Climate calculus

spacer February 12, 2012 by Policy Lass spacer 1 Comment

A column by Jeffrey Simpson in the Globe and Mail got me thinking about climate calculus.

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Here’s an excerpt:

“One line item in every Alberta budget shows how the miracle unfolds: non-renewable energy resources. Last year, Alberta took in $8.6-billion in personal income taxes, $3.6-billion in corporate income taxes, $3.8-billion in “other” revenue, $4.7-billion in federal transfers and $8.3-billion in resource revenues. In other words, oil and gas revenues (about half of which – $4.1-billion – came from tar sands oil) poured almost as much money into the Alberta treasury as personal income taxes. What provincial government wouldn’t love that?”

Alberta’s government took in as much revenue in oil and gas revenues as it did personal income taxes. 
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Half from the tar sands.
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The Alberta government’s policy on environment? It has passed legislation to force producers to reduce intensity of emissions by 12% from 2003- 2005 levels. Intensity is a measure of the rate of emissions, calculated as a ratio of CO2 to a measure of economic output. Note that this doesn’t limit total emissions per se, and in fact, total emissions can and will continue to increase even as intensity decreases. While this is better than nothing, it does not mean that emissions will actually decline from current levels.
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  • In 2009, total reported GHG emissions were 113.3 megatons of CO2e (equivalent), representing 41% of Canada’s emissions from large industrial emitters.
  • WTI Crude oil is currently selling at $99B, while Brent Crude is at $117 a barrel.
  • The Alberta government gets approximately 15% of the value of crude produced in the province.
  • Alberta proven conventional oil reserves = 1.5B barrels.
  • Alberta’s proven uncoventional oil reserves (tar sands) = 169.3B barrels, 80% recoverable by in-situ methods and 20% by surface mining methods.
  • In 2010, Alberta exported 1.4M barrels of oil a day.
  • The Alberta crown owns 97% of the mineral rights for the province.
  • 50% of the crude produced is upgraded in Alberta.
You do the math…
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    About Policy Lass

    Exploring skeptic tales.
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    One Response to “Climate calculus”

    1. spacer
      Holly Stick Reply February 13, 2012 at 7:20 pm

      And Kevin Taft can tell you where all that money is going:

      www.albertadiary.ca/2012/01/kevin-taft-follows-albertas-money-and.html

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