GEOG 101: DayS 17-18

1. GEOG 101: DayS 17-18 Climate Change (cont’d) and Fossil Fuels See http://libguides.viu.ca/workshops for workshops on how to do your research more effectively and spend less time. They start today!

2. Housekeeping Items • We will finish the slides on climate change and start in on fossil fuels. • Innovative Ways to Change the World Do you want to make a difference? Do you care about the world we live in? Join us to hear community crusader, author and founder of the Nyaka Aids Orphan Project: Jackson Kaguri. The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project is working on behalf of HIV/AIDS orphans in rural Uganda to end systemic deprivation, poverty and hunger through a holistic approach to community development, education, and healthcare.Date: November 5, 2014Time: 1 pm - 3 pmLocation: Nanaimo Campus, Bldg 255, Room 170

3. Housekeeping Items • Also on Wednesday, there will be a showing of the film, “Chasing Ice,” about a filmmaker who travels the world looking at the effect of climate change on glacier and polar ice cap recession. • It’s at 6 p.m. in Building 355, Room 203. • For more information, see http://www.chasingice.com/

4. Housekeeping Items • On Thursday, I would like to do a role play modeling an international conference on climate change solutions. I will break you into four groups today: 1) Canada and the U.S.; 2) China; 3) developing countries most affected by climate change, and 4) leaders in renewable energy (Sweden and Germany, etc.). • Your job will be to first determine what your position would be at an international conference and why -- research it between now and then)? Prepare a short speech for everyone. Give your speech. Offer rebuttals to what you hear, and then offer what would acceptable solutions for you. I will give you time at the beginning of class to get organized in your group and decide who’s going to do what.

5. BC’s Carbon Tax • On 1 July 2008, BC brought in North America’s first carbon tax shift. It imposed a price on the use of carbon- based fuels, with all the revenues going to fund corresponding cuts in other taxes. • BC’s carbon tax infrastructure is still in place, and though Christy Clark signed a carbon agreement with Washington, Oregon, and California in October 2013 -- http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_24406734/california-oregon-washington-and-british-columbia-sign-climate-- she recently eliminated the target for reducing greenhouse gas reductions by 33 percent below 2007 levels by 2020, and has abolished the independence of the BC Carbon Trust.

6. BC’s Carbon Tax • BC’s carbon tax shift was designed to be “revenue neutral”; all the revenues are to be used to reduce other taxes – mainly through cuts to income taxes (personal and corporate), as well as targeted tax relief for vulnerable households and communities – resulting in no overall increase in taxation • When introduced in 2008, the tax was initially set at $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). It was designed to rise by $5 per year thereafter until it reached $30 per tonne (roughly 7 cents per litre of gas) in 2012.

7. BC’s Carbon Tax • A recent report’s key findings are that:• Since the carbon tax took effect (July 1, 2008), BC’s fuel consumption has fallen by 17.4% per capita (and fallen by 18.8% relative to the rest of Canada). • These reductions have occurred across all the fuel types covered by the tax (not just vehicle fuel) • BC’s GDP kept pace with the rest of Canada’s over that time.

9. BC’s Carbon Tax • The tax shift has enabled BC to have Canada’s lowest income tax rates (as of 2012). • The tax shift has benefited taxpayers; cuts to income and other taxes have exceeded carbon tax revenues by $500 million from 2008-12. • Stewart Elgie, Professor of law and economics at University of Ottawa, and the report’s lead author, says: “BC’s experience shows that it is possible to have both a healthier environment and a strong economy -- by taxing pollution and lowering income taxes.”

10. 16-10

11. Upon successfully completing this chapter, you will be able to • Identify the principal energy sources that we use • Describe the nature and origin of coal and evaluate its extraction and use • Describe the nature and origin of natural gas and evaluate its extraction and use • Describe the nature and origin of oil and evaluate its extraction, use, and future availability • Describe the nature, origin, and potential of alternative fossil fuel types and technologies • Outline and assess environmental impacts of fossil fuel use • Evaluate political, social, and economic impacts of fossil fuel use • Specify strategies for conserving energy and enhancing efficiency

12. Central Case: On, Off, On Again? The MacKenzie Valley Natural Gas Pipeline “We’ve embarked on the beginning of the last days of the age of oil.” – Mike Bowlin, Chair, ARCO • Proposal to develop three major natural gas fields • Delayed 10 years because of deep opposition • Many who opposed the pipeline became supporters • Potential effects: fragmentation of habitat, damage breeding areas, deforestation, increase GHG emissions • Natural gas from the region may go straight into the production of oil from Alberta’s tar sands

13. Sources of Energy 16-13

14. Renewable energy = supplies of energy will not be depleted by our use • Sunlight, geothermal energy, and tidal energy • Nonrenewable energy = at our current rates of consumption we will use up Earth’s accessible store of these sources in a matter of decades to centuries • Oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear energy (uranium) • To replenish the fossil fuels we have depleted so far would take millions of years (we have consumed half of what it took 50 to 300 million years to create in approximately 125 years!) We use a variety of energy sources

