January 5, 2010

1 Comment

Green Oil Sands

by Chris Hatch

Surprising really that Satya Das’ argument doesn’t already have more traction in the public debate. Here’s a clip from his piece in yesterday’s Globe. Worth reading. I imagine we’ll be hearing more and more of this narrative…

Who will lead the evolution to a low-carbon future?

It must be Canada, the only energy superpower in the democratic world.

Canada’s oil sands, if they can become greener, are a major part of the answer to stable and long-term hemispheric energy supply. Copenhagen made it all too clear that the planet needs a more sustainable energy platform to address the threat of climate change.

We can use the $15-trillion wealth of the oil sands to fund and build a greener future. Indeed, we can use the enormous wealth the oil sands can confer to pay for the transition to alternative energy, built on a platform of much greener hydrocarbon production.

If you’re looking for more, here’s a link to Tyler Hamilton’s write up about his sit down. Worth following Ken Chapman on the topic as well.

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One Response so far...

1. Matthew Carroll says:

   January 12, 2010 at 2:49 pm

   First things first: “Green Oil Sands” is a total oxymoron.

   Putting that aside for a second, Satya Das misses a very important point if he is serious about transitioning to a carbon-free economy in time to avoid catastrophic climate change. We already have more than enough conventional fossil fuel reserves globally (i.e. excluding unconventional sources such as the tar sands) that if we burn it all, we will greatly exceed two degrees of warming. We simply cannot afford to burn it all; even two degrees means devastation and massive loss of life for small island states and Africa.

   Das’ message is that we should go right ahead and burn the oil under Alberta… as long as we use the money publicly to invest in solutions. The truth is that any global plan that is serious about dealing with climate change will have to decide not only how to spend humanity’s small remaining budget of carbon emissions in as equitable and efficient way possible to transition us to non-carbon energy sources (and a steady-state economy where improved quality of life globally is decoupled from resource extraction), but also which fossil fuel sources we’re going to burn to get us there.

   So, the question becomes not “how do we fund the transition by expanding the oil sands?” but rather “which existing, conventional reserves are we going to choose to leave in the ground?” It goes without question that as we drastically reduce our fossil fuel use in Canada – cutting our emissions in half in the next 10 years as the science demands – the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive sources of fuel such as the tar sands must be the first to be abandoned.

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