Food & Energy
Alberta’s July Oil Production Hit Record High, Marking 9th Year of Growth Friends Read Free 1 4 Save
Alberta’s crude oil production reached a historic high in July, marking the highest level ever recorded for the month of July and continuing a nine-year trend of annual increases, according to ATB Financial.
Total oil production reached 4 million barrels per day in July, the Crown corporation reported on Sept. 3. This marks a doubling of Alberta’s production over the past 14 years, from 2 million barrels per day in 2010.
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Read MoreWhile salt is often seen merely as a kitchen staple, its role in cancer treatment is gaining attention.
Could something as common as table salt be the key to advancing cancer treatment?
Two new studies, published on Aug. 28 in Nature Immunology, found that increased salt levels can significantly enhance immune cells’ cancer-killing abilities.
One of the two studies also showed that mice that consumed a high-salt diet also had reduced tumor sizes as a result.
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Read More‘Fusion is the most technologically challenging approach to making energy that mankind has ever attempted,’ physicist Robert Fedosejevs said.
Generating nearly limitless, clean, carbon-free energy from nuclear fusion—a vision that seems to be perpetually out of reach—has taken major steps in the past several years toward becoming a reality.
On the heels of major recent breakthroughs in physics labs in generating nuclear fusion, the quest has now expanded into the private sector, where a proliferation of startup companies are racing to make the process commercially viable—and profitable.
If they succeed, the prize would be an abundant source of virtually carbon-free energy that does not consume vast acres of natural landscapes and coastal areas, as do solar panels and wind turbines. And, unlike today’s nuclear-fission reactors, fusion energy produces relatively little radioactive waste.
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Read MoreThe price of electric cars would have to plunge by a third to meet Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s sales mandate, the Budget Office said yesterday. Guilbeault has directed that electrics account for 60 percent of new passenger vehicle sales by the end of the decade.
“We estimate the relative ownership cost of battery electric vehicles would need to decrease by 31 percent to meet the zero emission vehicle sales target of 60 percent in 2030,” said a Budget Office report. “That is, the ownership cost of zero emission vehicles relative to internal combustion engine vehicles in 2030 under the standard would need to be 31 percent lower.”
Guilbeault’s Electric Vehicle Availability Standard mandates that electrics account for 20 percent of new vehicle sales in 2026, rising to 60 percent by 2030. The new sale o
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Read MoreB.C. Conservative leader John Rustad says British Columbia needs to have a “conversation” about nuclear power playing a role in the province’s energy future, and review educational materials that he says are designed for “indoctrination” of children.
Speaking on an episode of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson’s podcast released Monday, Rustad says he also wants to get rid of the carbon tax, which he says taxes people into poverty in “a vain attempt to change the weather.”
In the episode, which runs just over an hour and 45 minutes, Rustad and Peterson discussed a variety of topics including his revival of the B.C. Conservative Party as an election contender, energy and education policy, and “cancel culture.”
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Read MoreResearch on mushrooms shows ergothioneine is a significant contributor to human health and some say should be considered a “longevity vitamin.”
Mushrooms, long revered for their nutritional value, may hold the key to a longer life. Usually considered the fruiting part of the fungi family, they are neither plant nor animal. But their health benefits have been enjoyed by ancient cultures worldwide for centuries.
Often touted to be one of the only food sources of vitamin D (when the mushrooms are exposed to sunlight) and to contain high doses of the antioxidant glutathione (vital to support detoxification) it may be the lesser-known antioxidant ergothioneine (ergo) that is the real secret to their wide-ranging health benefits. Ergo may also be the key connection as to why modern agricultural methods are damaging our health.
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Read MoreStory at-a-glance
Low-salt diets are often recommended as a tool to avoid certain chronic diseases and protect health, but salt restriction, particularly unprocessed, natural salt, often backfires
If you don’t consume enough salt, it may lead to elevated cortisol levels in your blood
Cortisol, a stress hormone, plays a vital role in your health but can lead to severe health issues like muscle breakdown, inflammation and impaired immune function when chronically elevated
In a study involving data from 181 countries, higher salt intake was linked to longer healthy life expectancy and lower overall death rates
For optimal health, pay attention to the type of salt you eat and balance it properly with potassium; it’s generally recommended that you consume five times more potassium than sodium
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Read MoreA recent study suggests following a plant-based diet may be effective in decreasing the likelihood of developing chronic disease.
There are two forms of iron—the form in animal foods is called heme, while the iron in plant foods is called non-heme. Iron is an essential nutrient with its effects depending on the form consumed, according to an August animal study published in Nature Metabolism (NM).
Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that higher intake of heme iron from red meat and other animal foods may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 26 percent. In contrast, non-heme iron intake from plant foods was not associated with an elevated risk.
The researchers suggest that following a plant-based diet can be effective in decreasing the likelihood of developing chronic disease.
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Read MoreOwnership costs for electric vehicles will have to come down by at least 31% if the government wants to reach its sales target of 60% EVs by 2030, according to the latest report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
“Assuming that preferences, technology and policies remain unchanged from a baseline scenario without the standard, PBO estimates that the relative ownership cost of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) would need to decrease by 31% to meet the ZEV sales target of 60% in 2030,” reads the PBO report released on Thursday.
“That is, the ownership cost of ZEVs relative to in
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