15. Fossil fuels = highly combustible substances formed from remains of organisms from past geologic ages Electricity = a secondary form of energy that is easier to transfer and apply to a variety of uses We use a variety of energy sources (cont’d)

16. Nonrenewable • Crude oil • Natural gas • Coal • Nuclear energy (uranium) • Renewable • Biomass energy • Hydropower • Solar energy • Wind Energy • Geothermal energy • Tidal and wave energy • Chemical fuels (wood, dung, methane from biogas digesters, biofuels) We use a variety of energy sources (cont’d) See charts about nuclear energy from CAG

17. Fossil fuels we burn today were formed from the tissues of organisms that lived 100-500 million years ago • Fossil fuels are produced only when organic materials is broken down in an anaerobic environment = one that has little or no oxygen • Bottoms of deep lakes, swamps, and shallow seas • Organic matter is eventually converted into crude oil, natural gas, or coal. Fossil fuels are indeedcreated from fossils Fossil fuels were formed from plants and animals that lived 300 million years ago in primordial swamps and oceans (top). Over time the plants and animals died and decomposed under tons of rock and ancient seas (middle). Eventually, many of the seas receded and left dry land with fossil fuels like coal buried underneath it (bottom). Ten feet of prehistoric plant debris was needed to make one foot of coal.

18. Fossil fuel reserves are unevenly distributed • Some regions have substantial reserves, whereas others have very few • How long a nation’s reserves will last depends on: • How much the nation extracts, consumes • How much it imports from and exports to other nations • Nearly 67% of the world’s proven reserves of crude oil lie in the Middle East • The U.S. possesses more coal than any other nation

19. Developed nations consume more energy than developing nations • Industrialized nations • Use energy for transportation, industry, and domestic and institutional uses • Developing nations • Use energy for subsistence activities • Agriculture, food preparation, and home heating • Often uses human manual or animal energy instead of fossil fuel-driven machines

20. Regions vary greatly in energy consumption

21. It takes energy to make energy • Net energy = the difference between energy returned and energy invested • Net energy = energy returned – energy invested • Energy returned on investment (EROI) = energy returned/energy invested • Higher ratios mean we receive more energy than we invest • Ratios decline when we extract the easiest deposits first and now must work harder to extract the remaining reserves

22. Coal, Natural Gas, and Oil 16-22

23. Coal is the world’s most abundant fossil fuel • Coal = organic matter (woody plant material) that was compressed under very high pressure to form dense, solid carbon structures

24. Coal use has a long history • The Romans used coal for heating in the second and third centuries in Britain • The Chinese have used coal for 2,000 - 3,000 years • Commercial mining began in the 1700s • The invention of the steam engine expanded coal’s market • Coal helped drive the Industrial Revolution and the steel industry • In the 1880s, people used coal to generate electricity • Fossil fuel dependence has allowed a temporary “economy on steroids”

25. Coal is mined from the surface and from below ground • Subsurface mining = underground deposits are reached by digging networks of tunnels deep underground • Strip mining = heavy machinery removes huge amounts of earth to expose and extract the coal • Mountaintop removal = in some cases, entire mountaintops are cut off to obtain the coal

26. Coal varies in its qualities • Coal varies from place to place • Peat = organic material that is broken down anaerobically but remains wet, near the surface and not well compressed • Widely used as a fuel in Britain • Four types of coal • Lignite = least compressed • Sub-bituminous and bituminous • Anthracite = most compressed; has the most energy

27. Coal varies in its qualities (cont’d) • Coal contains impurities • Sulfur, mercury, arsenic, and other trace metals • Sulfur content depends on whether coal was formed in salt water or freshwater • Coal in eastern Canada (and China) is high in sulfur because it was formed in marine sediments • When high-sulfur coal is burned, it released sulfate air pollutants, which contribute to smog and acidic deposition, in addition to greenhouse gases • Mercury can bioaccumulate • Ways to reduce pollution must be found

28. Natural gas is the fastest-growing fossil fuel in use today • Natural gas consists primarily of methane, CH4, and varying amounts of other volatile hydrocarbons • Can be liquid at ambient pressures and temperatures in subsurface reservoirs (Christy Clark’s fantasy is to link the province’s entire economy to LNG exports) • Provides 25% of global commercial energy consumption • World supplies are projected to last about 60 more years, but we’re already increasingly relying on “fracking” to get the gas out.

