Air Water Land Winter 2009

Energy’s New Environment

winter 2009

Searching for common ground A Q&A with Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May PAGE 12

Improving air quality

“Dry cleaning” the oilsands

Leaving no trace

Recommendations in new report could impact energy industry PAGE 6

Water usage is not the real problem behind reclaiming tailings PAGE 8

Imperial will draw on Cold Lake experience for Kearl Mine reclamation PAGE 10

contents

air 6

President & CEO

Bill Whitelaw

ecommendations in new report could impact R energy industry

Agnes Zalewski

by Lynda Harrison

Improving air quality

bwhitelaw@junewarren-nickles.com

publisher azalewski@junewarren-nickles.com

associate publisher and editor Chaz Osburn

cosburn@junewarren-nickles.com

editorial DIRECTOR

Stephen Marsters

smarsters@junewarren-nickles.com

Editorial

water

“Dry cleaning” the oilsands 8

Water usage is not the real problem behind reclaiming tailings

by James Mahony

land

10 Leaving no trace

Contributors

Production, Pre-Press, and Print Manager

Publications Manager

Publications Supervisor

Interim Art Director

Creative Services Supervisor

Senior Graphic Designer

by Elsie Ross

Q&A with Green Party of Canada Leader A Elizabeth May

by Chaz Osburn

departments

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Michael Gaffney mgaffney@junewarren-nickles.com

Audrey Sprinkle asprinkle@junewarren-nickles.com

Rianne Stewart rstewart@junewarren-nickles.com

Ken Bessie kbessie@junewarren-nickles.com

Tina Tomljenovic ttomljenovic@junewarren-nickles.com

Birdeen Jacobson birdeen@junewarren-nickles.com

Director of Sales

Sales Manager—Magazines

Account Managers

For advertising inquiries please contact

Rob Pentney rpentney@junewarren-nickles.com

Maurya Sokolon msokolon@junewarren-nickles.com

Rhonda Helmeczi rhelmeczi@junewarren-nickles.com adrequests@junewarren-nickles.com

Ad Traffic Coordinator—Magazines

Elizabeth McLean

atc@junewarren-nickles.com

Senior Marketing Coordinator

marketing and circulation

12 Searching for common ground

feature

proofing@junewarren-nickles.com

L ynda Harrison, James Mahony, Elsie Ross

creative

3 Editor’s note 4 Envirobytes 14 Alternative energy

S amantha Kapler, Marisa Kurlovich, Kelley Stark

sales

I mperial will draw on Cold Lake experience for Kearl Mine reclamation

Editorial Assistance

15 Renewable energy 16 Just the facts

Marketing/Trade Show Coordinator

Marketing Designer

Alaina Dodge-Foulger adodge@junewarren-nickles.com

Ryan Mischiek rmischiek@junewarren-nickles.com

Cristian Ureta cureta@junewarren-nickles.com

offices

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GST Registration Number 826256554RT ISSN 1207-7333 1062814 Glacier Media © 2009Made in Canada

editor’s note

Always the skeptic The Daily Oil Bulletin, a sister publication to Air Water Land, carried an interesting story in late October. It was based on a Deutsche Bank report that predicts world oil demand will fall as automobiles become more efficient.

Titled The Peak Oil Market, the analysis concluded that world oil demand will reach a peak in 2016 and then begin a downward spiral due to increased efficiency—and particularly the rapid growth in electric cars.

The report said “disruptive technology,” such as hybrid and electric cars, is likely to have a far greater positive impact on oil efficiency than the market currently expects.

As oil supply peaks, so will demand, the story continued. But some fundamental mismatches in such areas as price mechanics of supply and demand would likely require a final upward price spiral that will serve to break U.S. oil consumption short term and shift it long term toward greater efficiency.

“U.S. demand is the key,” the report said. “It is the last market-priced, oil inefficient, major oil consumer. We believe [President Barack Obama’s] environmental agenda, the bankruptcy of the U.S. auto industry, the war in Iraq, and global oil supply challenges have dovetailed to spell the end of the oil era.”

On the surface, all of this makes sense. Think of all the vehicles that burn fossil fuels that will be taken off the roads.

But the more I started to think about it, the more I began to wonder. What about the infrastructure that will be needed to make sure all of this happens? Electric cars will surely need recharging stations. (That leads to another question: where will all the extra electricity come from to power these vehicles—perhaps from coal-fired generating plants?)

