Not shocked: Shell drops green investments
Photo credit: Flickr user Atli Harðarson After spending the last year talking up their commitment to developing wind and solar technology, Shell is now backing away from those two renewable energy sources and focusing on biofuels.
I don't begrudge Shell from making business decisions like this. It is a company that is very good at sucking fossil fuels out of the ground and turning them into products that we can burn to take us places, keep us warm, and power our video games. It's not the company's fault that it can't compete in the world of renewable energy — it's not in the company's corporate DNA to do anything that doesn't involved pollution.
It's not fair to ask a company to be a leader in tearing down their own business model. Just remember that the next time you see a big oil company ad featuring slow-motion wind turbines.
Link [Guardian] via [Earth2Tech]
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Comments(12)
Posted By JJ - Sat, May 23 2009 at 6:15 AM ESTBetting on a dinosaur
Yes, I see this as defining the end of Shell as a corporation. They have missed the point about the shifting market place. I've explained this in more detail on my blog: http://www.jeremiahjosey.com
Posted By Uncle B - Sun, May 17 2009 at 4:57 PM ESTDown the Slippery Slope
We are entering the end of the "Cheap Oil" age. Shell and other companies look downhill from this point on. There are no more huge fields like in Saudi Arabia, satellite surveys tell us so. Huge drilling campaigns world wide will follow, with the oil companies draining their cash reserves in wars for the last few drops as prices rise astronomically and people panic and go for solar, wind, wave, tidal, hydro, and geothermal power. We are approaching that critical turning point now, and save.... More
Posted By nino - Tue, Apr 07 2009 at 6:47 PM EST"It's the eco-nomics, stupid"
More harm has been caused by people with good intentions than all the oil companies combined. And, more good has been achieved through the laws economics and free markets than all the religions combined.
Posted By Anonymous - Mon, Mar 30 2009 at 5:35 PM ESTLousy Investment
Could it possibly be that a company finds that wind turbines and solar panels are an economic loser? Could it possibly be? Eco-weenies are amazing sometimes. If you want wind turbines so bad, go build some.
The only reason hybrids have any sales is when gas prices sky-rocket. See LA times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hybrid17-2009mar17,0,6682265.story
Hybrid sales are in the toilet now that gas prices are normal again.
Posted By Anonymous - Sat, Mar 21 2009 at 9:24 PM ESTright. cause its this
right. cause its this bloggers fault that the only power option available to him is derived from oil. and for the record, if you're going to just sit around waiting for electric cars to come down in price... good luck. not to mention the fact that electric cars are a ******* joke. THE ELECTRICITY COMES FROM A POWER PLANT THAT BURNS OIL.
In this nation - butthurt faggots who don't understand anything.
Posted By Anonymous - Sat, Mar 21 2009 at 6:24 PM ESTMore Info Please
There needs to be more content and less bias in this article to make it seem convincing. It is too easy to point fingers at the oil companies (they are far from my favorite corporations) but the huge infrastructure that supports oil (think of all the gas stations) and consumers current needs have to be taken into account. I think it makes sense for Shell to invest in biofuels, at least in the short term until electric plug-in cars become cheap enough for the average citizen. I would prefer.... More
Posted By Anonymous - Sat, Mar 21 2009 at 7:36 AM ESTJohn Davis is a nob
Shell have always been scum of the earth.
Posted By Anonymous - Sat, Mar 21 2009 at 3:00 AM ESTyet another crappy blog that
yet another crappy blog that rides the coattails of the green movement.
"I don't begrudge Shell from making business decisions like this. " clearly you do, read your own title...
"Just remember that the next time you see a big oil company ad featuring slow-motion wind turbines. "
So now you blame all of big oil for shell's decisions, thats logical.
"It's hard to turn a dirty, polluting company like Royal Dutch Shell Oil into anything but the rusty old.... More
Posted By Anonymous - Fri, Mar 20 2009 at 10:56 PM ESTJust Solar and Wind?
I thought Shell's green initiatives were more focused on hydrogen delivery and storage technologies than in wind or solar. It's hardly fair to claim (or imply by failing to clarify) they've given up on green investments.
the Bridge
Learn the correct facts about the clean energy alternative we already have; Natural Gas. This is the clean energy that will get us to the renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and thermal. Its the Bridge we will have to use until those renewables are developed to take over. Two helpful energy sites: www.eia.doe.gov and naturalgasforamerica.com.