29. Natural gas takes a variety of forms • Biogenic gas = created at shallow depths by bacterial anaerobic decomposition of organic matter • “swamp gas” • Thermogenic gas = results from compression and heat deep underground • Kerogen = organic matter that results when carbon bonds begin breaking • Source material for natural gas and crude oil • Coalbed methane = methane from coal seams, leaks to the atmosphere during mining

30. Natural gas has only recently been widely used • The first commercial extraction occurred in 1821 but was only used locally, because it could not be transferred safely • First used to light street lamps, then for heating and cooking • After thousands of miles of pipes were laid, natural gas transport became safer and more economical • Liquefied natural gas (LNG) = liquid gas that can be shipped long distances in refrigerated tankers; BC is betting its economic and financial future on LNG exports • Canada is the world’s third-largest producer of natural gas

31. Natural gas extraction becomes more challenging with time • The first gas fields simply required an opening and the gas moved upward • Most remaining fields require pumping by horsehead pumps • Gas is accessed by sophisticated techniques such as fracturing technique, which pumps high-pressure salt water and toxic chemicals into rocks to crack them • Fracking – extensive environmental impacts, including potentially on local water tables

32. Fracking is controversial as with the recent confrontations in New Brunswick between Mikmaq and the police over the issue

33. Offshore drilling produces much of ourgas and oil • Drilling takes place on land and in the seafloor on the continental shelves • Platforms are either strong fixed platforms or floating platforms, as with Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico

34. Oil is the world’s most-used fuel • People have used solid forms of oil (i.e., tar) for thousands of years • Modern extraction and use began in the 1850s • First bottled and sold as a healing aid, but it is carcinogenic • This “rock oil” could be used lamps and as a lubricant • Edwin Drake drilled the world’s first oil well, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859 • Canadians – less than 0.005% of the world’s population – consume 2.5% of the oil – 500 times the global average

35. Heat and pressure underground form petroleum • Oil, crude oil, or petroleum (oil and natural gas) • Crude oil = a mixture of hundreds of different types of hydrocarbon molecules • Formed 1.5 - 3 km (1 - 2 mi) underground • Dead organic material was buried in marine sediments and transformed by time, heat, and pressure • Refineries separate crude oil into components such as gas, tar, and asphalt

36. Petroleum geologists infer the location and size of deposits • Geologists map underground rock formations • Technically recoverable oil reveals the oil that could be extracted with current technology • Economically recoverable oil recognizes the balance between the costs of extraction, transportation and current price of oil • Proven recoverable reserve = oil that is technologically and economically feasible to remove under current conditions

37. We drill to extract oil • Exploratory drilling = small, deep holes to determine whether extraction should be done • Oil is under pressure and often rises to the surface • Primary extraction = the initial drilling and pumping of available oil • Secondary extraction = solvents, water, or stream is used to remove additional oil; expensive • We lack the technology to remove every bit of oil • As prices rise, it can become economical to reopen a well

38. Primary and secondary oil extraction BP’s Deepwater Horizon could operate in 10,000 feet of water.

39. Petroleum products have many uses

40. We may have already depleted half our oil reserves • Some people calculate that we have used up about 1.1 trillion barrels of oil • Reserves-to-production ratio (R/P ratio) = the amount of total remaining reserves divided by the annual rate of production (extraction and processing) • At current levels of production (30 billion barrels/year), we have about 40 years of oil left • We will face a crisis not when we run out of oil, but when the rate of production begins to decline (i.e. ‘peak oil’)

41. Peak Oil crunch time peak oil demand See http://www.oildecline.com/ production

42. Hubbard’s peak = Geologist M. King Hubbard predicted that U.S. oil production would peak around 1970 (it did)

43. Geologist Kenneth Deffeyes contends that we already passed peak global production in 2005

44. weighingtheissues The end of oil • How do you think your life would be affected if our society were to suffer a 50% decrease in oil avail-ability over the next 10 years, as some observers have predicted? (see National Geographic’s “Aftermath: A World Without Oil” – possibly on Youtube.com) • What steps would you take to adapt to these changes? • What steps should our society take to deal with the coming depletion of oil? • Do you think the recent surges in the price of oil and gasoline are an indication that such changes are beginning?

45. “Unconventional” Fossil Fuels 16-45

46. Canada owns massive deposits of oil sands • Oil sands (tar sands) = sand deposits with 1 - 20% bitumen, a thick form of petroleum rich in carbon, poor in hydrogen • Degraded and chemically altered crude oil deposits • Removed by strip mining • Requires special extraction and refining processes to become useful

47. Oil shale is abundant in the American West • Oil shale = sedimentary rock filled with kerogen (organic matter) that can be processed to produce liquid petroleum • Can be burned like coal or baked in hydrogen (called prylosis) to produce liquid petroleum • More than 40% is found in the U.S., mostly on federally owned land in the west • Low prices for crude oil have kept investors away • As oil prices increase, oil shale is attracting attention

48. Methane hydrate is another form of natural gas • Methane hydrate(methane ice) = molecules of methane in a crystal lattice of water ice molecules • Occurs in arctic locations and under the seafloor • Formed by bacterial decomposition in anaerobic environments • Immense amounts could be present, from twice to 20 times the amount of natural gas • Extraction could destablize marine ecosystems • Landslides and tsunamis release of large amounts of methane (a greenhouse gas)

49. Alternative fossil fuels have significant environmental impacts • Low Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROI) ratios: about 3:1 compared to the 5:1 ratio on crude oil • These fuels exert severe environmental impacts • Devastate landscapes • Pollute waterways • Combustion pollutes the atmosphere just as much as crude oil, coal, and gas

50. Environmental Impact of Fossil Fuel Use 16-50