And though the report centres on America’s thirst for crude, we need to step back and take into account what’s happening in the rest of the world. I’ve personally visited Chinese auto factories and I can tell you they are serious about selling cars in that country. While auto sales in the United States may be in the dump, they’re increasing at a head-spinning rate there. Add in India and sales from other developing countries and, well, you get the picture.

Nope, sorry to be a skeptic, but I think the world will still demand oil well past 2016. So that means that problems like reducing water use in the bitumen extraction process, as outlined in this issue’s Land story (“Dry cleaning” the oilsands on page 8, will continue to challenge us in the years ahead.

On another, unrelated note, this marks the last quarterly issue of Air, Water, Land. But don’t worry—we’re not going away permanently. Air, Water, Land is being retooled for 2010.

As they say on TV, stay tuned for more.

~ Chaz Osburn

airwaterland.ca | 3

envirobYtes

EASING TENSIONS land The oil and gas industry, province of British Columbia, and communities in that province have created an initiative that is designed to ease tension between industry and residents.

Called Living Together—Working Together, the voluntary package of programs will act as a blueprint to improve industry and resident relations, according to the province.

“While the industry brings jobs, infrastructure, and economic development to the area, it also creates increased traffic, dust, noise, environmental, and maintenance concerns,” said Blair Lekstrom, B.C.’s minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum

MANUFACTURING OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD air The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters have created a strategic partnership to explore Canadian manufacturing opportunities in the growing global wind energy industry.

“Wind energy represents a significant

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opportunity to create new green jobs in Canada’s manufacturing sector,” said CanWEA president Robert Hornung.

“The more than 8,000 parts that go into a wind turbine require highly skilled trades and quality manufacturing facilities, both of which

are in abundant supply in Canada.

It is estimated that between now and 2020, more than two million jobs will be created in the global wind energy industry, many of them in manufacturing and export.”

The two associations will partner

to produce a cobranded market report that explores and outlines the opportunities, challenges, and actions required to ensure that Canada earns its share of new wind energy manufacturing and component production.

Resources. “These programs and regulations will help to address these issues that are so important to residents.”

Gary Leach, executive director of the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, says his group has been engaged with the B.C. government as it developed its voluntary guidelines and he thinks the joint initiative will pay dividends.

“As oil and gas activity promises to increase significantly in northeastern B.C. it only makes sense that industry works cooperatively with local residents and communities to find ways to address their concerns and minimize, where possible, the impact of resource development,” he says.

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CLIMATE CHANGE OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND

land New infrastructure to meet the world’s appetite for energy during the next decade could be significant, the National Energy Board predicts.

“In the last decade, rising crude oil prices, robust global crude oil demand, and oilsands growth have resulted in applications to expand existing crude oil pipelines and to

Canadian companies now see more opportunities than risks from climate change, according to a survey released this fall

Recently released guidelines for a plan designed to strike a better balance between economic, environmental, and social objectives in Alberta’s oilsands region will look at three levels of oilsands production and their effects on the environment.

Terms of reference for the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan outline potential levels of production from the oilsands and identify

construct new ones,” points out board chair Gaétan Caron. Capacity will increase greatly with the approval of the Keystone and the Alberta Clipper pipeline projects.

The natural gas supply picture is anticipated to change by 2020 with declining conventional production being offset by tight gas, shale gas, coalbed

air

provincial policies and guidelines that will be integrated into the regional plan.

The Regional Advisory Council will examine these policies and guidelines,

and will present its findings to the Alberta government, which will consider that advice as it creates a regional plan for the Lower Athabasca region, expected in 2010.

their climate change activities,” says Len Coad, director, Environment, Energy, and Technology of the Conference Board.

AS ENERGY NEEDS RISE, SO WILL NEED FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

SEEKING A BALANCE water

by the Conference Board of Canada.

“Even in an uncertain economy, more companies are broadening and deepening

Ontario is making progress on Canada’s largest climate change initiative as Ontario Power Generation (OPG) prepares to close four coal-fuelled power units next year—four years ahead of the 2014 target.

OPG will close two of eight units at its Nanticoke station near Simcoe and two of four units at its Lambton plant near Sarnia

by October 2010.

