to the economy, and the biggest is
energy. Is this diversity? Two primary industries: energy, 27.6% and
agriculture, 1.8%. Would any economist or any Canadian argue the remaining
sectors are not dependent on the energy sector? A decline in the energy
industry will lead to a decline in all sectors. Alberta is headed for an
economic crash.
The USA is working on realistic change to their energy options in the next
few decades. Richard Alley, a leading global change scientist from Penn
State forecasts USA fossil fuel consumption in 2030 will be around 13% of
the total energy use, compared to 78% today. Mark Jacobson from Stanford
University has worked out the engineering to move the world to renewable
energy in a few decades. Green energy, generated in the USA, will save
their economy close to half a trillion dollars in foreign oil costs while
creating many jobs. The US will also save almost $120 billion on health
care cost related to fossil fuel pollution, according to the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences.
China is investing a small amount of their budget in oil sands short term
while they lead the world in green technology research and investment.
China does not have to keep buying oil sands products. They are building
electric cars and green technology to minimize their long-term demand for
petroleum. In the near future we will be buying our green technology from
China – a further burden on an economy invested in fossil fuels that will
soon be uneconomic.
There is a solution. Forget new pipelines and new oil sands markets.
These have no economic longevity. Work with current oil sands on a real
clean up of the pollution they emit. Then, diversify! Have the courage
to stop the massive flow of fossil fuel profits out of Canada. We have
immense renewable energy potential in solar and wind in the southern
prairies. Developing that potential with current fossil fuel profits will
diversify our economy and create many jobs in Alberta and Canada.
Wake up to climate change Alberta. Wake up to the bad long-term economy of
oil sands; and to the vast potential we have in renewable energy. Wake up
to the fossil fuel economy cliff.
Oil Sands Profits into Green Energy
James M. Byrne, PhD., Professor, University of Lethbridge
Please, wake up Alberta? Remember the Slave Lake fire? They lost 374
properties in the firestorm on May 15, 2011. How about the January 4
Nanton grass fires? Slave Lake and Nanton should have been snow covered.
Downunder - Australia summer 2013 – they are burning up. The USA 2012:
record heat, forest fires and storms in 2012; and of course, Hurricane
Sandy. We all heard about record Arctic and Greenland ice melt. The
International Energy Association Annual Report released November 2012 says
no more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed
prior to 2050 if the world is to limit global warming to 2 C. North
Dakota oil production from the Bakken Formation has gone from zero to
almost a million barrels/day .. and growing.
Our governments are so wrong betting on oil sands. We will only market a
tiny fraction of the current reserves of 170 billion barrels – then those
$12 billion plants will be mothballed and no cleanup will occur. Bitumen
production emits too many climate-warming pollutants and pollutes water and
air.
The USA gets climate change. We all watched the impacts of Hurricane Sandy
on the Caribbean, USA and Canada. Record flooding from heavy rain and an
unprecedented storm surge flooded New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy
was a hybrid storm – combining tropical and cold polar air. Expect more of
the same - coastal populations will suffer heavy rains and much higher
storm surges on top of substantial sea level rise.
We saw many 10,000s of heat records set in North America, accompanied by
extreme drought and an unprecedented wildfire season across the USA. The
drought, combined with severe weather in India and other locales, has set
world food prices rising. There will be tens, more likely hundreds, of
millions of people hungry around the world in 2013.
The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication says 70% of Americans
believe climate change in happening. That report was release in mid
October, before Sandy happened. How will USA post-Storm Sandy opinions
impact purchases of GHG intensive oil sands investments with a 40-year
lifespan?
The attached pie chart presents the government view of the Alberta GDP in
2011. Twelve sectors contribute to the economy, and the biggest is
energy. Is this diversity? Two primary industries: energy, 27.6% and
agriculture, 1.8%. Would any economist or any Canadian argue the remaining
sectors are not dependent on the energy sector? A decline in the energy
industry will lead to a decline in all sectors. Alberta is headed for an
economic crash.
The USA is working on realistic change to their energy options in the next
few decades. Richard Alley, a leading global change scientist from Penn
State forecasts USA fossil fuel consumption in 2030 will be around 13% of
the total energy use, compared to 78% today. Mark Jacobson from Stanford
University has worked out the engineering to move the world to renewable
energy in a few decades. Green energy, generated in the USA, will save
their economy close to half a trillion dollars in foreign oil costs while
creating many jobs. The US will also save almost $120 billion on health
care cost related to fossil fuel pollution, according to the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences.
