Monday, November 7, 2011

The XL Pipline and Canada's Tar Sands Pollution

This project is damaging the evironment on a major scale.  The problem is that it is our use of tar sands oil that is causing this impact.  Everytime we fill our cars with fuel we collectively are the problem.  We must find away to reduce our use of oil and go to cleaner forms of energy.

3 comments:

  1. Dennis,
    Is Natural Gas really less damaging to the environment than oil? I see lots of ads on TV making that claim, but tend to be skeptical of anything I see on TV. I suspect that nat. gas may be SOMEWHAT less damaging than oil, but wonder if enough so to really make a difference?

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is a good video on the subject that 60 minutes did.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNl6sx059bE

    ReplyDelete
  3. The energy part of Natural Gas is Hydrogen. Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on and in our planet. Water is two parts hydrogen to one part oxygen. Methane is the major component of natural gas and again hydrogen is the energy source in methane sometimes called bio-gas.

    The truth is that we do not need to go deep into the earth to extract natural gas. There are natural anaerobic bacteria everywhere willing to convert any biomass into methane. It is being produces by rotting leaves logs or fecal matter from any source. Massive amounts of methane leaks out of our landfills, and animal production farms into the atmosphere where it is a green house gas instead of being collected to heat our homes and business.

    Hydrogen is also easily produced by simple electrolysis applied to water where the water atoms can be separated. This can be done using clean solar, thermal, wave, tidal, or wind energy. Hydrogen is produced every time ferrous metal is exposed to water and the rusting action takes place. The oxygen atoms combine with the iron and release the hydrogen to be collected and used as fuel. They have powered cars using this technology with sponge iron pellets that are recyclable.

    Hydrogen a fuel that can cleanly run our cars, heat our homes, cook our meals, and power our businesses. It is completely unnecessary to use natural gas from the earth along with its carbon molecules that get released into the atmosphere at the time it is burned.

    All these alternative methods have been used and are being used in the world today with great success. It is just that the money powers at be are making great profits out of raping the planet of fossil fuels. Until we refuse to buy their products they will continue to damage the environment with their geed and profits we supply them with.

    You might want to look up Fuel Cells. They are a far more efficient way to produce electricity from hydrogen and oxygen than through burning.

    Hydrogen is an energy storage system. With the exception of anaerobic bacteria it takes more energy to produce and store hydrogen than what you get out of it. Still by using clean renewable energies to produce hydrogen it would be a useful energy system just as natural gas is used today.

    ReplyDelete