Monday, January 19, 2009

This And That

Obama: Invest in Canadian Oilsands or Be Held Hostage - "Russia bullies its European energy customers; Saudi Arabia, Iran and others export terrorism; Nigeria is unstable and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez spews hate. This means there is little choice for the U.S. and the world, but to embrace, and possibly finance, Alberta's gigantic oil sands.
True the Canadian oil made from these sands is dirtier than Saudi crude, but the choice is dirty oil from a clean regime (Canada) or cleaner oil from dirty regimes.
Besides, the oil sands production process can be cleaned up with investments in carbon recapture and research into more efficient refinery methods that use less natural gas and water."

The oilsands production process can and is being cleaned up constantly by innovative and ecological alternatives. Like this:

Renewables could power Alberta, says think-tank Pembina Institute says switch feasible - "Alberta can switch its electricity source from coal to clean renewable energy sources in 20 years, creating jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating a more stable price for energy, says a report released this week.

There are no technological barriers standing in the way of this vision, but it will take political leadership and consumer demands to make it happen, says one of the authors of the report from the Pembina Institute environmental think-tank."

Edmonton's jobless rate among lowest in Canada - "Alberta’s unemployment edged up in December as 15,800 jobs vanished, but the province continued to lead the country with the lowest jobless rate by a wide margin, Statistics Canada said Friday.

And Edmonton’s 3.6 per cent unemployment rate — up just 0.1 per cent from November — was the lowest among major cities in Canada, tied with Regina and Victoria. Calgary’s rate is at 3.9 per cent."

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