Extraction and refining heavy oil from Canadian tar sands will have increasingly devastating impacts on migratory bird populations, according to a new study.

[Originally published at Red, Green, and Blue] According to a new report, the cumulative impact of developing Canadian tar sands over the next 30–50 years could be as high as 166 million birds lost, including future generations. Written by scientists from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Boreal Songbird Initiative, and Pembina Institute, the peer-reviewed paper suggests that avian mortality from continued development of Canada’s tar sands would provide a serious blow to migratory bird populations in North America.

“This report is yet another wake up call to the government in Alberta, as it confirms that the cumulative impact of oil sands development is on an unsustainable trajectory,” said Pembina Institute’s Simon Dyer, a contributing author to the report.

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With the spark of a road flare, engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory lit its new, smoke-free Renewable Fuels Heating Plant today. The $3.3 million project is the Laboratory’s latest step toward operating as a net-zero energy facility.

The RFHP will heat NREL’s South Table Mountain Campus laboratory buildings by burning woody biomass, including wood chips from trees lost to the region’s mountain pine beetle epidemic. [Read more]

[Originally published at Red, Green, and Blue] World marketed energy consumption is projected to increase by 50 percent from 2005 to 2030, according to a new report from the United States Energy Information Agency. Total energy demand in non-OECD countries is projected to increase by 95 percent, while OECD countries are expected to increase consumption by 24 percent.

According to the annual report, International Energy Outlook, the robust growth in demand among the non-OECD nations is largely the result of strong projected economic growth. In all the non-OECD regions combined, economic activity is predicted to increase by 5.2 percent per year, as compared with an average of 2.3 percent per year for the OECD countries.

I’ve gleaned some of the notable highlights from the report and digested/paraphrased so you wouldn’t have to. The full report will be out in July.
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• The Climate and Energy Project blog has an excellent post wrapping up the latest developments in the Kansas legislature visa vis the Holcomb power plant expansion. One of the partners in the Holcomb project, Tri-State Generation and Transmission of Colorado, has announced that they will be investigating the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in southeastern Colorado - news that apparently came as a complete surprise to the residents of Holly, CO.
• A post by Sarah Gilman at High Country News’ GOAT blog illuminates the coalition of 400 sportsmen’s groups who are fighting to revamp the antiquated 1872 Mining Act. Led by the National Wildlife Federation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited, the so-called Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining is seeking to gain legal protection for millions of acres of public lands, rivers, and streams from dangerous mining practices and fly-by-night mining operations.
• This week’s Living On Earth had a story about a paper plant’s ‘test burning’ of tires for energy, and how Sen. Hillary Clinton was not opposed to it - in fact she supported it [audio available].
• A measure requiring renewable energy sources make up half the electricity in California by 2025 took a step toward making the November ballot on Tuesday, when proponents turned in about 735,000 signatures to officials in the state, according to a report in Reuters.