Together these plants

methane, and frontier supplies. Some of these, especially the shale gas developments are located in new regions that would require infrastructure to connect to markets, according to a board report called Canada’s Energy Future— Infrastructure Changes and Challenges to 2020.

Natural gas-fired power generation is

expected to increase significantly from 50,809 gigawatt hours in 2008 to 82,670 gigawatt hours in 2020, the report says. That will require access to additional gas supply and improved flexibility through greater storage and service enhancements to meet the variable demand of the electricity market.

ONTARIO COAL-POWERED PLANTS CLOSING represent about 2,000 megawatts of generation capacity.

With the shutdown of Lakeview Generating Station in 2005, Ontario’s in-service coal capacity will be reduced by 40 per cent since 2003.

Since 2003, more than 7,000 megawatts of new and refurbished generation have come online to ensure reliability, including over

3,700 megawatts of new natural gasfired plants and over 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy.

airwaterland.ca | 5

Improving Recommendations in new report could impact energy industry

by Lynda Harrison

air

A

new report to help update Alberta’s guide for a long-term approach to air quality management contains 14 recommendations to improve Alberta’s air quality. But while none are specific to the oil and gas industry, some could potentially affect it.

That’s the assessment by an industry representative of the Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA).

Recommendations in the report, Clean Air Strategy for Alberta, that might affect the oil and gas industry are for: the promotion of new technologies, more focus on prevention versus control, and more accessible and transparent information on air quality from industry as a whole, says Al Mok, director of environment, health, and safety at Suncor Energy Inc. and CASA’s industry co-chair.

“Right now, we’re mostly on the control side,” says Mok, who also represented the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers on the team. “If we can eliminate the production of some pollutants, then we don’t have to worry about the control. So that’s the philosophical direction that we’re heading.”

There has been a fair bit of discussion on focusing less on industry—the “point source” of emissions—and more on end usage, he says.

“This recommendation says we should also look at the non-point sources such as transportation [and] maybe unregulated emissions such as feedlots and that sort of thing, which have a huge impact on air quality as well.

So if anything, we’re not diverting but [are] more inclusive of emissions, not just from the oil and gas industry.”

CASA defines a point source as a stationary location or fixed facility from which substances are discharged; for example a smokestack. It defines a non-point source as a pollution source that is not recognized to have a single point of origin. Common non-point sources are agriculture, forestry, urban, mining, construction, and city streets.

Alberta has achieved considerable success in understanding air quality and managing emissions since the recommendations in the 1991 Clean Air Strategy were implemented, according to CASA. These successes include substantial reductions in industrial emissions such as reductions in solution-gas flaring and venting, and management plans to address issues related to particulate matter and ozone in the province’s most populated areas.

air quality Nevertheless, there are significant and growing pressures on Alberta’s air, and a new Clean Air Strategy is needed, it says, because: 1. Continuing industrial and population growth could compromise the gains made since 1991. The increased pace of development in the oilsands, ongoing development of Alberta’s conventional energy reserves, an influx of people to the province, and strong urban growth all have the potential to affect air quality, in some areas more than others. Development in the energy sector has spurred substantial growth in related industrial activities, as well as a significant increase in infrastructure requirements. All of these activities are sources of air emissions.

2. Some aspects of air quality management need renewed attention, such as preventing and controlling emissions from non-regulated and non-point sources—so-called “area” sources, such as residential and commercial heating, transportation, and agriculture. Emissions from these sources have increased since 1991. While area sources were recognized in the original Clean Air Strategy, responses to this complex issue are still needed; to succeed, adjustments to the current governance model will likely be required.

3. Public interest in health issues remains high, and air quality continues to be a health concern in some regions.

Considerable work is underway to gain a better understanding of cumulative effects and the need for limits to protect human, animal, and ecosystem health.

Photo: Joey Podlubny

4. In the last few years, the government of Alberta has made a number of commitments that have implications for how air quality is managed. These include a desire to improve the integration of decision making to ensure alignment and consistency across government departments and agencies; an interest in shared governance and shared responsibility; and the creation of several new provincial resource management strategies, at least some of which will influence air quality management. (Examples are the Provincial Energy Strategy, Climate Change Strategy, Land-use Framework, and Water for Life.) awl

airwaterland.ca | 7

“Dry cleaning” the oilsands Water usage is not the real problem behind reclaiming tailings

by James Mahony

W

ater usage is a topic that goes to the root of Canada’s oilsands industry, underlying many related environmental objections. So it is little wonder that many initiatives in the oilsands today are geared towards reducing water use in the bitumen extraction process.

