Comments on: Can Israeli Oil Shale Outsize Saudi Arabia?

By: Maged S. Abdelmalek

Maged S. Abdelmalek — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:14:43 +0000

Mr. Solomon, I am an Engineering student currently working in the Canadian Oil Sands for a company that has alot of shared intrest with OPTI (The Israeli oil company), I have had alot of exposure to the technology used in the oil sand and shale gas industries. I have also worked for one of the largest technology providers for the renewables industry. My degree is focused on sustainable energy and I have read countless books, reports and literature on the environmental costs of energy.

Energy Probe has been praised by us all for its oposition to OPG’s Nuclear expansion in the past (and hopefully the present).

But, while I agree with you on most of your statements on the advancements in SAGD technology and land requirment drawbacks of renewables (certainly not in Canada), I am shocked at your statement (made in the July 7th response) that “environmental impact of the project may be net positive” and your support of the anti-renewables movement.

Please, explain the logic of your claim to us. The readers of this website are well educated sir, and we would appreciate some background for this bold statement.

By: EVsRoll

EVsRoll — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:16:46 +0000

Israel would do better continuing to invest in electric vehicles. The country is in a warm region, has plenty of educated citizens, and is small enough to cross in a EV.

EVsRock
http://www.evsroll.com/Electric_Vehicle_Charging_Stations.html

By: Maurice

Maurice — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:11:16 +0000

And where can we go, Dude? Where you live?

By: Pipe Dreams

Pipe Dreams — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 08:04:34 +0000

These are all pipe dreams. Israel won’t even survive to see all these pipe dreams come through, which would take 10-20 years. The country is one vote away from total chaos. The society is becoming facist and right wing, the Arabs are gaining incredible powers and geo-strategic positioning, and the whole World is turning against Israel. Give it another 3-4 years, and an exodus of Jews will begin. Unless you are planning to invest these billions so Palestinians can secure their energy future, that sounds good. But you guys will be overwhlemed soon; time to pack up.

By: Lawrence Solomon

Lawrence Solomon — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:50:13 +0000

Thank you for covering this issue, which is even more critical to the interests of peace than it is to the economy of Israel and its neighbors.

My organization, Energy Probe, in the past has been a critic of oil sands projects, and has been responsible in part for their cancellation in Canada (Energy Probe has been Canada’s chief energy critic since its founding in 1970). But the technology has improved immensely over the decades and it is now one of the better energy options (all energy options carry environmental drawbacks). With Israeli technology added to the current state of the technology, and with the small physical footprint that the project will require, the environmental impact of the project may be net positive, not only in Israel but in other countries to which Israel will be able to export this technology. Renewable technologies can have major environmental impacts, among them the need for land. This land requirement has become a major environmental issue in Canada, despite our low population density, and has led to the largest grassroots anti-renewables protest movement in decades.

By: Maurice

Maurice — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:30:14 +0000

Plus a lot of OTHER media news sites I understand.

By: Karin Kloosterman

Karin Kloosterman — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:33:48 +0000

I think Rupert Murdoch owns SUN news.