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BP shuts alternative energy HQ

Written By FabianPattberg
Published On June 29, 2009 in
Your rating: None Average: 4 (1 vote)

BP has shut down its alternative energy headquarters in London, accepted the resignation of its clean energy boss and imposed budget cuts in moves likely to be seen by environmental critics as further signs of the oil group moving "back to petroleum".


But Tony Hayward, the group's chief executive, said BP remained as committed as ever to exploring new energy sources and the non-oil division would benefit from the extra focus of being brought back in house.


BP Alternative Energy was given its own headquarters in County Hall opposite the Houses of Parliament two years ago and its managing director, Vivienne Cox, oversaw a small division of 80 staff concentrating on wind and solar power.


Read the complete article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/28/bp-alternative-energy

 


Our opinion:
This is another example of big multinational backtracking on their commitments made of previous year. This just shows that alternative energy is is really just a „corporate fashion“ for BP. The only thing that counts is how much money they make it seems by going "back to pretroleum". Strong words I know. But this really makes me angry.


Picture Credit: Iain Tait

SustainabilityForum.com Member Comments

Visitor said on August 1, 2009

"...at current consumption..."

The sooner we accept the finiteness of petroleum the better. Unless we develop alternatives soon, we are in fact screwing our childrens future. Start looking at all the things we've come to depend on that are made from oil, not just fuels. It should scare you to death, the way we seem to be going through oil. The best thing those that can afford it can do is ditch petrol-fueled vehicles and go electric. The more demand, the more affordable they will be.

aarnih said on June 29, 2009

Other points of view

More from BP: I just read comments given by another BP executive at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25619274-500... According to the article "BP said that there were 1.258 trillion barrels of proven oil reserves left in the ground, enough to supply the world for 42 years at present production rates. It said that reserves of gas were sufficient for 60 years and coal for 122 years. 'Our data confirms that the world has enough proved reserves ... to meet the world's needs for decades to come,' Mr Hayward said, adding that constraints on production were 'human, not geological'." Biofuel production suffers from the financial crisis: The IEA estimates that today's active biofuel production capacity is 2.154 million barrels/day. More than 0.2 million barrels/day is currently idle or mothballed due to the financial crisis (see http://www.bioenergy-business.com/index.cfm?section=international&action...). For comparison: the total oil consumption in 2008 was 84.4 million barrels/day. That was 420 000 barrels/day less than in the previous year. Second generation biofuels coming on slowly: A Finnish company, Neste Oil, will be the biggest producer of second generation biofuels in 2014. The total output of 2nd generation biofuels will be 60 000 barrels/day, half of which by Neste. That is still a fraction of the total biofuel production, which is mainly ethanol.