NEW! ALBERTA TAR SANDS CLIMATE FACTS AND CHARTS - May 2014

[Oscar]

ALBERTA TAR SANDS CLIMATE FACTS AND CHARTS - May 2014/b]

[ http://www.no-tar-sands.org/wp-content/ ... sFacts.pdf ]

AUTHOR: Barry Saxifrage at visualcarbon.org

CONTACT: visualcarbon@saxifrages.org

PERMISSION: Anyone is free to use any information or charts in this document with or without attribution.

CONTENTS
1. Producing a barrel of tar sands oil creates three to four times more climate pollution than producing conventional crude oil in Canada or USA. (Pg. 3)
2. A full “wells-to-wheels” lifecycle analysis by the US Department of Energy shows tar sands oil creates 22% more climate pollution than conventional crude oil. 3

North American Impact examples 4
A. A Honda Accord burning tar sands gasoline has the same climate impact as a Chevy Suburban using conventional gasoline. 4
B. Over the lifetime of an average car, using tar sands gasoline will increase the climate impact by 19 tonnes of CO2 compared to using conventional gasoline. 4
C. Fuelling ten percent of USA transportation with tar sands oil increases the climate impact by nearly 40 MtCO2 -- equal to adding 8 million cars to US roads. 4

European Impact examples 5
A. UK Cars: A Honda Accord burning tar sands petrol has the same climate impact as a Ford Ranger XL pickup using conventional petrol. 5
B. Switching ten percent of the EU-27's oil to tar sands oil would increase the climate impact by 41 MtCO2 per year -- equal to adding 21 million new cars to EU roads. 5
3. Climate pollution per barrel has increased 21% in the last few years. 6
4. Tar sands are the fastest growing source of climate pollution in Canada 8
5. There are no effective limits on climate pollution from the tar sands 8
6. Climate pollution from the tar sands has doubled in the last decade -- and is predicted to more than double again in the coming decade. 9
7. Climate pollution from producing tar sands oil is projected to hit 104 MtCO2 by 2020. That is twice current emissions from Norway or Bangladesh -- and exceeds the combined emissions from 85 nations. 9
8. "Wells-to-wheels" climate pollution from the tar sands is projected to hit 730 MtCO2 by 2020. That would rank as the seventh worst climate polluting nation in the world today. 10
9. Alberta has already approved enough tar sands projects to produce "wells-to-wheels" climate pollution of 1,095 MtCO2 per year. That exceeds the current combined emissions from 150 nations. 10

Compared To Canadian Coal 11
10. Production of tar sands currently generates ten times more climate pollution than production of coal in Canada. This is expected to grow to 34 times more by 2020. 11
11. Burning tar sands oil currently produces two times more climate pollution than burning Canadian coal. This is set to grow to four times more by 2020. 11
12. Eliminating all coal mining in Canada would offset the climate impact of just four years of planned tar sands expansion. 11

Compared to USA coal 12
13. Climate pollution from Alberta tar sands production is on track to exceed that from all USA coal production within a decade. 12
14. The tar sands contain nearly four times more carbon than the Gillette Coalfield in the Powder River basin, one of the largest coal deposits in the world. 12

Petcoke: The hidden coal in the tar sands 13
15. Around 15% of bitumen gets turned into a dirtier-than-coal fuel called "petcoke", making coal plants that use it even dirtier. 13
16. The bitumen flowing through one large pipeline yields enough "petcoke" by-product to fuel five coal power plants. 13
17. Rapid expansion of tar sands pollution is the overwhelming reason why Canada is expected to break our nation's climate promise. 14
18. Canada would be on track to reduce climate pollution over the next decade if not for the planned expansion of the tar sands industry. Instead Canadian emissions are predicted to increase. 14
19. The tar sands projects already under construction will supply almost all the tar sands oil the world can use on a path that avoids dire climate changes. 15
20. The tar sands projects already approved by Alberta will supply far more tar sands oil than the world can use on a path to leads to a climate "catastrophe". 15

Tar Sands Facts and Charts pg. 1 version 4
21. A moratorium on future project approvals will not affect the ability of the tar sands industry to supply all the tar sands oil humanity can safely burn. 16
22. Fully exploiting the tar sands could release more climate pollution than the USA and China combined -- or EU plus China combined -- have released in all their history. It could surpass all the oil ever burned by humanity. 17
23. NASA Climatologist James Hansen said that “if Canada proceeds [with its exploitation of the oil sands] it will be game over for the climate" 19
24. Climate pollution pricing adequate to prevent catastrophic climate change will make the majority of the proposed tar sands oil supply too expensive to sell. 20
25. Tar sands oil faces 22% more climate pollution fees than conventional oil. 21
26. The Alberta economy faces substantially higher climate pollution fees per capita than any nation except Qatar. 22
27. The Alberta economy creates three times less GDP per tCO2 than the rest of Canada. 22
28. To meet Canadian climate targets requires a continually rising climate pollution price reaching $150 to $200 per tonne of CO2 by 2020, and continuing upwards from there. 23
Impact examples using average climate pollution price of $150/tCO2 over next 30 years 23
29. Annual climate pollution fees would cost Alberta 14% of current GDP; Ontario just 4%. 23
30. Adds $86 per barrel to tar sands oil -- 22% more than for conventional oil. 23
31. Adds $750 billion to cost of tar sands oil flowing through one pipeline over 30 years. 23
32. No new tar sands pipelines are needed on an energy path where humanity avoids the dire climate impacts beyond 2oC of warming. 25
33. Each major tar sands pipeline locks in a climate spill of five billion tonnes of CO2. 25
34. Tar sands oil flowing through a major new pipeline is exposed to half a trillion dollars in potential climate pollution fees. Or more. 25
35. Three proposed pipelines to BC's coast could require over 800 oil tankers per year. 26

Proposed pipelines data table 27