Oxymoron: Environmentally Friendly Oil.
Professor Bob is a rather smart guy who lives on top of a mountain. I rather like listening to him talk, because he is worth listening to. He sent me this, and I offer it to you for your contemplation …
A Proposal to Develop the Tar Sands in the Future in an Environmentally Friendly Way
The Canadian reputation in environmental circles, despite the best efforts of Mister Suzuki, is in the dumper.
Rightfully so.
We should be on the “s__t” list.
We have not done our due diligence. For that matter, neither have the Saudis, the Iranians or the Russians. I digress.
Huge amounts of carbon dioxide are released during the production and refining of tar sands oil.
We burn fuel to load and truck the raw sand to the plant, where more fuel is burnt to boil the oil out of the sand; vast amounts of fuel.
More fuel is burnt to generate the heat and electricity necessary to run the refiners and up graders; again, huge amounts of fuel.
Then we ship out the oil to be used as fuel, turned into carbon dioxide.
We have enough oil in the tar sands to continue at the present rate for centuries.
Vast, incalculable, unbelievable quantities of carbon dioxide will be released over the years.
The tar sands are not going away. They represent wealth beyond imagining. They will be developed.
Good people we are, salt of the earth. We care.
Do your due diligence. What would a reasonable man do, in possession of the information that we now have??
Hold that thought.
Some Things to Consider.
Our economy is in decline, at present. No doubt it will recover, but for now, we should be making investments in infrastructure and long lead time projects.
The oil sands are tanking, due to low oil prices. Projects are shutting down and the workers on the oil sands are being laid off. They leave, disperse, sell their homes at a loss and swear never to come back.
Good people they are, salt of the earth.
People want to do something to help the environment. They are bitter about the stock market, and want someplace safe to put their money.
Good people they are, salt of the earth.
I have an idea.
I hope that it is an answer.
I hope we can implement it.
It is a worthwhile legacy.
It may not be perfect, but it is the least of many evils.
We should build nuclear reactors, nuclear power plants on the tar sands.
This is co-generation on an incredible scale.
We are good at building safe nukes. We have been building them for fifty years. We would use proven designs. The reactors would be far from major centers.
American and Russian reactors go bang. Ours do not.
We would give the nuclear industry a boost just when the world needs our technology and we would give the economy a good, swift kick.
We have bags of uranium, which CANDU reactors burn as is. We don’t enrich it first and you can’t touch it after, so the fuel can’t be used for bombs.
We would use every calorie of heat to extract the raw oil from the sand. Steam can be piped for many miles, efficiently, it’s old technology. No fuel would be required to boil water. Ever.
We would, of course, heat the town.
So Far, So Good
Now we get to the hard part. What to do with all the energy, the electricity we generate?
We build and power a petrochemical row that would make the Texans have puppies. We start with the newest, cleanest, zero emission technology
We ship anything and everything that can be made from oil.
It’s all about energy
We “cook” the oil, on site, producing hydrogen and elemental carbon.
It’s all about energy
Hydrogen is the perfect fuel. Zero greenhouse gasses are produced.
We bury the raw carbon that we can’t sell for non-combustion uses. Carbon fiber is useful stuff.
We can pioneer the technology. Remove the carbon first, then burn what’s left. The technology exports well, even to biofuels.
It’s all about energy
Run wood through the process and bury the resulting carbon. Extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fuel our vehicles at the same time.
It’s all about energy
If we do this right, we can end the export of carbon fuel from the tar sands. We can ship petrochemicals and hydrogen. We can fuel the country with green fuel.
The key is the energy available from nuclear power.
We can turn Fort McMurray into the greenest place in the country, with square kilometers of greenhouses for food, residences and recreation.
It’s all about energy
Money equals energy, right ???
So, It’s All About Money ???
There is no money tree.
Sorry, but that bald statement is true. There is no external source of money available.
We would fund the enterprise by selling interest bearing Green Oil Bonds.
We can give the good people of this land somewhere to invest their money that isn’t tobacco or big oil or financials, that gives them a good, warm feeling.
We can stop the boom and bust cycles that face the good people of the area.
The good people of this land can stop the release of the carbon locked up in the tar sands
Did I miss something ???
The necessity is to lock up the carbon.
Do you remember the thought I asked you to hold ???
Was it “ We have to do something!! ”, was it ???
This idea or concept is entirely a product of my own thoughts.
There are no new technologies in it. Just a synthesis of things we already know how to do.
If better ways to do things come along, good, we can integrate them.
This process will always work
We can start right now.
We owe it to our descendants.
We owe it to ourselves.
Have you done your due diligence ???
I, Professor Bob, wrote this.
