Fly carbon footprint.

[Plane]

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2015/10/06/cathay-pacific-lays-it-on-the-line%c2%a0about-climate-change/


The airlines all project increased flying , some project aircraft that carry more passengers per flight, lighter airframes , more efficient engines , biofuel blends and exotic fuels.

But with all known factors included , the projection is for increasing carbon emission.

This is the story unless some radical new technology changes the basic facts.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The big savings in lowering carbon is in eliminating coal from the production of electricity.
Coal is by far the dirtiest, and CO2 is not the only really nasty stuff in coal smoke.

[Plane]

  I suppose that is true.

   Lots of coal fired plants have been replaced with Natural gas burning plants , thanks to new technology Natural gas is more available as well as cleaner.

I do not expect Aircraft to burn natural gas , that is a bigger change.

Experiments with synthetic fuel and agricultural oils and algae oil might improve the carbon footprint of aircraft , but the article I linked is a synopsis of  information that indicates that growth in the industry will drive the burning of fossil fuel more than new technology.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Airline travel is a fraction of surface transportation.

Coal is the biggest  carbon problem, followed by tar sands.

Tar sands, or oil sands, no matter what you call them, are loaded with sand.
Sand obviously is a leftover substance  after the oil is removed. I am pretty sure they are not going to truck it back to Canada, and I doubt that it is the sort of sand you would put in the kids; sandbox, or use for concrete. It is probably pretty nasty stuff, and it will be left as close as possible to where it was extracted.

I have not heard what they do with it.

[Plane]

  It is worse than you think.

   Oil sands release their load of oil when steam heated, a lot of fuel is burned to produce that heat.

  The oil sands are an inefficient harvest and have the worst carbon footprint.

    Most of the sand goes right back where it came from, or is harvested in situ.

  Oil sand and oil shale are slowing because the Saudis are producing enough to keep prices low, this seems to be a tactic of keeping market share.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The myth that oil was scarce was simply a myth.
It is not renewable, but it is not scarce, and the recovery costs are exaggerated.

There will still be a lot of clay, dirt and sand in the tar sands oil delivered to the refineries, and it will not be returned to Canada.

We should not permit US oil to be sold abroad. That was a very, very stupid thing to do. Big Oil will benefit, mostly the execs will benefit. The rest of us will be gouged as a result.

This country will be oil independent when this country (and not Big Oil) owns at least a share of the resources.