The prospect of one day finding an alternative to water in that process is as of yet only a concept, but it has its advocates, including scientist Murray Gray, director of the Imperial Oil-Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Oil Sands Innovation (COSI), based in Edmonton.

Established in 2007, COSI is a collaboration between Alberta Ingenuity, the University of Alberta, Imperial Oil, and the Alberta Energy Research Institute. Located at the University of Alberta, COSI focuses on two areas of research: new oilsands extraction methods to reduce water consumption and improve tailings management and new upgrading technology to remove contaminants from the oilsands and improve upgrading.

In discussing the topic, Gray raises the issue that has long challenged some of the industry’s best minds: how to deal with mine tailings.

TAILINGS TROUBLE Despite industry’s efforts and improvements in tailings treatment, there is as of yet no satisfactory method of extracting bitumen from oilsands without producing tailings. In some cases, it will take years for the finer particles, including clays, to settle out completely. In the meantime, tailings ponds continue to grow.

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According to Gray, a specialist in biomedical and chemical and materials engineering and a Canada Research Chair in Oil Sands Upgrading, two paths are open to industry. Either improve the current technology— figure out what to do with tailings, in other words—or look at other possible solutions, including finding an alternative to water. For COSI, the latter poses research challenges, since any workable water alternative must meet a number of strict criteria, environmental included.

COSI is considering several solvents, mainly hydrocarbons, each of which has its drawbacks. A problem with some solvents is recoverability, or what might be called “recycle-ability.”

When it comes to economics, recoverability greatly affects how costeffective a particular solvent can be, Gray says. During the extraction process, if a solvent’s losses are minimal, it could be a potential candidate, even if expensive. On the other hand, if recoverability is low, even a cheap solvent would become costly in the long run.

After recoverability, a solvent’s cost may be the next most important issue, although any solvent—however cheap—will likely be more valuable than the bitumen itself, Gray says. He rates a solvent’s ability to recover bitumen during extraction as the most important criterion of all.

“By the time you’ve gone through the operation and dug up the ore, you want to get good recovery of the bitumen,” he says. “Solvents that don’t [do so] are not suitable.” That’s true no matter how friendly the solvent might be to the environment.

“If you can only take 30 per cent or 50 per cent of the bitumen out of the ore, it’s unacceptable,” he says.

water

Tailings ponds are a common sight near oilsands operations north of Fort McMurray.

Photo: Joey Podlubny

Another advantage of solvent over water is that it would entirely avoid the problem of tailings. For industry critics, that fact alone might be viewed as a critical advantage for any oilsands developer, given the magnitude and the potential longevity of the current tailings challenge.

WRONG FOCUS “In my opinion, there’s been too much focus on the freshwater use issue,” Gray says. “It distracts people from the real challenge, which is putting the tailings back into the mine as quickly as possible.” Indeed, the tailings and their constituent clays are the root of the real problem, he says. “Those wet, sloppy clays are a huge challenge, in my view.”

Under a different model, using solvents for bitumen extraction would amount to “dry cleaning” the oilsands, some say. The analogy is not very far off the mark, according to Gray. A dry cleaner’s task, after all, is to clean the garment, yet leave no trace of cleaning solvent. Similarly, a solvent should be able to separate bitumen from sand and clay, leaving minimal residue behind.

The latter is a key requirement on Gray’s list, and one reason why some common solvents have been ruled out for the oilsands.

Nevertheless, that leaves a range of possible alternatives, including other hydrocarbons.

Alcohol, for example, was among the solvents COSI scientists initially considered, in part for its relatively benign environmental impact.

But the cost of the fluid could be an issue, as could its suitability for bitumen recovery.

A common solvent that appears to offer more potential is naphthalene, or naphtha, also known as camp gas. One benefit of naphtha is that it will biodegrade under “reasonable conditions,” says Gray, although he does not address the time frame for such a process.

When it comes to recovering bitumen, naphtha performs relatively well. The problem lies in recovering the fluid after the extraction process. In that regard, it’s “not so good,” Gray says. “Naphtha is one of the cheapest possible solvents, but it’s a little bit too heavy.”

