Imagine an oilsands operation in Alberta where the heat to make the steam that separates oil from sand is delivered from a small nuclear reactor, which arrives on a flatbed truck. At the site, the reactor is entombed in a…
Category: Coal gasification
Alberta’s route to massive carbon reduction: a winnable war
Fighting the climate change war in Alberta is a two-front proposition. There’s power generation and there’s the oilsands. Both are the biggest emitters of their kind in Canada (see article). And unless there is progress in both, or at least…
Nuclear power in Alberta: prospects and challenges
Alberta is Canada’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Most emissions come from two activities: power generation, and oilsands mining and processing. Combined they emitted over 102 million tonnes of GHGs in 2004—43 percent of the provincial total, and over…
Carbon capture and recycle: a new lease on life for coal, cars
Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) has been touted as a way to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants. In North America, coal plants emit around 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Storing 2 billion tonnes of CO2 every year will be…
Nuclear to play central role in Canada’s climate change strategy
Twenty-four hours after president-elect Obama touted nuclear power as part of his incoming administration’s climate change action plan (see article), Canada’s federal government did the same in its Speech from the Throne. In case anyone accuses it of following rather…