The Shell Game: Big Oil Backs Out of Solar Energy Initiatives, Goes Ahead with Dirty Drilling

A few days after touting its signature of the Bali Communiqué—a document calling for a legally binding and comprehensive international agreement on climate change and for a 50% reduction in emmissions by 2050 based on science rather than economic considerations—Shell Oil has sold off part of its solar power business to Environ Global, a Signapore-based company that purchased Shells photovoltaic operations in India and Sri Lanka for an undisclosed sum. This sale comes following the low-key sale of the energy giant's solar module in Canada and Germany, and will be followed by additional divestments in the Philipines and Indonesia

The petroleum giant has gone to great lengths to paint itself green, including a series of television ads portraying its scientists and engineers as local heroes and environmental pioneers, and culminating with the bizarre "Eureka." This slick 90-second spot (which is also available in an extended 9 minute version on the company's website) features a Jurassic Park-meets-Degrassi storyline about Shell's chief engineer in Brunei, who is inspired to create a new "environmentally-friendly" drilling technology after watching his slacker son suck down a milkshake while being lectured about the joys of benchwarming for the school soccer team. Heartwarming stuff indeed.

Shell's announcement is yet another blow to the environment courtesy of big oil companies reneging on environmentally sound policies and initiatives. Last week, BP announced that, contrary to an announcement by former CEO John Browne,  it had traded assets with Husky Oil and was  going to drill in the Alberta Tar Sands. Petroleum extraction from the tar sands requires five times more energy than traditional drilling, produces up to four times more greenhouse gases and results in a form of synthetic petroleum than generates twice the emissions of current crude.

Greenpeace Canada calls the the Oil Sands Project the biggest environmental crime in history.

Posted by Christos Tsirbas

Links:

You can learn more about the Shell and BP announcements here
For more about the Bali Communiqué
Greenpeace plans to fight BP
Extended Shell Commercial on YouTube

Comments

[John Caley]

The world is in for a surprise.

Emission theory is falling foul of evidence and the urgency of the world's demise is now full frontal.

The Arctic will be gone by 2010

The oceans are becoming unbelievably hot

and the Earth is now spiraling into an Ice Age of epic proportions

and still the population and its stooges have no idea what is causing the runaway Global Climate Change.

Shell Oil and the Big Oil cartel are the cause of the world's end.

They have sanctioned the oil membrane over the oceans of the world. They are still arrogant in their destruction by their irresponsible behaviour.

They must pay, LOL, but we will all be dead by then.

[Jeanne Roberts]

It comes as no surprise to me that Shell is selling off its solar assets. When companies tout themselves as "green", but behave like Browns, it is known as "greenwashing". Oil companies are some of the biggest greenwashers on the planet, because their money is more important than our air. BP's actions (drilling in the Alberta Tar Sands) are a reaction to the fact that the oil companies know we've reached, and passed, peak oil. This intelligence has not been shared with the public, because government is hand-in-glove with the oil companies. God help us all; it is the end of Empire as we know it.

[westchester solar energy]

Poeplewho are not benefitied by solar energy will always envu its growth but i guess people shold think in collaboration and embrace it now