One option would be to alter naphtha, in effect tailoring its properties to suit bitumen extraction better. That might be achieved by further processing until the solvent has the desired properties, although doing so would increase its final cost. Another option would involve combining different solvents, possibly including naphtha, to gain the same properties.

So far, there is no sure bet, nor even a short list of likely solvents.

At the same time, COSI scientists are finding that the nut they’re trying to crack, involving a combination of bitumen, clay, solvent, and water, is in many ways unique, meaning there is little research to guide the way forward.

At the same time, in addition to their own research at COSI, Gray and his team are looking for possible linkages to other scientists who have researched similar challenges elsewhere in the world.

Says Gray: “We’re hoping to find research institutes that are looking at related problems that we can learn from. To our knowledge, though, no one has licked the problem.” awl

airwaterland.ca | 9

Leaving no A

s Canadian oilsands mining projects face growing scrutiny from environmentalists around the world, Imperial Oil Ltd. will apply its 40 years of continuous improvement exp erience at Cold L ake, u sing advance d tech nologies to minimize the environmental impac ts of its first oilsands mine at Kearl, according to the company’s top official.

“We are absolutely committed to finding innovative and integrated solutions to delivering reliable, environmentally responsible energy from the oilsands resource,” says Bruce March, president, chairman and chief executive officer.

“It is our firm belief that Canadians do not have to choose between energy security, economic well-being, and a clean environment. It is not an either/or proposition.”

Reclaiming land and protecting habitat are key objectives for Imperial at the Kearl site. The $8-billion project has a targeted start-up date of late 2012 for its first 110,000-barrel-per-day phase.

While environmental groups have been especially critical of the effect of oilsands mining projects on land and habitat, March emphasizes that the industry is committed to reclaiming land that it disturbs.

“Not only are we personally committed to reclaiming the land, it’s the law,” he says. “In addition, oilsands mining operators are required to post hundreds of millions of dollars in financial security to assure the government these obligations are being met.”

Kearl includes a major commitment to progressive land reclamation where land used early in the project life will be reclaimed when the mine enters new areas. This includes fully engaging local stakeholders in reclamation planning so that the reclaimed lands will provide improved wildlife capabilities and will be accessible for traditional land use by the local community.

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A SIMPLE GOAL “Our goal is very simple: in 75 to 100 years, we want no evidence that we were ever there,” March says.

From the outset, the key to the development of the oilsands has been continuous improvement and use of new, more efficient, environmentally effective technologies to produce the oilsands resource, March told a luncheon crowd in the fall.

The history of Imperial’s Cold Lake heavy oil operations is a good example of this continuous improvement principle, he said. At the time the company acquired its heavy oil leases in the early 1960s, based on then available technologies there was little reasonable expectation that the resources could ever be developed commercially.

However, starting with the first pilot project in the late 1960s, Imperial worked to develop the technologies that would enable the recovery of bitumen at acceptable costs. “It was a slow, incremental, sometimes painful, and frustrating learning process that took place over two decades,” March points out.

Since the first commercial bitumen production in the mid1980s, Cold Lake has grown to become the third-largest source of crude oil production in Canada. As well, the cost of producing a barrel of oil, excluding energy costs, has been reduced by 35 to 40 per cent, he says.

As with all of its operations, Imperial says it would emphasize technologies that reduce energy use and minimize GHG emission intensity. The Kearl project will include cogeneration, which the company estimates will result in 500,000 fewer tonnes annually in the first phase compared to purchasing electricity from the Alberta power grid and producing steam separately, March says.

Imperial also plans to use its new froth treatment technology to extract bitumen from the sand, resulting in a more efficient use of energy and a higher grade quality of bitumen that requires less

land

trace blending for shipping by pipeline and eliminates the need for onsite upgrading. Kearl will be the first oilsands mining operation that does not require an upgrader to make saleable crude oil, as bitumen will be shipped directly to markets as dilbit.

March acknowledged that not everyone in Calgary— or Alberta—is happy with that decision.

REDUCING GHG EMISSIONS “But it’s clear that upgrading bitumen once, rather than upgrading two times in an upgrader and a refinery, reduces life cycle greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions,” he says.