China is investing a small amount of their budget in oil sands short term
while they lead the world in green technology research and investment.
China does not have to keep buying oil sands products. They are building
electric cars and green technology to minimize their long-term demand for
petroleum. In the near future we will be buying our green technology from
China – a further burden on an economy invested in fossil fuels that will
soon be uneconomic.
There is a solution. Forget new pipelines and new oil sands markets.
These have no economic longevity. Work with current oil sands on a real
clean up of the pollution they emit. Then, diversify! Have the courage
to stop the massive flow of fossil fuel profits out of Canada. We have
immense renewable energy potential in solar and wind in the southern
prairies. Developing that potential with current fossil fuel profits will
diversify our economy and create many jobs in Alberta and Canada.
Wake up to climate change Alberta. Wake up to the bad long-term economy of
oil sands; and to the vast potential we have in renewable energy. Wake up
to the fossil fuel economy cliff.
Oil Sands Profits into Green Energy
James M. Byrne, PhD., Professor, University of Lethbridge
Please, wake up Alberta? Remember the Slave Lake fire? They lost 374
properties in the firestorm on May 15, 2011. How about the January 4
Nanton grass fires? Slave Lake and Nanton should have been snow covered.
Downunder - Australia summer 2013 – they are burning up. The USA 2012:
record heat, forest fires and storms in 2012; and of course, Hurricane
Sandy. We all heard about record Arctic and Greenland ice melt. The
International Energy Association Annual Report released November 2012 says
no more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed
prior to 2050 if the world is to limit global warming to 2 C. North
Dakota oil production from the Bakken Formation has gone from zero to
almost a million barrels/day .. and growing.
Our governments are so wrong betting on oil sands. We will only market a
tiny fraction of the current reserves of 170 billion barrels – then those
$12 billion plants will be mothballed and no cleanup will occur. Bitumen
production emits too many climate-warming pollutants and pollutes water and
air.
The USA gets climate change. We all watched the impacts of Hurricane Sandy
on the Caribbean, USA and Canada. Record flooding from heavy rain and an
unprecedented storm surge flooded New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy
was a hybrid storm – combining tropical and cold polar air. Expect more of
the same - coastal populations will suffer heavy rains and much higher
storm surges on top of substantial sea level rise.
We saw many 10,000s of heat records set in North America, accompanied by
extreme drought and an unprecedented wildfire season across the USA. The
drought, combined with severe weather in India and other locales, has set
world food prices rising. There will be tens, more likely hundreds, of
millions of people hungry around the world in 2013.
The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication says 70% of Americans
believe climate change in happening. That report was release in mid
October, before Sandy happened. How will USA post-Storm Sandy opinions
impact purchases of GHG intensive oil sands investments with a 40-year
lifespan?
The attached pie chart presents the government view of the Alberta GDP in
2011. Twelve sectors contribute to the economy, and the biggest is
energy. Is this diversity? Two primary industries: energy, 27.6% and
agriculture, 1.8%. Would any economist or any Canadian argue the remaining
sectors are not dependent on the energy sector? A decline in the energy
industry will lead to a decline in all sectors. Alberta is headed for an
economic crash.
The USA is working on realistic change to their energy options in the next
few decades. Richard Alley, a leading global change scientist from Penn
State forecasts USA fossil fuel consumption in 2030 will be around 13% of
the total energy use, compared to 78% today. Mark Jacobson from Stanford
University has worked out the engineering to move the world to renewable
energy in a few decades. Green energy, generated in the USA, will save
their economy close to half a trillion dollars in foreign oil costs while
creating many jobs. The US will also save almost $120 billion on health
care cost related to fossil fuel pollution, according to the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences.
China is investing a small amount of their budget in oil sands short term
while they lead the world in green technology research and investment.
China does not have to keep buying oil sands products. They are building
electric cars and green technology to minimize their long-term demand for
petroleum. In the near future we will be buying our green technology from
China – a further burden on an economy invested in fossil fuels that will
soon be uneconomic.
There is a solution. Forget new pipelines and new oil sands markets.
These have no economic longevity. Work with current oil sands on a real
clean up of the pollution they emit. Then, diversify! Have the courage
to stop the massive flow of fossil fuel profits out of Canada. We have
immense renewable energy potential in solar and wind in the southern
prairies. Developing that potential with current fossil fuel profits will
diversify our economy and create many jobs in Alberta and Canada.
Wake up to climate change Alberta. Wake up to the bad long-term economy of
oil sands; and to the vast potential we have in renewable energy. Wake up
to the fossil fuel economy cliff.
