Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2642 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 4:04 am Post subject: Big oil now seeing green
Big oil now seeing green
Quote:
A television commercial touting Chevron's use of clean, renewable energy ends with the tag line "imagine that, an oil company as part of the solution."
Critics call the campaign lip service. Big oil companies, however, say they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to research and develop alternative and renewable power sources — not only as part of the green movement, but with serious hopes of cashing in when the technologies are broadly commercialized.
In 2007, BP spent $750 million, or 10 percent of its U.S. capital budget, on developing alternative and renewable technologies, which include solar and wind energy and biofuels. The company has said it will spend $8 billion from 2005 through 2014.
"By the end of this year, we expect to have 1,000 megawatts of U.S. wind power capacity on line, increasing to 2,400 megawatts by the end of 2010," BP American chairman Bob Malone told the House Select committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming last month, according to a transcript.
Chevron is also accelerating its investments in the renewable field. The company has earmarked $2.5 billion for renewable- and alternative-energy development through 2009 after spending $2 billion from 2002 to 2007.
Chevron Energy Solutions, which launched in 2000, generates about $300 million a year and is growing 20 percent annually, according to Jim Davis, the division's president.
"Back in 2000, solar, wind, biomass and fuel cells were not quite as developed as they are today, so the primary mission of Chevron Energy Solutions was to provide energy efficiency and conservation services," Davis said. "Now that the renewable market has taken off and the cost of those technologies has become more cost competitive, we have integrated the renewables into the scope of our energy-efficiency projects."
Big oil companies should forge partnerships instead of doing renewable R&D themselves, so they can focus on their core business, said Matt Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co., a energy investment banking firm in Houston.
"All of the major oil companies are having an awful hard time trying to keep their production (from falling)," Simmons said. "They should stick to that as opposed to giving all of this lip service."
denverpost _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2642 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:33 am Post subject: Re: Big oil now seeing green
Rockefellers get more muscle in Exxon fight
Quote:
The Rockefeller family and shareholders pushing Exxon Mobil to focus more on renewable energy now have the backing of a powerful advisory group for institutional investors.
Some family members said they are concerned that Exxon Mobil is too focused on short-term gains from soaring oil prices and should do more to invest in cleaner technology for the future. They argue that separating the leadership roles will better position the company to face future challenges.
Some shareholders, including some Rockefeller descendants, have launched a campaign to recruit support for their position. The group, called "Exxon For Owners," said it plans to meet with institutional investors and representatives of other proxy advisory firms to garner support for their initiatives over the next two weeks.
AJC _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject: Re: Big oil now seeing green
A quick check of Chevrons web site only turned up a handful of renewable energy jobs posted. I wonder what Chevron is spending it's multi-billions of dollars for renewable energy on? It certainly doesn't look like it's on engineers and scientists. Maybe it's commercials? _________________ "Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." Homer Simpson
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