Industry, research and government luminaries talk about Alberta energy and oil sands development
Alberta is filled with luminaries and forward thinkers, several of whom took the time to respond to Alberta Oil’s Share Your Vision survey. Here are select responses to survey questions provided by prominent figures in Alberta’s government, industry and research sectors.
David B. Layzell, Executive Director,
ISEEE, University of Calgary
Q: How can Alberta’s energy industry best address its current environmental challenges?
A: 1. Invest in new technology development to reduce the environmental footprint (greenhouse gases, water, land area, toxins) associated with fossil energy production and use. 2. Begin piloting and ultimately implementing at large scale some of the existing technologies that are already available and promise solutions. 3. Integrate renewable energy technologies into fossil energy systems 4. Focus on energy efficiency and conservation technologies and management strategies.
Q: What is your organization specifically undertaking to address the issues of environmental stewardship in the next five years?
A: ISEEE (Institute of Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy) is focused on research and student training in areas such as: 1. Carbon-efficient fossil fuel recovery and processing technologies 2. Carbon capture and Storage technologies, (including the engineering, geoscience and social science dimensions) 3. Renewable energy technologies (especially integration with fossil fuel processing (such as biomass integration into fossil energy systems) 4. Technologies for cleaning up tailings ponds, and site reclamation; 5. Technical, economic, environmental, risk and policy assessment of cleaner energy alternatives; 6. Critical assessment of next generation energy systems to address environmental, energy security and related priorities
Q: What is Alberta’s greatest opportunity going into the next five years?
A: Greening the fossil fuel sector. Alberta has most to gain and the most to lose in this area. The Oil sands have become the poster child for “dirty oil”. We need to develop and implement the tools needed to fix this problem (as well as the environmental problems with coal and natural gas production / use that have have been somewhat protected from the public eye in recent months), and then sell them to the rest of the world.
Q: What is your vision for the future of the energy industry?
A: A lot more renewables and alternative (e.g. nuclear) energy sources, (and focus on energy efficiency/conservation), but fossil fuels will still account for a significant part of the world’s energy needs in 20-40 years. By 2050, I believe will only have a vibrant fossil fuel sector if it has virtually zero emissions, not only in its recovery and upgrading, but in the use of the energy. The fossil fuel sector in 40 years will look nothing like it does today.
Q: Is there an individual or project in Alberta that you believe will be significantly influential for the environmental direction of the energy industry within the next five years?
A: The issue is policy- international policy – so the individual is probably Obama. We need a price on carbon (tax, Cap & trade), not only in Alberta, but across North America and ideally around the world. This price needs to rise with time, and drive innovation. I think Carbon Capture and Storage will be important, especially in Alberta. However, governments should not be in the business of picking technology winners, but simply set the measures of success plus the boundary conditions and let the marketplace reward the winners.
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