March also says he was encouraged by a recent study by the Alberta Energy Research Institute on life cycle GHG emissions that predicted that the Kearl project design of mining, cogeneration, and producing diluted bitumen without an upgrader will have about the same life cycle GHG emissions as the average of conventional crude oils refined in North America.

Like other similar developments in the Fort McMurray area, Kearl will draw water for the project from the Athabasca River.

While environmental groups have expressed concern about the volumes that are being withdrawn, March points out that less than three per cent of the river’s natural flow is currently allocated to the oil and gas sector. In contrast, 60 per cent of the flow in the South Saskatchewan River basin, which includes the Bow River through Calgary, is allocated to agricultural, municipal, and industrial users.

Imperial also is working cooperatively with other oilsands companies and has committed to a plan aimed at preserving acceptable flow rates in the Athabasca River, as laid out in a water management framework established by the Alberta and federal governments. In addition, Kearl will use advanced technologies developed at its Cold Lake operation to recycle process water

Imperial will draw on Cold Lake experience for Kearl Mine reclamation

by Elsie Ross

and reduce water demand. Oilsands production facilities such as Syncrude Canada Ltd., operated by Imperial, and Cold Lake recycle up to 90 per cent of the water used in production, the luncheon heard. In addition, Kearl plans to use water storage to reduce water withdrawals from the river during winter low-flow periods.

Cold Lake has contributed some significant environmental innovations such as state-of-the art water recycling techniques in addition to advances in oil recovery. For example, in 1985 more than four barrels of fresh water were required to produce a barrel of bitumen; today that requirement is roughly half a barrel of water. Imperial also has developed technologies to recycle the water produced with the oil, significantly reducing fresh water requirements and operating costs.

However, Imperial isn’t about to stop there, according to March.

There are further improvements that can be made to oilsands technologies, and investment in research and technology is critical to finding cleaner and more efficient ways of developing the oilsands, he says. “The key to innovation is to support innovative research.”

The company spends four out of five research dollars on oilsands research and last year invested $90 million in oilsands research. In addition to research at its own Calgary research laboratory, Imperial sponsors a wide range of energy research programs at Canadian universities and other institutions.

March also emphasizes the need for continued investment in oilsands research and technology, by governments, academic institutions, and other public sector groups, as well as by companies.

“The current economic downturn and increased public scrutiny, if anything, emphasizes the importance of bringing the best technology to bear on the challenges of oilsands development,” he says. “This is the time to make the kinds of investments that will position Canada’s oilsands business for even greater success in the future.” awl airwaterland.ca | 11

feature

Searching for common ground A Q&A with Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May

A

s difficult as this may be to believe, it’s true: That was the leader of Canada’s Green Party at the Calgary Petroleum Club on Nov. 18.

There’s a perfectly logical explanation. The Calgary Economic Forum had invited Elizabeth May to participate in a debate over whether oilsands development is irreconcilable with the environmental agenda.

May is certainly no stranger to the environmental movement. She first became known in the Canadian media in the 1970s through her leadership as a volunteer in the grassroots movement against aerial insecticide spraying proposed for forests near her home on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She gained national prominence as the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada for more than 16 years before leaving to run for the Green Party leadership in 2006.

May is a big proponent for searching for common ground. She talked about this and other issues with Oilsands Review editor and special Air Water Land correspondent Deborah Jaremko. Here’s an excerpt from their interview: WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT THE WAY YOU TALK ABOUT ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY ISSUES AS A FEDERAL POLITICIAN VERSUS IN YOUR PREVIOUS ROLE WITH THE SIERRA CLUB OF CANADA? The big difference is not so much how I talk about things as the fact that I have free reign on everything that interests me, [such as] the growing gap between rich and poor in Canada, or health care, or deficits. These are issues the Sierra Club is not as concerned with. At Sierra we’re always trying to be constructive and positive, to find opportunities [as in the Green Party]. Sierra doesn’t hang banners.

YOU WERE VERY RECENTLY QUOTED AS SAYING THAT A MASSIVE MOBILIZATION WAS NEEDED TO SEND A STRONG MESSAGE TO PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER REGARDING CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE OILSANDS INDUSTRY. WHEN YOU SAY “MASSIVE MOBILIZATION,” ARE YOU CONDONING SUCH ACTIONS AS THE RECENT SITE OCCUPATION DEMONSTRATIONS BY GREENPEACE? What I am advocating is citizen engagement. I mean using the tools of citizenship, like writing to your Member of Parliament, emailing, phoning, blogging, writing letters to the editor, finding ways to make your voice heard so politicians can’t say that no one cares about [the issue].

