One concern is that this article doesn't deal with energy demands, but energy
reserves. We've known for a while that the reserves of coal in existance are way more plentiful and probably could be used for creating more usable energy than all our known and viable oilsand supplies (not giving a free pass to the coal producers...just that it seems like an odd measuring stick to use).
Quote:
They found that if all the hydrocarbons in the oilsands were mined and consumed, the carbon dioxide released would raise global temperatures by about 0.36C. That’s about half the total amount of warming over the last century.
When only commercially viable oilsands deposits are considered, the temperature increase is only 0.03C.
In contrast, the paper concludes that burning all the globe’s vast coal deposits would create a 15C-degree increase in temperature. Burning all the abundant natural gas would warm the planet by more than three degrees.
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What I think would be an interesting thought would be to compare how much temperature change would occur if X GJ of energy was harvested from the average economically viable coal, natural gas, and oilsand resources.