Risks of exploiting low-quality sources of oil

BERKELEY

“When we face tradeoffs between economics, security and environment, the environment often ends up getting the short end of the stick,” said Alex Farrell, associate professor of energy and resources at UC Berkeley. “The scale and irreversibility of the environmental risks, such as climate change and major damage to the Alberta ecosystem to get at tar sands, makes them very important.”

“The real question is: How much of these low-quality resources do we ever want to develop, and how do we do it in a way that manages the economic risks, maximizes the reduction in security risk, and minimizes the environmental risk?” he said.

Berkeley