Dying Fossil Fuel
The end of oil reserves is a lot nearer than expected according to the International Energy Agency in Paris. The day we will see the end of the oil era can best be described as an oil-bomb implosion ─ more powerful than anything humanity has seen, and less than a few decades away. That is why it is imperative to pursue alternative energy options, something China recognizes and is addressing. It is a country shifting from a society built on oil looking at development beyond the “age of oil.” That is why it is so heavily invested in renewable energy.
On the other hand, Big Oil renewable divisions are being scaled back as the oil companies retreat to their core business in oil and gas. The sad reality is that Big Oil is not going to be in the forefront of new technologies. Their dinosaur fossilized corporate culture space that has evolved in spacious over-sized energy wasting venues is much too comfortable and familiar for them to seriously explore alternative renewable energy. Just thinking of the headaches they get about hearing the difficulties trucks carrying parts for wind turbines are confronted with because of government bureaucratic rules, regulations and inertia brings a smile to my face that quickly turns to anger when I think of the global taxpayer subsidized pipelines, refineries, tankers and politicians that their Big Oil Exec idiotic apathetic attitude and irresponsible dereliction of duties to their shareholders and public if they really had any sense of corporate responsibility and didn’t just think their expensive advertisement media spins will continue to blindside public citizens anywhere.
It doesn’t make sense to allow oil companies to make record profits from the public’s dependence on oil and then allow them to use those profits to find more oil with polluting technologies to continue the public’s oil-addiction as they are now doing with tar sand, coal to liquid and carbon capture and storage. That is why I renewed my 1979 horseback ride ─ protesting oil profits and urging alternatives to oil be developed ─ in 2006 and 2008.
Trucks carrying silvery blades nearly 150 feet, or 45 meters, long have been trucking through mellow New England in the summers, backing up traffic as they slowly leave the main roadways. Huge, tubular chunks of tower also pass through. Tall pieces of machinery looking something like jet engines travel at night because they require special routing to avoid overpasses. As demand for clean energy grows, towns across America are finding their traffic patterns disrupted by convoys carrying pieces of tower that will reach more than 250 feet in height, as well as motors, blades and other parts. Escorted by police, patrol cars and gawked at by clueless citizens, the equipment must travel long distances from ports or factories to the remote, wind destinations where the turbines are erected. The reality is this fossilized thinking must be disposed for remade socially responsible attitude and approach that is relevant to all interlocal citizens. Even though Big Oil doesn’t get it, it’s a good thing other politically-connected U.S. corporate iconic cowboy-pioneers sort of do, but at least go with the flow. General Electric being is one such example in the “scandalous” corporate and personal culture of its corporate capitalist guru Jack Welch. It has decided to develop its water purification business, from a drop in the corporate bucket of earnings to a major growth driver within years, just as its wind unit did. “What GE tries to do is to align the company with some of the mega trends, the mega challenges of the world. Energy is one, healthcare is the other, and the third one is water,” said Heiner Markhoff president and chief executive of GE Water & Process Technologies.
Let’s not forget that GE corporate executives for the most part, granted not all, are made out of the same cookie cutter that their counterparts in Big Oil are. This is best exemplified by what GE Executive Jeff Immelt said in 2001 when wind turbine executives pitched him to get GE into the business. He dismissed the technology as a “hula hoop.” Immelt later changed his mind when Enron’s bankruptcy provided a cheaper way into the business, and wind turbines in 2008 generated almost $6.5 billion in revenue.
On the other hand, Big Oil renewable divisions are being scaled back as the oil companies retreat to their core business in oil and gas. The sad reality is that Big Oil is not going to be in the forefront of new technologies. Their dinosaur fossilized corporate culture space that has evolved in spacious over-sized energy wasting venues is much too comfortable and familiar for them to seriously explore alternative renewable energy. Just thinking of the headaches they get about hearing the difficulties trucks carrying parts for wind turbines are confronted with because of government bureaucratic rules, regulations and inertia brings a smile to my face that quickly turns to anger when I think of the global taxpayer subsidized pipelines, refineries, tankers and politicians that their Big Oil Exec idiotic apathetic attitude and irresponsible dereliction of duties to their shareholders and public if they really had any sense of corporate responsibility and didn’t just think their expensive advertisement media spins will continue to blindside public citizens anywhere.
It doesn’t make sense to allow oil companies to make record profits from the public’s dependence on oil and then allow them to use those profits to find more oil with polluting technologies to continue the public’s oil-addiction as they are now doing with tar sand, coal to liquid and carbon capture and storage. That is why I renewed my 1979 horseback ride ─ protesting oil profits and urging alternatives to oil be developed ─ in 2006 and 2008.
Trucks carrying silvery blades nearly 150 feet, or 45 meters, long have been trucking through mellow New England in the summers, backing up traffic as they slowly leave the main roadways. Huge, tubular chunks of tower also pass through. Tall pieces of machinery looking something like jet engines travel at night because they require special routing to avoid overpasses. As demand for clean energy grows, towns across America are finding their traffic patterns disrupted by convoys carrying pieces of tower that will reach more than 250 feet in height, as well as motors, blades and other parts. Escorted by police, patrol cars and gawked at by clueless citizens, the equipment must travel long distances from ports or factories to the remote, wind destinations where the turbines are erected. The reality is this fossilized thinking must be disposed for remade socially responsible attitude and approach that is relevant to all interlocal citizens. Even though Big Oil doesn’t get it, it’s a good thing other politically-connected U.S. corporate iconic cowboy-pioneers sort of do, but at least go with the flow. General Electric being is one such example in the “scandalous” corporate and personal culture of its corporate capitalist guru Jack Welch. It has decided to develop its water purification business, from a drop in the corporate bucket of earnings to a major growth driver within years, just as its wind unit did. “What GE tries to do is to align the company with some of the mega trends, the mega challenges of the world. Energy is one, healthcare is the other, and the third one is water,” said Heiner Markhoff president and chief executive of GE Water & Process Technologies.
Let’s not forget that GE corporate executives for the most part, granted not all, are made out of the same cookie cutter that their counterparts in Big Oil are. This is best exemplified by what GE Executive Jeff Immelt said in 2001 when wind turbine executives pitched him to get GE into the business. He dismissed the technology as a “hula hoop.” Immelt later changed his mind when Enron’s bankruptcy provided a cheaper way into the business, and wind turbines in 2008 generated almost $6.5 billion in revenue.
posted by Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid Politics at 7:20 PM
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