2009, Environment and Oil-Sands

Alberta approves MacKay River Commercial Oil Sands Project; operating company a JV between AOSC and PetroChina

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 28, 2011

Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. AOSC) announced that the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board and Alberta Environment and Water has issued full regulatory approval for the MacKay River commercial oil sands project to MacKay Operating Corp. Earlier post.) ( Earlier post.)

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Oil Commercial Companies

New study concludes oil sands development has significantly increased PAH and DBT loadings in regional lakes; combined with effects of climate change, a “new ecological state” for the lakes

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 9, 2013

Standardized values (Z scores) of (A) visible reflectance spectroscopy (VRS) chlorophyll a inferences from the five lakes proximate to major oil sands operations as indicators of lake primary production; (B) total PAH concentrations and (C) total DBT concentrations from all six study sites. Source: Kurek et al. Click to enlarge.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Climate Change Oil Climate

Tailings Technology Roadmap project releases nine development roadmaps for treatment of oil sands fine tailings

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 29, 2012

The report provides nine different Tailings Technology Deployment (TDD) Roadmaps to accelerate the implementation of oil sands tailings solutions in Alberta. After oil sands ore is excavated from the ground (surface mining operations, not in situ production), warm water is added to wash the bitumen off the. sand and clay.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Oil Canada Water

AER reports recovery of 337,000 gallons of bitumen from surface seeps at CNRL Primrose site; earlier event in 2009

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 18, 2013

HPCSS has been used in oil recovery in Alberta for more than 30 years, AER noted. However, there was an earlier, similar event of bitumen upwelling at the Primrose project initially reported in 2009. The heat softens the bitumen and the water dilutes and separates the bitumen from the sand. 2009 incident.

2009

2009 Oil-Sands Water Oil

Microbes for Quick Clean Up of Toxic Byproducts from Heavy Crude and Oil Sands

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Microbiologists from the University of Essex, UK are exploring the use of microbes to break down and remove toxic compounds from heavy crude and oil sands. These acidic compounds persist in the environment, taking up to 10 years to break down. Society for General Microbiology Autumn Meeting, 7 Sep 2009). Richard Johnson.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Oil Clean Cleaning

Researchers Suggest That Although CCS and Other Technologies Could Reduce Oil Sands GHG Emissions to Near Zero, That Strategy May Not Make Sense

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 15, 2010

Examples of emerging oil sands related technologies and trade-offs. The paper is an examination of how various choices about the scale of the life cycle analysis applied to oil sands (i.e., The source material is neither oil nor tar but bitumen, but is most generally described as an example of ultraheavy oil.”.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Oil Emissions Coal

New Study Finds That Oil Sands Development a Greater Source of Contamination Than Previously Realized; Challenges Existing Monitoring Program

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 8, 2009

A study by researchers in Canada and the US shows that oil sands development is a greater source of polycyclic aromatic compound (PAC) contamination to the Athabasca River and its tributaries than previously realized. Bitumen production in the Alberta oil sands has increased rapidly, rising from 482,000 to 1.3

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Oil 2008 Canada

CFR Report Says Energy Security and Climate Change Concerns With Oil Sands Can be Reconciled

Green Car Congress

MAY 24, 2009

Oil sands supply chain. Source: Levi 2009. A new report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)— The Canadian Oil Sands: Energy Security vs Climate Change — claims that prudent greenhouse gas regulations can limit emissions from Canadian oil sands while still enabling robust development of the energy resource.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Climate Change Oil Climate

Researchers exploring development of biofilms for remediation of oilsands tailings

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 26, 2011

Researchers at the Universities of Calgary and Alberta are collaborating on a project for the microbial remediation of oil sands tailings—the waste byproducts of oil sands surface mining that are collected in large manufactured settling basins called tailing ponds. —Golby et al. m below the surface.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Oil Environment Water

Alberta approves Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 24, 2012

The region includes a substantial portion of the Athabasca oil sands area, which contains approximately 82% of the province’s oil sands resource and much of the Cold Lake oil sands area. The government of Alberta, Canada has approved the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP). —LARP.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Oil Water Canada

ESP artificial lift company ZiLift secures £4M capital investment led by GE-NRG Energy-ConocoPhillips JV

