Shell will no longer invest in renewable technologies as wind solar and hydro power/not economic

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/17/royaldutchshell-energy

Shell will no longer invest in renewable technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power because they are not economic, the Anglo-Dutch oil company said today. It plans to invest more in biofuels which environmental groups blame for driving up food prices and deforestation....

The company said it would concentrate on developing other cleaner ways of using fossil fuels, such as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. It hoped to use CCS to reduce emissions from Shell's controversial and energy-intensive oil sands projects in northern Canada.

The company said that many alternative technologies did not offer attractive investment opportunities. Linda Cook, Shell's executive director of gas and power, said: "If there aren't investment opportunities which compete with other projects we won't put money into it. We are businessmen and women. If there were renewables we would put money into it."

[leftstreet]

1. "attractive investment opportunities"

Well there ya go!

:puke:

[JDPriestly]

6. And our tax money is shoring up, maybe not Shell, but banks and

investors with similarly short-sighted investment strategies.

No more bail-outs for the rich. Give the money directly to the little guys -- and not in tax cuts. The people who need the most help don't have jobs or viable businesses right now and aren't paying income taxes.

[physioex]

2. Burn in Helll....

Anyways, I hope smaller comapnies come and take control of the renewable energy movement. There is too much wealth concentrated in too few companies now.

[rurallib]

11. The oil companies will let the small companies develop wind & solar

and then swoop in with their billions and buy them up. Much easier and probably cheaper for them in the long run.
The US gov't will pay for a lot of the development for them. And in the end they get the ultimate profits.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Will "no longer"!? Did they ever!? Nonetheless: goodbye, Shell.

Don't let the door of opportunity knock you ... oh, who the hell am I kidding?

I would gladly watch as these dinosaur corporations sink while innovators rocket past them.

Bye-bye Shell!

[Sebastian Doyle]

4. There should be laws to deiberately EXCLUDE any existing oil companies from future energy technolgy

The very fucking reason why these technologies are so far behind where they should be is that these greedy fucking bastards have no interest in any form of energy which they cannot patent, or control the supply of.

And you can't own the wind or the sun. But you can cut deals with your fellow criminals at Monsanto & ADM to make sure corn and only corn is the source of "biofuels".

[Canuckistanian]

5. Good! We don't need this kind of thinking for the future.

It's time to abolish the mega-energy structures and their hold on resources and political power.

The way I see it, oil prices are someday going to explode as demand increases and supply diminishes. And it will happen fast.

Anyone who's invested in wind, solar or hydro/tidal power are going to be the smart ones.

Time for this dinosaur to die a natural death.

[and-justice-for-all]

7. "developing other cleaner ways of using fossil fuels"

Yeah, like 'clean coal'!!? what ever, Oil companies are a crooked lot. "If there were renewables " what a pathetic excuse.

[glowing]

8. Hmm, perhaps then we should try not using shell. Eventually, they will be obsolete.

[GoesTo11]

9. wonder if a big ole carbon tax would change their tune

[Historic NY]

10. Yup, the profit margin isn't there for them, go figure.

[gratuitous]

12. The poor dears are barely scraping by

Can you imagine seeing ExxonMobil's record profits and then looking at their own paltry balance sheet from the third quarter last year?

http://www.moneymorning.com/2008/10/31/exxon-mobil-earnings/

ExxonMobil made $14.8 billion, totally dwarfing Shell's $8.45 billion. No wonder Shell's in a pissy mood. Up thread, the poster who said that the oil companies will bide their time until someone makes alternative energy this profitable, and then swoop in and buy it up is probably spot on.

[Wiley50]

13. I own a Shell/BP solar panel. Wonder if they're selling that division?

My other panel is a Kyocera 55 watt

The shell panel is 85 watts

Hey SLAD, you still mad at me?

[ima_sinnic]

14. good! get left out in the cold. They're just showing they're total dinosaurs.

Isn't Shell the company with all the fake "concern" about the environment? I actually received an unsolicited CD of some sort from them in the mail that I think was supposed to make me feel all warm and fuzzy about their "environmental efforts." I hung it out near my garden to scare birds away without playing it.

[SoCalDem]

15. That's why gasoline prices had to fall..

Now we need government intervention to force them to relinquish their control over all the patents they have been buying up for decades, so someone ELSE can bring those ideas to fruition:)