I’m not sure what more there is to say. 
Posts Tagged ‘Alberta’
Raising the Level of Sophistication in the Oilsands Dialogue
March 30, 2010Why the real solutions for a new energy future will come from Alberta.
January 6, 2010About a year ago I was in Toronto for an event to discuss the future of energy in Canada, and happened to strike up a conversation with a professor from an established university there. She was adamant that four barrels of fresh water are consumed for every barrel produced. When I told her that this wasn’t the case, that producers have reduced the amount of water used to less than a barrel, that in a lot of cases it’s undrinkable water being used, not fresh water, and that the water is recycled with efficiencies of greater than 90%, she just shook her head violently and said “No! You’re wrong!” Well, I’m sorry. You’d think I would have known better.
You can only imagine my frustration in trying to explain to her that such a thing as SAGD exists, let alone how it works.
And nevermind when it comes to the THAI process, the use of light hydrocarbons as solvents to replace steam, underground well delivery, or any of the many environmental improvements that are in one stage of development or another. Let’s just say the conversation wasn’t going anywhere. The idea that innovation could improve things even more in the future – hogwash as far as this professor-on-a-mission was concerned.
And speaking of innovation, last fall I was involved in putting together a really great Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, designed to teach the innovation process to high-school students that live in a community tied to the oilsands.
In order to make the event as good as it could be, we contracted some of the greatest innovation experts in the world, from a hot industrial design shop in the silicon valley with a reputation for tackling some of the world’s tough problems. They were going to lead students through a two-day innovation workshop.
Eventually the supplier backed out. (It’s a long story, and to their credit they extricated themselves in a way that demonstrated integrity, providing a suitable replacement). I knew, that at least partially, it was their discomfort with Alberta’s less-than-ideally managed oilsands brand that had led to their decision to terminate the relationship. As one of the partners acknowledged, “the oilsands are a controversial space to participate in.”
But here’s the rub. Solutions for the future of energy are likely to come only from people who have a frame of reference that is both deep and wide enough to understand the realities of energy.
They need to be able to think in terms of vast distribution infrastructures. They need to be competent with math of millions of barrel of oil equivalents, and all the physical and economic realities that it takes to create them. They need to have an inside perspective on how and why energy is consumed, how it can be used efficiently, and what that means from the moment energy is captured to the moment it is used to drive a car down the road. (And even the moments after that, if we’re talking cradle to cradle).
And these people, no doubt some of them at least, will have cut their teeth in the training grounds of Alberta’s oilsands.
This province, which has learned some tough lessons in the last decade, has much to offer the world and much to be proud of. Let’s not forget that Alberta is home to some of the most sophisticated energy thinkers in the world. Now and in the future, it will be our province that supplies many of the solutions, the tried and true, the “unconventional” and even the curve-jumping, game changing ones.
Why Satya Das’ Oilsands Tax is a Bad Idea
January 5, 2010Satya Das’ book Green Oil has garnered significant attention, and he wrote an op-ed which appeared in the Globe and Mail yesterday.
While I agree with many of the points Das makes, particularly the idea that the oilsands can help fuel a cleaner energy future, the truth is government is largely ineffective at managing innovation, and that this is much better left to entrepreneurial corporations who are skilled at adapting quickly to change in ways that make economic sense.
Nor are governments good at betting on which innovations will succeed quickly and which ones will not. (Some might point to a narrow focus on investment in CCS as an example).
Yet another tax on the oilsands, putting even more money in the hands of government, would be one of the least successful ways to spur innovation in the energy space, and would further harm the business environment in Alberta. Instead, companies who innovate should receive incentives as encouragement to bring technological improvements to market faster. This would include both traditional oilsands companies and others who are seeking to drive the future of renewables and create the “next” energy infrastructure. By making Alberta a place where these kinds of companies can prosper and do business in a low cost environment, everyone wins.
The long term payoff to the people of Alberta for these innovations would be enormous. But let’s not kill the golden goose in order to hatch eggs which have not yet even been laid.
