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New study finds GHG emissions from palm oil production significantly underestimated; palm oil biofuels could be more climate-damaging than oil sands fuels

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Based on visual interpretation of high-resolution (30 m) satellite images, a new study in the journal Global Change Biology: Bioenergy determined that industrial plantations covered over 3.1 When peat swamps are drained for agriculture, the peat begins to decompose, and is an enormous source of carbon emissions. Earlier post.).

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Joint Canada/Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring begins summer air monitoring project

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A comprehensive environmental field study to gather information on air contaminants in the Wood Buffalo region in northeast Alberta, Canada (home to major oil sands projects) will occur from 12 August to mid-September 2013. Earlier post.). Earlier post.).

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Researcher urges more effort on assessment of land and water impacts of oil sands production; reference point for other unconventional fuels

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Bitumen production from the Canadian oil sands provides a point of reference that could be used to observe and better manage the land and water impacts of a rapid transition to unconventional fuels, suggests Dr. Sarah Jordaan of the Energy Technology Innovation Policy Research Group, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University.

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CERA: Canadian Oil Sands Poised to Become the Top Source of Crude Imports to the US in 2010; Could Contribute Up To 36% of US Oil and Refined Products Imports by 2030

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Growth of production of Canadian oil sands. The Canadian oil sands are now poised to become the number one source of US crude oil imports in 2010, according to new research from the IHS CERA Canadian Oil Sands Dialogue. The Role of Canadian Oil Sands in US Oil Supply”.

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USGS new estimates of global undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil and natural gas, excluding US

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USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources of the world. Many new areas were included in the current study, defining and assessing 313 assessment units throughout the world, as compared to 246 in 2000.

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Smith School lifecycle study highlights importance for algae-derived biodiesel of co-product utilization and optimizing and decarbonizing every step of the supply chain

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Since it is most likely that within the next decades the share of transport fuels from energy intensive unconventional oil resources will increase, the production of advanced biofuels from microalgae can only be a viable renewable fuel source if the energy intensity of the process can be managed and lowered accordingly. —Shirvani et al.

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Critical review finds actual measurement data on segments of natural gas lifecycle sparse or lacking

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Between 2000 and 2011, the number of producing gas wells in the US increased by 50%, reaching 514,637. They separated the drilling process from the term “hydraulic fracturing”, which describes the process of fracturing low permeability rocks using water mixed with sand and proprietary chemicals pumped into the borehole under high pressure.

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