Posts Tagged by oil companies
A Career in Clean Energy? Here’s Some Advice
| May 14, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
Each week I receive several emails requesting my advice on career paths within the clean energy space. I thought I’d take a few minutes and jot down a few of the ideas that I normally try to express in response.
First, I congratulate people who want to work in this industry, especially if their interest is rooted in a love of the natural environment and perhaps a sense of duty, or at least a wish, to do something good for mankind and the other 8.7 million species of life forms here on our home planet. But regardless of motive, clean energy is one of few arenas in which there exists a beautiful confluence of the profitable and the philanthropic; we’re helping mankind whether that’s our aim or not. Read More
The World Resents American Environmental Policy
| May 11, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
As a younger man, I had a business partner with whom I ran a marketing consultancy that was 200 employees strong, with clients on four continents — during which time I logged a great number of air miles. I used to joke that my seniority on American Airlines was sufficient that, not only would I be instantly upgraded to first class upon booking my ticket, but I could, had I wanted, bring a baby elephant on board with me, prompting the flight attendants to remark, “What a lovely animal, Mr. Shields. I assure you that we’ll make him quite comfortable.” Read More
Oil: Following the Money
| April 23, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
Oil is a product that sells for more than 50 times what it costs to manufacture. And we’re wondering why the world is beholden to it? Linked above is a good story analyzing this.
Humanity Faces Crisis: A Quick Analysis
| April 19, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
Scientists tell us that the threat of climate change (not to mention the other issues associated with the depletion of natural resources in the face of population growth) is the most important event facing mankind in the entire history of humanity. That’s quite a thought, when you reflect on it. After 10,000 years of our living in organized society, we’ve come to the point at which our ability to limit the damage we’re doing to our environment over the next few decades will mean the difference between our success and failure as a species. Read More
Video: Renewable Energy’s Strengths and Weaknesses
| March 22, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Science |
Here’s another in our series of short introductory videos, in which I discuss renewable energy generally, including its strengths and weaknesses. We ALL want clean, abundant, inexpensive energy — and renewables hold the potential to take us there. But as much as we like this concept generally, there are issues; there are costs that need to be understood. It’s fine to be an advocate, but it’s even better to wrap your wits around as many of the issues as possible: technological, economical, and political.
Changing the Equation for Electric Transportation
| March 7, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I’ll be at the 26th International Electric Vehicle Symposium (“EVS26”) in Los Angeles in May. If anyone wants to meet me for a cup of coffee, please hit “Contact” and let me know.
The migration to electric transportation is going through a period that some of us anticipated: a bit of nervousness brought on by the fact that the value proposition for the consumer is simply not there yet. EV start-ups are having a hard time getting there, which has given the established auto industry a great deal of time to breathe, take its time, hedge its bets, and, perhaps most to its liking, milk the internal combustion engine cow a few more years.
Take the Ford Focus Electric, as an example of what I mean by consumer value proposition. I’m sure they’d explain it differently, but, at a high level, Ford has taken an extremely unexciting, garden variety passenger car, the Focus, ripped out Read More
This Morning’s Interview with Jerry Taylor at the Cato Institute
| February 14, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
I just interviewed Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute for my next book, Renewable Energy – Following the Money. This was a wonderfully engaging talk of about 90 minutes with a brilliant person, which I have time only to summarize here.
In one way, I can say that there were no real surprises. Jerry calmly explained that clean energy either becomes affordable, and capitalists invest, or it’s not, and it sits on the sidelines. And given the fact that Cato’s mission statement is the forwarding of Libertarianism, how can anyone be shocked by that position?
The interesting part, of course, whether you’re a Libertarian or a Communist, is understanding the damage that fossil fuels are doing, and using government protection of the people to step in and make a difference. Libertarians believe in minimal government, though they acknowledge its role in protecting individual’s rights. E.g., I have no more right to pollute the air over your house than I do to throw my garbage in your front yard.
So, with all this philosophic agreement in place, why is the Cato Institute so bearish on renewable energy? First, it’s about pinning down the damage. They seem to believe that the externalities of oil and coal are minimal, as compared to most of the reports I’ve read. Jerry says, for instance, that the recent report from the Harvard Medical School estimating the health and environmental damage of oil and coal at $700 billion annually was “a bad study.” Also, though he acknowledges that industrial activities are causing global climate change, he thinks that the effects of this will be minimal, and not felt until far in the future. In addition, he finds it even harder to know who is benefiting and who is suffering.
Really? Do we have to split hairs here? What’s the matter with looking at this and concluding the obvious, like the oil companies are the most profitable industry on Earth, and the other seven billion of us are suffering. Not so fast, says Jerry. The developing countries near the equator are likely to be hit hardest by global warming, but they have also benefited the most from industrialization.
I don’t know, Jerry. I enjoyed the conversation, but this sounds like sophistry to me.
Is It Pointless to Care About Energy Policy?
| January 22, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
Here’s a wonderful video presentation of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire,’ the clever reminder that problems in the world are nothing new, and really nothing to get too concerned over. I infer that this philosophy must be quite dear to him, as he expresses it in many of his songs, e.g., The Angry Young Man:
There’s always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
He’s never been able to learn from mistakes
So he can’t understand why his heart always breaks
His honor is pure, and his courage as well
He’s fair and he’s true, and he’s boring as hell
And he’ll go to his grave as an angry old man.
….
I do believe I’ve passed the age
Of consciousness and righteous rage
I’ve found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
But life went on no matter who was wrong or right.
While this is brilliant stuff, and extremely musical, Read More
Ecuador — Achieving Justice in the Chevron Case?
| January 6, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
30,000 people in Ecuador are one step closer to achieving justice in their case against Chevron. On Wednesday, an appellate court upheld the $9.5 billion judgement that would force the oil giant to pay for the clean up of a huge tract of land, damaged by Texaco, before its acquisition by Chevron. If you have a strong stomach, the talking points of the Chevron C-suite and PR team are at ChevronThinksWe’reStupid.org. And here’s a video made by Amazon Watch, a small but fierce non-profit that’s been working hard to focus world attention — and bring justice — to this horrific matter.
But how close are we to a resolution? Don’t hold your breath. As I’ve mentioned, Chevron’s team of attorneys is among the largest and most talented bunch of people on Earth. They’re playing for blood, and they’re licking their chops over the success that ExxonMobil enjoyed in dragging out its payment on the Valdez oil spill in Alaska for more than 25 years before agreeing to pay a small portion — over a quarter of a century later. No fewer than 8000 beneficiaries of the ExxonMobil restitution died while they were waiting for their money to come in.
This looks like a long, hard slog.
From Guest Blogger Iannick Gagnon — Oil: The First Shock (1859-1865)
| December 18, 2011 | Posted by iangagn under Fossil Fuels |
This article is submitted with the hope that it will set the tone for a series of others that will follow by covering the origins of the petroleum industry in the United States. The main objective of these pieces is to provide the reader with a historical understanding of shocks in oil prices. Later on, other writings will cover more recent material on the subject and a final piece will offer the reader some predictions of what the future of oil prices might look like in the short, medium and long term.
The task at hand is ambitious, but its value is considerable. Everyone feels a pinch when the prices at the pump crawl higher and higher with no end in sight. History has repeatedly proven to be the best thing we have to go on and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. As a result, we will establish a solid foundation from which we will make an educated guess about the future of the oil industry and what it means for civilization. Read More
