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Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

cbc.ca

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Re: Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

#41

Post by codecamper »

Boothroid wrote: post #38
codecamper wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this post the lowest on the ranking? "technological" programmers are some of the most non-science understanding people around. A real shame! Read some science beyond your programming documentation please.

If this is aimed at me I have two degrees in Geography and have worked in the oil industry.

You understand the carbon cycle then. So what is the plan with that & coal & oil?

These are problems that humans understood 60 years ago. Since then it's been a few generations of scientists and engineers thinking they were each too small to make a difference on the world. It's starting to be too late for that kind of thinking.

Re: Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

#42

Post by Joe-Z »

Boothroid wrote: post #37
Joe-Z wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article mentions that it's more environmentally friendly. The balls float on water and apparently can't be poaked easily. That's a plus in my book.

I think we are in lipstick on a pig territory here. Tar sands are horrific in environmental terms, one of the most carbon intensive fossil fuels in their production and the cause of devastation of huge areas of wilderness. By the time the stuff is made into balls or whatever the vast majority of possible damage has already been done.

Well, I wasn't advocating tar sands here, I just repeated the info I got from the article.

However, it is a reality that this industry exists, so sure it might be better to not extract tar sands at all, but as long as it's happening anyway why not make it as clen as possible?

Re: Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

#44

Post by petraeus »

Boothroid wrote: post #5

Anything that facilitates increased use of tar sands hydrocarbons is terrible news for the environment. We should ban this miserable trade.

You're right, we also need to ban, cars, milk, beef, beer, clothes, plastics, .. oh crap we've now banned everything that underpins our modern technological age.

Re: Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

#45

Post by thinkcontext »

petraeus wrote: post #44
Boothroid wrote: post #5

Anything that facilitates increased use of tar sands hydrocarbons is terrible news for the environment. We should ban this miserable trade.

You're right, we also need to ban, cars, milk, beef, beer, clothes, plastics, .. oh crap we've now banned everything that underpins our modern technological age.

I think the call for a ban was reflecting the fact that a lot of energy is required to produce usable crude oil from tar sands. It basically involves burning natural gas to produce steam to "melt" the tar sands to be able to flow. This makes the CO2 footprint of tar sands oil significantly higher than standard oil, it would be like powering your car with coal rather than oil. A reasonable CO2 tax would render tar sands uneconomic.

Re: Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

#46

Post by Boothroid »

petraeus wrote: post #44
Boothroid wrote: post #5

Anything that facilitates increased use of tar sands hydrocarbons is terrible news for the environment. We should ban this miserable trade.

You're right, we also need to ban, cars, milk, beef, beer, clothes, plastics, .. oh crap we've now banned everything that underpins our modern technological age.

Straw man.

Re: Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

#48

Post by Boothroid »

codecamper wrote: post #41
Boothroid wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this is aimed at me I have two degrees in Geography and have worked in the oil industry.

You understand the carbon cycle then. So what is the plan with that & coal & oil? These are problems that humans understood 60 years ago. Since then it's been a few generations of scientists and engineers thinking they were each too small to make a difference on the world. It's starting to be too late for that kind of thinking.

Tar sands are massively CO2 intensive, as well as hugely destructive of land. Take a look at satellite imagery of extraction areas - they literally tear the surface of the earth off. Watercourses are polluted with all kinds of horrible poisons as a result. One has to be wilfully ignorant or cynical to ignore the fact that we really shouldn't be exploiting this energy resource at all if we want to avoid cooking the planet, in favour of praising a method that facilitates even greater destruction. Where does it end?! :|

Re: Bitumen balls could be a pipeline-free way to transport Alberta oil

#50

Post by refurb »

riffraff wrote: post #49

so, you make pellets. Then you have to mix them with some "light" oil produced during the production of pellets. So you still have to transport them together. I cannot really understand how this is better than carrying oil directly.

It's in the article. Easier to clean up a spill if it happens.
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