Green Car Congress

MAY 14, 2012

Oil and gas services company Schlumberger defines artificial lift as any system that adds energy to the fluid column in a wellbore with the objective of initiating and improving production from the well. heavylift is intended to produce heavy oil and sand reliably at high temperatures. Source: Schlumberger. Click to enlarge.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands Companies Chevron Energy

Pew Survey finds broad support for Keystone XL; splits on fracking; slippage in seeing warming as very serious

Green Car Congress

APRIL 3, 2013

The survey found that two-thirds of Americans (66%) favor building the pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada’s oil sands region through the Midwest to refineries in Texas. Current opinions about whether global warming is a very serious problem are similar to those in 2009 and 2010. Click to enlarge. Keystone XL.

Oil-Sands

Oil-Sands 2006 Global 2009

Study Finds Water Use for Switchgrass Ethanol Production Approximately the Same as for Gasoline

Green Car Congress

AUGUST 23, 2009

In the US, producing one gallon of ethanol from switchgrass consumes approximately the same net amount of water as does producing a gallon of gasoline from conventional crude or oil sands oil, according to a study by Argonne National Laboratory researchers presented at the 238 th national meeting of the American Chemical Society last week.

Water

Water Gasoline Oil-Sands Production

Researchers Say Mix of Policies and Current or Near-Term Technologies Could Phase Out US CO2 Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants by 2030

Green Car Congress

MAY 2, 2010

Lead author Kharecha and colleagues note that current climate science indicates that atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, already at 387 ppm in 2009 and rising, need to be reduced to no more than 350 ppm. Readily available reserves of oil and gas are sufficient to take atmospheric CO 2 to at least 400 ppm. Kharecha, Charles F.

Coal

Coal Emissions Oil-Sands Climate Change

EPA Formally Requests Information About Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing

Green Car Congress

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

EPA says the data requested is integral to a broad scientific study it has undertaken, which Congress in 2009 directed the agency to conduct to determine whether hydraulic fracturing has an impact on drinking water and the public health of Americans living in the vicinity of hydraulic fracturing wells.

EPA

EPA Oil-Sands Congress Water

Chevron leveraging information technology to optimize thermal production of heavy oil with increased recovery and reduced costs

Green Car Congress

JUNE 23, 2011

Chevron’s focus on optimizing the thermal management of the Kern River field has resulted in a steady drop in the steam:oil ratio (barrels steam water per barrel oil), resulting in improved economics of the field even with slowly declining production. Data: California DOGGR. Click to enlarge. Source: Chevron. Click to enlarge.

Chevron

Chevron Oil Oil-Sands Production

Peabody Energy and GreatPoint Energy To Partner on Coal-to-Gas and Coal-to-Hydrogen Facilities with Carbon Capture and Storage

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Peabody Energy and GreatPoint Energy signed an agreement to pursue development of coal-to-gas and coal-to-hydrogen projects in the United States and around the world with carbon capture and storage (CCS) that would achieve near-zero carbon emissions, while increasing the production of stranded oil via enhanced oil recovery.

Coal

Coal Gas Carbon Energy

Major spill from the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline in Arkansas

Green Car Congress

MARCH 31, 2013

A breach in ExxonMobil’s Pegasus crude oil pipeline occurred late Friday afternoon near Mayflower, AR (about 20 miles north northwest of Little Rock and at the southeastern end of the Lake Conway reservoir). Efforts are being made to keep oil away from Lake Conway. Route of the Pegasus pipeline. Source: ExxonMobil. Click to enlarge.

Arkansas

Arkansas Oil Montana Wyoming

Devil in the Details: World Leaders Scramble To Salvage and Shape Copenhagens UNFCCC Climate Summit

Green Car Congress

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

The last official UNFCCC meeting prior to the 15 th Congress ended 6 November in Barcelona, and environment ministers have been shuttling in and out of Copenhagen since then to conduct ad hoc negotiations prior to the summit. ” —British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, summing up the historical significance of COP 15. ºF) increase.

Climate

Climate Climate Change 2009 Emissions

Ford puts the pedal down on performance … but not with electric drive technology right now

Green Car Congress

JANUARY 14, 2015

Sales of performance vehicles are up 70% in the US since 2009, Nair said. The display is configurable for multiple driving environments and different driving modes. Mud and sand mode for muddy and sandy trails and terrain. In calendar year 2014, Ford sold 84,583 hybrids and 1,964 EVs for 3.5% The business case for performance.

