Despite significant attention on the environmental impacts of unconventional oil, e.g., oil sands, oil shale, and coal-to-liquid (CTL), few studies have focused on their life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and life cycle consumptive water use. This study looks at the life cycle GHG emissions and consumptive water use of unconventional oil and then compare to those of conventional oil. Consumptive water use defined as water with¬drawn that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products, consumed by humans, or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment. The life cycle analysis’ boundary includes these following stages: crude oil extraction; refining; crude oil combustion; and reclamation. The life cycle GHG emissions and consumptive water use for electricity consumption throughout the crude oil life cycle are also included in this analysis. We find CTL is the worst in GHG emissions while oil shale In-situ requires the largest amount of consumptive water use. Life cycle GHG emissions and consumptive water use of oil sands are the least among unconventional oil. Life cycle consumptive water use for oil sands (surface mining and In-situ), oil shale surface mining (high and low scenarios), oil shale In-situ (high and low scenarios), and CTL (high and low scenarios) are -61% to -9%, -35% to -11%, -51% to 46%, and -60% to 19% lower or higher than that of U.S. domestic crude oil. The life cycle GHG emissions of oil sands (surface mining and In-situ), oil shale surface mining (high and low scenarios), oil shale In-situ (high and low scenarios), and CTL (high and low scenarios) are 14%-21%, 4%-19%, 46%-98%, and -5%-113% higher than those of U.S. domestic crude oil. If the U.S has a goal to enhance energy security while seeking to reduce the environmental impacts of petroleum, CTL, oil shale, and oil sands are not the right path.