Tar-like oil in Alberta; it takes a lot of energy to get and harms the environment.

• A. Coal
• B. Solar Energy
• C. Wind Energy
• D. Oil Sands

Answer: (D)

The idea being tested is recognizing Alberta’s tar-like oil that is energy-intensive to obtain and has environmental drawbacks. This describes the oil sands (bitumen) found in northern Alberta, often called tar sands. Extracting and upgrading this heavy oil requires a lot of energy—using surface mining or in-situ methods that heat the bitumen—which leads to substantial greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts like land disturbance, large water use, and tailings ponds.

In contrast, solar and wind are renewable sources with much lower ongoing environmental harm, and coal is a conventional fossil fuel burned for energy with its own emissions, but it doesn’t involve the specific tar-like oil extraction process characteristic of the Alberta oil sands.