Experts and advocates champion their causes while knowledge-hungry
audiences feast at two popular breakfast lecture series in the
nation's capital.
Reversing Effects of Climate Change
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January 2008 marked the end date posed ten years ago by the Kyoto
Agreement. And Canada weighs in at 52.9 percent above the assigned
targets. While the debate persists about whether targets were ever
feasible for Canada, Environment Minister John Baird stands strong
behind his commitment to reduce Canadian greenhouse gas emissions 20
percent by a new date 2020. That was the focus of the minister's
November 30, 2007 Eggs 'N Icons address "Taking Action and
Climate Change Conservation."
Baird highlighted a proposed plan requiring Canada and its
collaborators to forge ahead on projects such as developing and
deploying new technology, using carbon credits, funding provinces'
efforts to improve energy efficiency and conservation, fining polluters,
bolstering British Columbia's hydrogen highway, boosting hydropower
in Manitoba, and accepting accountability for our nation's role in
the mix. Baird's guests enjoyed a breakfast of locally grown
produce, chosen specifically to minimize the event's carbon
footprint.
Trading Water for Oil
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It takes 12 barrels of water to extract one barrel of bitumen.
Managing the resulting waste slurry of wet sand or "tailings"
has become the focus of Randy Mikula, FCIC's team of chemists who
work with the surface-mined oil sands product at CANMET in Devon, AB.
The volume of tailings has increased exponentially with the dramatic
expansion of the oil sands activity in Alberta. Tailings have been
diverted to above-ground dykes, but a more environmentally sound
management system is sought for the long term. Mikula's team seeks
an improved method of storing fluid fine tailings to mitigate the
environmental impact. They also seek to reduce the amount of water
required by the bitumen extraction process. And they're succeeding.
Mikula's team has developed a method of solidifying the liquid
tailings into clay. By adding calcium salts or gypsum to the tailings,
they are able to characterize nano-scale particles. The tailings are
transformed into a substance that is so firm it is stackable. The
transformed substance can then be distributed on the ground and
reforested.
Mikula's efforts were the subject of the Bacon & Eggheads
lecture "Trading Water for Oil--Tailings Management in
Surface-Mined Oil Sands" at Parliament Hill on November 29, 2007.
The presentation was co-sponsored by PAGSE and NSERC. NSERC president
Suzanne Fortier, FCIC, introduced Mikula to an influential audience of
government officials, media, and policy makers.
Chemical Institute of Canada
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