Canada’s Energy Resources

There are 3 reasons why the world is becoming so dependant on energy: 1. The population of the world is growing so more energy is needed. 2. Standards of living are increasing in emerging industrialized countries like China, India and Malaysia, therefore their need for energy is increasing as well. 3. People in industrialized countries like Canada and the US continue to improve standards of living by using cheap energy.

 Canadians are lucky because we possess more energy than we are currently using.  Much of our oil, gas and coal is exported in exchange for money, which is then used for imports.  Much of the world does not have an abundance of resources like Canada, so we have many buyers for our energy resources.  Canada’s energy resources include minerals like coal, gas and oil, as well as hydroelectricity and nuclear energy.

 Coal energy is not as popular as it once was, but it is still used today.  The biggest power plants in Canada use coal.  Coke: A substance made from coal. Used in the smelting of steel.  Japan and China buy a lot of coal from Canada because of their auto-making factories.  Higher grades of coal are sent to Asian markets because they produce more energy per tonne, which makes the cost of shipping worth it.  The Great Lakes region has large steel and automotive industries therefore it requires much coking coal.

 Most of Canada’s coal comes from Alberta.  Coal mining is a dangerous job because of poisonous gases, cave-ins and cold, damp conditions.  Coal is not popular as a fuel because it creates a lot of pollution.  Coal releases 29% more carbon into the air than oil and 80% more than natural gas.  Adding more carbon to the atmosphere increases greenhouse gases.  These gases cause heat to be trapped in the atmosphere which affects climate, creates acid rain and smog.

 Without oil, our industries would fail.  It is used to make gas, cosmetics, tar and mostly all plastics.  Oil is trapped in porous rock in the lower layers of the earth’s crust.  It is trapped between 2 non-porous layers- an oil sandwich!  Geologist can’t see into the earth’s crust so it is difficult to know where the oil has collected.

 Remote sensing is used to find oil underground.  Once it is determined that there is a possibility of oil, a hole is drilled.  Drilling is expensive and time consuming, and often the well is dry.  If there is oil (a gusher), however, there is a lot of money to be made!  Oil has been found under the continental shelves of the east and north coasts of Canada.

 Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose are currently producing oil.  Hebron is expected to start producing by  Oil is non-renewable and therefore will only produce for a limited amount of time.  Hebron is projected to produce for 25 years.  Hebron is located in iceberg alley so it has an ice belt to help deal with collisions.  If large oil spills occur, there is a large chance of an ecological disaster.

 Found under the non-porous layer of rock called caprock. (fig. 7.4)  It is located above oil and usually extracted first.  Pipelines are used to transport gas, rather than trucks because it is unstable and can explode or evaporate easily.  It can be converted to a liquid before transportation but that drives up costs.  Natural gas is fairly cheap, it is cleaner than oil or coal, and it produces less carbon dioxide.  Used for home heating, in power plants and in some cars.