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The Government of Canada has implemented measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including a carbon tax and its proposed Clean Fuel Standard. Alberta's Oil Sands industry, arguably one of Canada's largest and most energy intensive industries, has made significant progress towards improving energy efficiency and reducing its fossil energy footprint, including investigating options for integrating bio-based feedstocks into bitumen extraction and processing. Nevertheless, developing sustainable bioenergy supply chains remains a crucial challenge to reaching this goal. This paper investigates pathways for harvesting and hauling biomass residues to produce bio-oil that can replace fossil fuels used in oil sands bitumen processing. A 3–stage grid model is developed, comprising a square grid distribution of harvesting fields and district centres. Biomass is collected and hauled to fast pyrolysis units centrally located within square harvesting fields. Raw bio-oil is hauled from fields to the centre of one of 11 District centres, where it is stabilized and blended. Stage–1 and Stage–2 estimate hauling distance using hypothetical roads described by geometric equations and tortuosity factors. Stage–3 hauling of stabilized bio-oil from District centres to upgraders at Scotford AB and Fort McMurray AB is estimated by using web-based mapping tools and actual road networks. Total diesel requirements for hauling are calculated using total distances obtained from the 3–stage hauling model. Average diesel consumption obtained from the model is 0.32 L per 1000 L of bio-oil produced, increasing to 3.45 L per 1000 L bio-oil delivered to district centres. Total diesel consumption is 10.23 and 14.40 L per 1000 L bio-oil delivered to Scotford and Ft. McMurray, respectively. The model shows that co-processing of biomass residues can reduce the fossil energy footprint of processing oil sands synthetic crude oil by 22–28%. The quantity of delivered bio-oil is sufficient to replace petroleum coke and synthetic crude oil used for combustion as well as a substantial fraction of natural gas fuel. Moreover, the model can help to determine the most suitable processing and hauling options at each stage in order to minimize diesel fuel requirements, and the model framework can be extended to other jurisdictions as well as other industries. • 3–stage hauling model for biomass and bio-oil destined for bitumen upgraders. • Diesel requirement estimated using hypothetical and actual road networks. • 87% of bio-oil's energy can replace fossil inputs to synthetic crude production. • Energy footprint is lower by 22% for SAGD operations and 28% for mining operations. • Model is applicable to other jurisdictions and other energy intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road transportation is responsible for 23% of Canada's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory due to complete dependence on fossil fuels. Decarbonizing the transportation sector using alternative energy sources is one of the most effective strategies to achieve GHG emission reduction targets. Alternative transportation modes such as electric and hydrogen fuel cell based vehicles are considered as scalable technologies for decarbonizing the transportation sector. However, there is a knowledge gap for a systematic investigation approach on regional viability of aforementioned vehicles. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the financial feasibility and environmental impact of the electric light duty vehicles (LD-EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell light duty vehicles (LD-HFCVs) use in Canada. A life cycle thinking based approach has been proposed to compare costs and emissions of transportation based on electric and Hydrogen with traditional fossil fuel. The carbon offset saving was used to quantify the economic impact of GHG reduction. The carbon taxes for selected provinces were recommended as a potential policy implementation to reduce transport based GHG emissions. The results indicate that the provinces with low emission factor electric grids have a higher potential for LD-EV based transportation system in terms of costs and footprint. Presently LD-HFCVs are less desirable due to high purchase and operational cost. Development of a Hydrogen based transportation system through the production of cost effective hydrogen is preferable for provinces with a higher emission factor electric grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated within the broader climate justice movement, the fossil fuel divestment movement calls for both public and private divestment of financial holdings from fossil fuel companies. This paper examines the extent of fossil fuel divestment campaigns at higher education institutions across Canada, examining key actions and tactics through which campaigns are initiated and mobilized, as led by students, faculty, alumni, and climate justice organizations. Findings indicate that out of 220 accredited Canadian universities and colleges, there are 38 active divestment campaigns and 6 institutions that have committed to varying degrees of divestment. Tactics used in these campaigns include signing of petitions, sit-ins, rallies, and protests, facilitated through face-to-face and online platforms. Findings revealed significant borrowing of actions and tactics among campaign actors, including the use of branding and messaging from international environmental organizations, such as 350.org. This research contributes to scholarly knowledge on how higher education divestment movements and related campaigns for institutional change can influence how sustainability and climate change are addressed. Actors can build on this knowledge to develop sustained collaborative systems to address current and future challenges across institutions and in society at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown that Canada will not achieve its 2030 emission reduction targets outlined in the Paris Agreement. Canadian energy decision makers are now at a crossroad between making sound fiscal decisions and ramping up efforts to meet emission reduction commitments. Approximately 195,000 people are living in off-grid Canadian communities, with most of these communities relying on fossil-fuel based energy generation. Hybrid renewable energy systems provide a novel solution to address the high costs of off-grid energy and Canada's emission reduction targets. To address the competing stakeholder priorities in off-grid energy planning (e.g., economic, environmental, and system performance), the authors of this paper employed a generalizable combinatorial-based alternative ranking method. Alternative energy technology combinations were simulated to calculate key performance indicator values. The framework allows decision makers to identify the most feasible energy system based on their priorities. A case study was performed with the developed framework for a small off-grid community in British Columbia, Canada. The results show that feasibility of energy system configurations vary greatly based on differing decision-making priorities. The case study also confirmed that hybrid renewable energy systems have better environmental performance compared to their fossil fuel counter parts, but at a significantly higher cost. The study further confirms that the balance between environmental and economic performance of off-grid energy systems can be improved through proper component sizing, management practices, and the integration of energy storage. • Life cycle impacts need to be considered in off-grid hybrid renewable energy systems planning. • Hybrid renewable energy systems incur lower environmental impacts at higher costs. • Combining fossil fuel generators and battery banks reduces emissions at a lower cost. • Decision makers' priorities has a high impact in the ranking of energy system configurations. • The developed method accounts for different priorities in energy system feasibility assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]