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Related: About this forumGreen really is the new black as Big Oil gets a taste for renewables
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/21/oil-majors-investments-renewable-energy-solar-wind[font face=Serif][font size=5]Green really is the new black as Big Oil gets a taste for renewables[/font]
[font size=4]Shell, Total, Statoil, even Exxon - theyre all at it. But are the recent moves into solar and wind power lip service, fashion, or a real shift away from fossil fuels?[/font]
Terry Macalister
@TerryMac999
Saturday 21 May 2016 11.00 EDT
[font size=3]The worlds largest oil companies have in recent weeks announced a series of green investments in wind farms, electric battery storage systems and carbon capture and storage (CCS). These unexpected moves come hot on the heels of revelations by Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest crude exporter, that it plans to sell off parts of its national oil company and diversify its economy away from petroleum.
They also come in the aftermath of a United Nations climate change agreement and before annual general meetings for Shell and Exxon Mobil this week, meetings at which shareholders will demand that more be done to tackle climate change.
So has the fossil fuel industry finally woken up to the dangers posed to their futures by a move to a low-carbon world, or is this all greenwash relatively insignificant investments designed to shake off critics?
Or does it just make good business sense for Big Oil to do this at a time when oil prices are low, renewable projects look like steady long-term investments, and green businesses can be snapped up on the cheap?
[/font][/font]
[font size=4]Shell, Total, Statoil, even Exxon - theyre all at it. But are the recent moves into solar and wind power lip service, fashion, or a real shift away from fossil fuels?[/font]
Terry Macalister
@TerryMac999
Saturday 21 May 2016 11.00 EDT
[font size=3]The worlds largest oil companies have in recent weeks announced a series of green investments in wind farms, electric battery storage systems and carbon capture and storage (CCS). These unexpected moves come hot on the heels of revelations by Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest crude exporter, that it plans to sell off parts of its national oil company and diversify its economy away from petroleum.
They also come in the aftermath of a United Nations climate change agreement and before annual general meetings for Shell and Exxon Mobil this week, meetings at which shareholders will demand that more be done to tackle climate change.
So has the fossil fuel industry finally woken up to the dangers posed to their futures by a move to a low-carbon world, or is this all greenwash relatively insignificant investments designed to shake off critics?
Or does it just make good business sense for Big Oil to do this at a time when oil prices are low, renewable projects look like steady long-term investments, and green businesses can be snapped up on the cheap?
[/font][/font]
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Green really is the new black as Big Oil gets a taste for renewables (Original Post)
OKIsItJustMe
May 2016
OP
gordianot
(15,261 posts)1. Sometimes good ideas and profits are inevitable.
Expect them to try and convince you it was their idea all along.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,940 posts)2. The same thing happened in the 70’s and 80’s
http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/about/gosolar/california.php
In 1979, ARCO Solar began construction of the world's largest PV manufacturing facility in Camarillo, California. ARCO Solar was the first company to produce more than 1 megawatt (MW) of PV modules in one year. Four years later, ARCO Solar dedicated a 6 megawatt PV facility in central California in the Carrissa Plain. The 120-acre unmanned facility supplied the Pacific Gas and Electric Company utility grid with enough power for about 2,500 homes. ARCO Solar built a 1 MW PV power plant with modules on over 108 double-axis trackers in Hesperia, California.
then Reagan took the pressure off them.
In 1979, ARCO Solar began construction of the world's largest PV manufacturing facility in Camarillo, California. ARCO Solar was the first company to produce more than 1 megawatt (MW) of PV modules in one year. Four years later, ARCO Solar dedicated a 6 megawatt PV facility in central California in the Carrissa Plain. The 120-acre unmanned facility supplied the Pacific Gas and Electric Company utility grid with enough power for about 2,500 homes. ARCO Solar built a 1 MW PV power plant with modules on over 108 double-axis trackers in Hesperia, California.
then Reagan took the pressure off them.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)3. They'll find a way to monopolize it, corrupt it, control it, polute it
and then ask for subsides. from the taxpayers.
I hope they go the way of the gas light companies that use to light the streets and our homes. But I rather see an Enron example
Look at Standard oil for an example of a thoughtful company.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,940 posts)4. Honestly, so long as it’s clean, I’ll take it
I see avoiding an existential threat as the highest priority, and, frankly, I think renewable energy will get deployed quickest, if someone is getting rich off of it.