Shelby

Shelby Ford F-150 Carbon Fiber

MIT study cautions smaller nations on rushing to develop their natural gas resources; Cyprus as model

Green Car Congress

OCTOBER 27, 2013

While natural gas is often cheaper than oil and gives off fewer emissions, developing the resource comes with risks, especially for smaller nations. Noble has also discovered the 9 Tcf Tamar Field offshore Israel (2009), followed by the 17 Tcf Leviathan Field, also offshore Israel. Click to enlarge. Background. Earlier post.).

Cyprus

Cyprus MIT Gas Gas-Electric

Car Companies Standardize Plug for Electric Vehicles : Gas 2.0

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 21, 2009

Car Companies Standardize Plug for Electric Vehicles Written by Jerry James Stone Published on April 19th, 2009 34 Comments Posted in Electric Cars (EVs) , Plug-in hybrid EVs Just a few hours after General Motors called for a standardized EV plug , one has been created! Like this post? Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay up to date.

Gas-Electric

Gas-Electric Standards Plug Gas

MIT Battery Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Electric Cars : Gas 2.0

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 21, 2009

video] Add a comment or question Recommend this post (2) Share/Email Stumble It « Previous post Next post » 7 Comments 1 Sebastian James said on March 12th, 2009 at 12:56 pm Good to know this happened in the U.S. 3 David Herron said on March 16th, 2009 at 12:31 am Fast recharge will require huge power levels.

MIT

MIT Gas-Electric Gas Electric Cars

Cleantech Blog: Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

APRIL 16, 2009

Cleantech Blog Cleantechblog.com, the premier cleantech site for commentary on news and technology relating to clean tech, greentech, energy, climate change and carbon, and the environment. Blog Archive ▼ 2009 (52) ▼ April (6) Waxman-Markey and REDD BlogRoll Review: Space Beams, Leaded Batteries, an. Then we are done!

Grid

Grid Electric Vehicles Vehicles Oil-Sands

EV Driven

Alberta approves MacKay River Commercial Oil Sands Project; operating company a JV between AOSC and PetroChina

New study concludes oil sands development has significantly increased PAH and DBT loadings in regional lakes; combined with effects of climate change, a “new ecological state” for the lakes

Tailings Technology Roadmap project releases nine development roadmaps for treatment of oil sands fine tailings

AER reports recovery of 337,000 gallons of bitumen from surface seeps at CNRL Primrose site; earlier event in 2009

Microbes for Quick Clean Up of Toxic Byproducts from Heavy Crude and Oil Sands

Researchers Suggest That Although CCS and Other Technologies Could Reduce Oil Sands GHG Emissions to Near Zero, That Strategy May Not Make Sense

New Study Finds That Oil Sands Development a Greater Source of Contamination Than Previously Realized; Challenges Existing Monitoring Program

CFR Report Says Energy Security and Climate Change Concerns With Oil Sands Can be Reconciled

Researchers exploring development of biofilms for remediation of oilsands tailings

Alberta approves Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

ESP artificial lift company ZiLift secures £4M capital investment led by GE-NRG Energy-ConocoPhillips JV

Pew Survey finds broad support for Keystone XL; splits on fracking; slippage in seeing warming as very serious

Study Finds Water Use for Switchgrass Ethanol Production Approximately the Same as for Gasoline

Researchers Say Mix of Policies and Current or Near-Term Technologies Could Phase Out US CO2 Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants by 2030

EPA Formally Requests Information About Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing

Chevron leveraging information technology to optimize thermal production of heavy oil with increased recovery and reduced costs

Peabody Energy and GreatPoint Energy To Partner on Coal-to-Gas and Coal-to-Hydrogen Facilities with Carbon Capture and Storage

Major spill from the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline in Arkansas

Devil in the Details: World Leaders Scramble To Salvage and Shape Copenhagens UNFCCC Climate Summit

Ford puts the pedal down on performance … but not with electric drive technology right now

MIT study cautions smaller nations on rushing to develop their natural gas resources; Cyprus as model

Car Companies Standardize Plug for Electric Vehicles : Gas 2.0

MIT Battery Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Electric Cars : Gas 2.0

Cleantech Blog: Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles

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