1. P OWERING THE T AR S ANDS

2. S TEP 1: MINE THE OIL

3. B ITUMEN IS MIXED WITH NAPHTHA

4. S TEP 2: B ITUMEN MIX IS T RANSPORTED

5. B ITUMEN ARRIVES AT A U PGRADING F ACILITY

6. B ITUMEN ENTERS A C OKER The bitumen is exposed to high temperatures in order to break it apart into smaller molecules Keep cracking it over and over to break the long carbon chains

7. Bitumen is long chains of carbon attached to each other Breaking down these carbon chains gives us petroleum products ex. Propane is CH 4 ex. Petroleum is C 8 H 18

8. But bad chemicals can be bound up in the bitumen and when it is cracked it can be released into the coke The coke is the bad by products given off from cracking bitumen The coke contains long carbon chains that can’t be broken down, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous compounds Anything that can not be broken down is considered a pollutant and can be harmful to living organisms

9. After they have cracked the bitumen they put it into a distillation tank that separates the heavy from the light They take the chemicals they want and ship them to the USA for further upgrading (cracking, distillations and chemical adding): Petroleum Naphtha Propane Natural Gas They separate out the coke as well (the bad stuff) and try to degrade it or store it underground

10. T HE O IL S ANDS N EEDS P OWER In order to do the mining, transportation (pipes) and cracking the oil sands needs a lot of energy The Oil Sands requires 1.0-1.25 Gigajoules of energy to function (giga = billion) That is the equivalent to a city of around 1 million people Plus you have to provide power to the city that supports this industry Ft. McMurry

11. G OING G REEN Alberta needs an energy solution to support the Tar Sands It takes energy to make energy To get energy out of the Tar Sands, Alberta is looking for the best source to provide energy to the Tar Sands The Government wants the CHEEPEST, GREENEST, and most AVAILABLE energy source possible

12. G ROUP P ROJECT Each group must come up with a presentation for the government and propose a solution to this problem you will need a visual component, either a poster or a PowerPoint to show the government Your plan must include the following information: Why this power plant is better than others How the power plant can fit into the grid Where the energy comes from Availability of the energy source Can it provide enough energy to power the tar sands

13. Where the power plant should be built Why any negative impacts of this power supply are okay for the people of Alberta to live with Environmental impact control Your plan to minimize the negative impacts from your method of energy creation

14. You will use the handout and the website www.seedsenergy.com to help you find all the information your group needs www.seedsenergy.com Your group will be assigned an energy type and will have to convince the government to chose to create a power plant to use your type of energy

15. Group 1 – Geothermal Group 2 – Biomass Group 3 – Solar Group 4 – Nuclear Group 5 – Wind Group 6 – Coal Group 7 – Hydro Group 8 – Petroleum Group 9 - Tidal

16. P RESENTATION Each group will present there report to the class and the class will have a session of parliament to decide which energy source we should use, where we will discuss the merits and pitfalls of each plan We will have a Premier(s) who will make the final decision on how to power the tar sands If your group’s plan gets chosen then you will receive a bonus 5% on your project!