Welcome to the era of 'extreme energy' - CNN.com Seems it wasn't too long ago many were putting a lot of hope in tar sands, as though it would be some kind of silver bullet. yuck .
I have posted this before, and I encourage anyone with an interest in the environment, and looking for some knowledge of the tar sands to read this book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/1553655559?tag=priuschatcom-20 would also urge you to find the CBC "nature of things" series which did a 2 hour special on the tar sands, also very revealing. One quickly comes to realize the the folly of tar sands oil. Icarus
No doubt Tar Sands is dirty as dirt, but this sounds like a Pickens planted story to sway us into NG.
The next election should take care of that little problem. The separatists, I mean. We already sold the tar sands to China, so you'll have to talk to them. Your people said they didn't want the pollution.
When the arctic sea melts, that'll access more deep sea drilling to the point that tar sands will probably be too expensive.
And when the permafrost melts, releasing all that methane, you'll need even more fuel to make electricity to run the air conditioners to...um...cool things down. Wait, does that sound right to you?
I'm a bit for cynical, the break even point for tar sands exploitation is bellow $65/bbl. When the ice cap melts, sure we will lose some people but if we don't reduce oil consumption soon the price will be plenty high. Whether it is the US or china, someone is going to use that oil unless transportation is electrified.
The only reason that tar sands oils is "viable" at $65 is due to the massive subsidy it receives from all Mann of government! Additionally it doesn't begin to pay even a small fraction of it's environmental costs! Icarus
That is very true, that the canadians are paying oil companies to harm the environment. I would look down at them, but the US government payed BP to poison the gulf. I doubt the subsidies will end any time soon, and at these prices companies are quickly expanding tar sands production. Old news about european oil companies "investing". Tar Sands Money Could Pay For Electric Cars | Trendcetera Magazine *Beauty * Health * Wellness * Retail * Culture
One mans trash is another mans, well, life.... Its an important resource. Modern life requires just 5 things- air, water, food, shelter, and petroleum = liquid energy. We should not attach a politically incorrect label onto it. OK we can do so, but it would be counter-productive. Its is especially wonderful that this resource is in North America. I don't think T. Boone has a problem with it = pretty to him. This is the "pretty" side.
Have you actually done any reading, any research on the subject? Do you know what any of the issues are? Icarus
Sure. I would respect T. Boone Picken's opinion on this. I am thinking he would say government/industry need to properly develop the resource as far as stewardship of the environment. I have seen his comments on the 60-minutes energy special, but I need to refresh my memory.
I have tried to explain this to trolls for years now. Here in Canada, the massive public subsidies put into oil sands, and ocean extraction eg Hibernia, are huge. Nobody really wants to understand that in many cases, the Canadian taxpayer guarantees 100% cost recovery for most oil extraction here. If oil sands and/or Grand Bank extraction was so profitable, then why do these companies require such massive subsidies? They would fight like cats and dogs over extraction rights. But instead they refuse to do anything without massive exploration and extraction subsidies So, at the end of the day, is it "worth" it?
