Coal, not oilsands, causes global warming: study

Latest change. No wonder the average citizen is confused and cynical.

I agree. What will be the cause of global warming next week?

How come no one says the obvious? It's the CO2 per energy extracted that matters.

I'm not sure that's the obvious.

The article is only talking about oilsands, not all world oil taken together. Contrast that with the article talking about burning all the world's coal. I doubt if Weaver made that mistake in his actual paper. I very much doubt that his conclusion is we can burn all the oil we want and be OK, but not coal or natural gas. As the article says, the reason natural gas is a problem is because there is so much of it. CO2/energy I believe is actually lower for natural gas.

The reporter who wrote that article should be fired.

lol, if all we used was what was in the Oil Sands, then ok. All he showed was that the Oil Sands is only a part of the problem. The Title of the article is not supported by the article itself. lol

Nope - the title and article match. I very much doubt they got Weavers actual research article right tho - he looked at all consumption of the major fossil fuels. He was just surprised how small a role the oil sands played - but then the oil sands are only 12% of current proven supply. (Less, I'm sure if shale oil etc is considered.)

Thats my point. There is far more coal worldwide, and natural gas than oil in the oil sands. And what matters is pollution per BTU
http://www.physics.uci.edu/~silverma/units.html


CO2 Pollution of Fossil Fuels

Pounds of CO2 per billion BTU of energy::
Coal����������� 208,000 pounds
Oil�������������� 164,000 pounds
Natural Gas 117,000 pounds

Ratios of CO2 pollution:
Oil / Natural Gas = 1.40
Coal / Natural Gas = 1.78

Pounds of CO2 per 1,000 kWh, at 100% efficiency:
Coal������������ 709 pounds
Oil��������������� 559 pounds
Natural Gas� 399 pounds

The most obvious thing about this, for me, is the appalling standards of Canadian journalism. I listened in amazement to the CBC making the same misstatements.

Professor Chomsky posts a reality check.

The misinterpretation of this is about the same as saying that some coal mine somewhere is only responsible for so much and, therefore, it is not part of the problem.

Weaver know and I am sure did not think it necessary to say, that .3C is a huge factor in climate shift. It is almost as mush as global temperature rose from the mean to give us the Medieval Warming Period or fell to bring on the Little Ice Age.

The total accumulation from the Tar Sands and a little more from coal can make that much difference.

The study is a broader examination than several previous that have also said that we have to stop burning coal. And soon.

I read this, and thought it was applicable.

I read this, and thought it was applicable.



A variation on Yeats: "The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.".