Oil Giants Put Energy Into Other Resources

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 8, 2006 | Elizabeth Douglass

[thackney]

Firms are dabbling in a diverse range of projects, including one in which microbes eat grease to help produce electricity.

Inside two half-million-gallon tanks built in the 1950s, a team of microorganisms is preparing to munch its way into the annals of energy innovation.

Late this month, the microbes will start transforming truckloads of restaurant grease into electricity for a water pollution control plant in Millbrae, Calif. The one-of-a-kind setup relieves the city and area eateries of a fatty disposal headache while saving energy. And it has come with the help of a surprising backer: Chevron Corp.

"You don't think of a big energy company being involved in anything but gasoline," said Dick York, superintendent of the Millbrae plant. "But Chevron is really trying to diversify. Working together, we've brought forward a project … that puts waste to work."

It's a small undertaking for a company that takes in millions of dollars in profit each day from selling oil and natural gas, not saving them. But it's part of a growing portfolio of projects backed by some of the biggest oil companies to wring energy from the sun, wind, water and waste.

Royal Dutch Shell has become one of the world's largest developers of wind farms and is part owner of two in California. Chevron operates massive geothermal plants in Indonesia and the Philippines. And BP is a partner in hydrogen power plants proposed for Carson and Scotland.

Energy executives point to such endeavors as proof that oil companies are part of a global push to rein in pollution and boost alternatives to oil and natural gas.

"We think it's important to get things done when it comes to climate change," BP Chief Executive John Browne said in an interview. "If you weigh in the balance what we've done,...

[Fraxinus]

Nice puff piece, I doubt that it explains that the advertising budget for many of these companies are larger than the projects listed, and that they are investing in projects that will make money when margins are low in gasoline.

[kinoxi]

Late this month, the microbes will start transforming truckloads of restaurant grease into electricity for a water pollution control plant in Millbrae, Calif.

This sounds like a good idea.

[IronJack]

We should all be thankful for the pats on the head from Da Massuh's in the oil mansion. They are sooooooooooo generous and caring ... we're not worthy of their love.

[onedoug]

And, so?...

[bolobaby]

Few things tick me off more than those BP commercials where people complain about what they want from an oil company. (That's hyperbole - many things tick me off more.)

There's a reason oil companies are called OIL companies. They are not solar companies, or wind power companies, and they shouldn't be *EXPECTED* to do the work of those types of companies. (If they choose to diversify, that's fine.) What's next? Complaining because the big oil companies don't manufacture a comfortable enough mattress? Or McDonalds isn't providing sound investment services?

Sheesh.

[gleeaikin]

ping

[soccer_maniac]

2 years of obscene oil prices may have finally changed US consumption habits

[TKDietz]

So what? These are publicly traded corporations with a fiduciary duty to their shareholders. They're in business to make money. They're only going to invest in alternative energy if they think they can make money from it. Oil companies have invested billions in alternative energy. The investment from each may just be a small sum compared to all the money they are making, but it ends up being a lot of money to these fledgling alternative energy industries. Moreover, when companies like Chevron and BP invest in alternative energy, that helps attract other investors.