Canada seen as big loser if world gets serious about climate change

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
39,778
454
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No kidding.


Canada seen as big loser if world gets serious about climate change

Most of Canada’s oil riches should stay the ground, according to an international study that has deemed 75 per cent of Canada’s oil and all the Arctic’s fossil fuels “unburnable.”

The study, released Wednesday by the journal Nature, is one of the more comprehensive and provocative looks yet at the energy transformation needed to limit global warming.

Many of the planet’s fossil fuel resources should never be used, it says, with Canada standing out of as one of the big losers.

If the international community lives up to pledges to limit global climate warming to 2 C, the study says 75 per cent of Canada’s oil reserves and 85 per cent of its oilsands bitumen will be “unburnable” before 2050.

And unless some “whizo technology” comes along to economically and safely exploit Arctic oil and gas, it too will be left in the ground, says co-author Paul Ekins, a professor at University College London and deputy director of the United Kingdom Energy Research Centre.

The study, which is sure to fuel debate leading up to international climate talks later this year, assessed a range of scenarios based on least-cost climate policies.

It concludes that a third of global oil reserves, half of gas reserves and more than 80 per cent of coal reserves won’t be needed before 2050 if the 2 C warming target is met.

The study found most of the coal reserves in China, Russia and the United States would remain unused along with more than 260 billion barrels oil reserves in the Middle East, which is equivalent to all of the oil reserves held by Saudi Arabia. The Middle East would also leave more than 60 per cent of its gas reserves in the ground if the planet is to stay within the 2 C “carbon budget.”

The study found Canada would be left with the highest level of unburnable oil reserves — 75 per cent of Canada’s oil is unburned by 2050, because the bitumen in the oilsands is so expensive to get out of the ground and get to market.

“Open-pit mining of natural bitumen in Canada soon drops to negligible levels after 2020 in all scenarios because it is considerably less economic than other methods of production,” the report says. It found capturing and storing carbon underground will do little to help with 85 per cent of Canada’s bitumen remaining “unburnable” even with aggressive carbon capture.

The study does point to a big role for natural gas in a low-carbon world. Gas releases much less carbon than other fossil fuels and the study says it will be an important substitute for coal. Only 24 per cent of Canada’s reserves are deemed unburnable by 2050.

The study adds to a growing pile of reports showing fossil fuel use must be limited if governments and policy-makers are to meet the 2 C goal to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

“It is obvious to everyone who is just a bit scientific about this that the earth’s crust is full of fossil fuels and to burn them all would cause grave damage,” says Mark Jaccard, an energy economist at Simon Fraser University, who has long called on the Canadian government to adopt a more sustainable energy policy.

The new study adds the “obvious point” that fossil fuels that are cheaper to exploit will win out over fuels that are more expensive to exploit, Jarrard said, noting the findings are “not good” for Canada’s oilsands, already being hammered by plummeting oil prices.

Canada seen as big loser if world gets serious about climate change | canada.com
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,897
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Low Earth Orbit
First somebody needs to prove it is warming thanks to man and emissions. Parading around an unproven mantra is for the biggest of losers.
 

captain morgan

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 28, 2009
28,429
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A Mouse Once Bit My Sister
First somebody needs to prove it is warming thanks to man and emissions. Parading around an unproven mantra is for the biggest of losers.

Didntcha hear?... AGW is taking a well earned vacation for the last 15 years or so... But it will be back at some point in the next 1,000 years or so (just in time for an Ice Free North Pole by 3013)
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,897
11,179
113
Low Earth Orbit
Didntcha hear?... AGW is taking a well earned vacation for the last 15 years or so... But it will be back at some point in the next 1,000 years or so (just in time for an Ice Free North Pole by 3013)

Want to start an ice museum in case the sun lights back up in 2025 like the alarmists hope it does?

Are you kidding? Parading around unproven mantras is 97% of all human interaction!

There could be good money in sustainable mantras.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
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Vancouver Island
So lets just cut to the chase here. How much money to the believers want us to donate to third world countries to make our oil clean?
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
44,168
95
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Low gas prices and happy people.

Oh the alarmists must be tearing their hair out!

On NPR an expert said the price of oil would have to dip below $30 a barrel before the Canadian oil companies would consider to scale back on pumping. LMAO

GO CANADA!
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
44,168
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Still doesn't change the fact that it is not exclusively Canada's oil reserves are the eeeevil products that cause (dare I say it), Global Warming

(insert music here that imparts Armageddon and Doom)

Don't worry Captain... he mad.

Maybe I'll fill my pool with crude this summer just to do it.