There are lots of things you can do. Canada had more “350” events [Example: the International Day of Climate Action on Oct. 24] than any other country in the world. That shows a willingness to mobilize. A lot of people think it is not going to make a difference, and that is what we are trying to fight.

YOU’RE IN CALGARY, AT THE PETROLEUM CLUB, ABOUT TO DEBATE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OILSANDS INDUSTRY. WHAT IS THE MESSAGE YOU HOPE TO LEAVE THIS AUDIENCE WITH? I’m pleased to have been invited. I think that is a positive step towards dialogue—I don’t just want to talk to people that agree with me. I’m assuming that the people in that audience are like everyone I’ve met in Calgary at the Stampede. I don’t find people who don’t get it, but people who might have different solutions. I want to search for our common ground. It’s certainly not going to be a “gang up on Alberta.”

IN THE PAST YOU HAVE CALLED FOR A MORATORIUM ON OILSANDS DEVELOPMENT. IS THAT STILL THE CASE? We need to take a pause. Figure out [issues like] water use and energy return on investment. We need to diversify economic activity. All of Canada has been scarred and disserviced by the focus on tarsands as an engine of growth for the economy. awl

airwaterland.ca | 13

ENERGY

alternative No bull: Cat makes tracks with a hybrid dozer The company that produces the largest earthmoving equipment in the world has introduced the first-ever hybrid bulldozer. It’s a machine that not only performs better than its peers, but one that the company says also uses less fuel and generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Caterpillar’s D7E is a medium-sized dozer that for the first time incorporates a hybrid diesel/electric drive system. It is a machine that Caterpillar says conventional wisdom said could not be built, one that could be powerful and precise yet use considerably less fuel.

“More and more, dozers in the D7 class are called upon for site development work, especially in residential applications,” the company says. “These jobs demand a mix of straight-ahead dozing power and tight-quarters manoeuv­ rability,” the company says.

By creating the D7E, Caterpillar has achieved not only that combination of strength and agility, but also a significant advancement of green technology by increasing efficiency and reducing fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent.

“The total emissions reductions from productivity increases and fuel savings per hour are: 10 per cent from [carbon monoxide], 20 per cent for [nitrogen oxide] and [hydrocarbon], 51 per cent for [particulate matter] and 23 per cent for [carbon dioxide],” according to the company.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given Caterpillar a Clean Air Excellence Award for its work on the D7E. “Caterpillar has opened the door to new applications for electric drives in construction equipment,” the EPA says. “Now workers on jobsites…can look forward to higher productivity and fewer emissions.”

Suncor expands ethanol plant Suncor Energy is resuming a $120-million expansion of Canada’s largest ethanol plant, designed to double the plant’s production capacity from 200 million to 400 million litres per year. The ethanol is blended into Sunoco gasoline.

The expansion, combined with Suncor’s investment in four Canadian wind power pro­ jects, is expected to offset almost one million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or the annual tailpipe emissions of about 200,000 cars.

“Suncor is using revenues from oilsands development to invest in biofuels, particularly ethanol produced from corn,” the company says.

The St. Clair ethanol plant, located in the Sarnia-Lambton area of Ontario, opened in 2006. Since that time, Suncor says the installation has contributed to the development of a competitive domestic industry for renewable fuels.

“The St. Clair facility is the platform for growth of Suncor’s biofuels portfolio,” says Jay Thornton, executive vice-president of energy supply, trading, and development.

At current capacity of 200 million litres per day, the plant consumes 20 million bushels of corn per year—about 10 per cent of Ontario’s yearly crop. When the expansion is complete in late 2010 or early 2011, demand will increase to 40 million bushels of corn annually. Once the starches are extracted from the corn to make ethanol, the remaining material is used to make cattle feed.

During construction, the St. Clair expansion will create 350 jobs, with 15 new permanent positions when complete, plus the supporting demand for feedstock from local farmers.

