Energy and how it is captured and consumed is barely viable in tar sands production. While the amount of oil in places such as the tar sands in Alberta or the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela may have deposits of similar size to the reserves of countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq, the return of new energy after expending energy in production is not even close. In Iraq, the process of using one barrel of oil generates 100 new barrels. In the tar sands, estimates of 3 to 1 and even as low as 1.5 to 1 have been made. Offsetting the net energy loss would require minimally 25-30 tar sands facilities for one Saudi plant operating at the same capacity.
Oil sands seen as 'threat No. 1,' as U.S. may target dirtier fuels
SHAWN MCCARTHY
GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER
October 30, 2007
Canadian oil sands producers should brace for further bad news - this time from south of the border, as the U.S. government moves toward a national climate change policy that could target dirtier fossil fuels such as the oil sands bitumen, a former U.S. energy official said yesterday.
Oil and its peaks
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007
About 25 years ago (my God, I'm old!) I was having dinner in New York with a stockbroker friend who was telling me that oil was headed for US$100 a barrel. I said that I didn't think it would ever see US$40 again in real terms. As of yesterday, I'm still right (and my friend is still rich, which proves that it's better to be a stockbroker than smart, although both is preferable).
Energy Alberta Corporation's full application to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission dated Aug 25, 2007 can be downloaded as a pdf from this link:
http://www.energyab.com/pdf/CNSC%20-%20Application%20for%20a%20licence%2...
Additional pro-nuclear propaganda by Energy Alberta Corporation, the Canadian Nuclear Association, and others is contained on this page:
TransCanada evaluating nuclear for Alberta
01 November 2007
TransCanada, Canada's largest pipeline company, is the latest to consider the use of nuclear energy in order to meet Alberta's increasing energy requirements.
"We think Alberta is in an interesting situation just because the long-term supply/demand fundamentals are good in Alberta, there is certainly demand for power," TransCanada's CEO Hal Kvisle said during a conference call to discuss the company's results for the third quarter of 2007.
Beyond the Age of Petroleum
by MICHAEL T. KLARE
The Nation [from the November 12, 2007 issue]
INAC “no” to UR-Energy uranium drilling in the Thelon
By LEA STORRY, SRJ Editor 31.OCT.07
The beauty of the NWT’s Upper Thelon is safe...for now. Chuck Strahl, the minister of Indian and northern affairs Canada (INAC), formally accepted the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board) recommendation that exploration work proposed by UR-Energy be rejected without an environmental impact review.
Keystone pipeline demand doubles cost
Wed, October 31, 2007
By FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES
CALGARY -- TransCanada Corp. has more than doubled the estimated cost of its Keystone crude oil pipeline to US$5.2 billion to meet rising demand for the Canada-U.S. project, the company said yesterday while reporting higher third-quarter earnings.
Quote:
“I think we look forward a little more optimistically because I don’t think anyone would be more aware than us of the challenges of sustaining gas production in Alberta,” he said.
It is arrogant when I see this, and mentally put it along side what MGP proponents in their office in Inuvik explained about the gas going to fuel the tar sands: "It is not up to our control as producers to determine who buys it on a free market".
October 11, 2007 - 9:30 PM
UN rapporteur calls for biofuel moratorium
More and more corn is being used for biofuel at the expense of food, according to Jean Ziegler.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is demanding an international five-year ban on producing biofuels to combat soaring food prices.
Switzerland's Jean Ziegler said the conversion of arable land for plants used for green fuel had led to an explosion of agricultural prices which was punishing poor countries forced to import their food at a greater cost.
October 28, 2007
Anthem (click on the image)
by Katie Beaton
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
anthem.jpg