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Roof shingles soak up the sun Dow Chemical Co. is attempting to break through the two main challenges it sees in using solar energy— acceptance and cost—through the introduction of a new solar roof shingle that is affordable and convenient.

The Powerhouse solar shingle, unveiled this fall, integrates thin-film photovoltaic cells into a “multifunctional solar energy–generating roofing product.”

Dow says installation costs are reduced because conventional shingles and solar shingles are installed simultaneously, and contractors need not have any specialized knowledge of solar arrays. The solar shingles are also designed to look like the average roofing shingle.

“This is about providing roof protection and energy generation all from one product, with lower costs, improved aesthetics, easier installation, and long-lasting performance,” says Jane Palmieri, managing director of Dow Solar Solutions. “Consumers reap the benefits of our innovation.”

In 2007, Dow received $20 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop “building integrated” solar arrays for commercial and residential construction. The new solar shingles are part of that program, and their production is seen as a way to not only more efficiently use solar power, but also create “green” jobs.

“Dow’s solar shingles are another example of local research and development helping grow our green economy,” says Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. The shingles are being produced at Dow’s Michigan headquarters.

The company says the systems will be available in limited quantities in mid-2010, and more widely available in 2011.

No more waste heat at plant

ENERGY

It’s goodbye to natural gas and hello to renewable energy for 1,600 homes in Alberta’s Capital Region. Thanks to a $7.45million grant from the provincial government, the waste heat from an Edmonton biofuels plant will soon be sent to an existing community energy system in nearby Strathcona County.

The community energy system—an “eco-forward” set-up where heat is provided to a number of buildings from a central source rather than by individual boilers at each—has been operating in Strathcona County since 2006. Even using natural gas, the approach claims an 18 per cent drop in annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to conventional heating, or about 1,100 tonnes. By using the residual heat from the biofuels facility instead of natural gas, it is estimated GHG emissions will be reduced by 7,000 tonnes per year. “[The project] is a great example of Albertans pioneering new technologies with the potential to have a worldwide impact,” Rob Renner, Minister of Alberta Environment, said in a statement.

The $7.45 million in funding came from Canada’s EcoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change, announced by the federal government in 2007. Under the program, Alberta is entitled to $155.9 million for “provincial projects that will result in real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants.”

Engineering, design, and procurement for the project will begin next January.

Construction is expected to be complete in March 2012, with start-up a few months later.

RENEWABLE

airwaterland.ca | 15

Just the

Facts

$0.42

1 MILLION

Amount for every kilowatt-hour of solar electricity that SkyPower Corp. and SunEdison will receive from the sale of electricity to the province of Ontario. The two companies plan to build a 9.12-megawatt solar farm in Norfolk County, southwest of Toronto. The project will send power to the grid under a 20-year deal with the Ontario Power Authority.

Number of tonNes of carbon dioxide annually that will not go into the atmosphere from Project Pioneer, which the Alberta government bills as one of the world’s first fully integrated carbon capture and storage facilities for a coal-fired power plant.

CARBON CAPTURE If all the talk about carbon capture and storage (CCS) has you confused, you might want to check out the fourth annual Carbon Capture and Storage Conference at the Calgary Telus Convention Centre in Calgary on Jan. 26 and 27. The Canadian Institute, a prestigious think tank that is organizing the event, bills the conference as “the optimal environment to gain critical updates and address the vital issues concerning the commercial success of CCS.” Besides updates on the latest projects, policies, and technologies, there will be reports on the lessons learned during actual CCS projects, such as Total’s power plant in Lacq, France.

To learn more, check out canadianinstitute.com.

$54.1 billion

T

Amount of electricity that’s expected to be generated once a new gas-to-energy plant comes online in 2010 at Waste Management’s Petrolia, Ont., landfill. Waste Management says this will be the largest landfill gas-to-energy plant in southwestern Ontario. The company already has more than 100 landfill-gas-to-energy plants in North America and plans on having more than 160 in operation by 2013.

he total of upstream capital spending in Canada in 2008, according to the 2009 global upstream performance review by oil and gas research firm IHS Herold and upstream corporate

advisor Harrison Lovegrove & Co. The growth was due to both the surge in bitumen mining

development and an overall increase in conventional and in situ oilsands activity, the report said.

Sources: Oilsands Review, Waste Management, TransAlta, The Canadian Institute

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3.2 MEGAWATTS