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Shell has branded itself back in the early 00 years that they're basically a solar company now. So have other oil companies ("Beyond Petroleum"). The "but the

by hannob 6y ago

Shell has branded itself back in the early 00 years that they're basically a solar company now. So have other oil companies ("Beyond Petroleum"). The "but the oil industry is investing in other energy including renewables!" was all a big lie, the numbers never supported that. It'll take more than some token investments to convince people that it's different this time.

kristopolous 6y ago
It's not a moral pivot. They're still bastards. The economics of fossil fuel energy is becoming increasingly poor with the advancements in alternatives. It's becoming more expensive while electric storage and generation is become cheaper. I'm sure they'll raid their way into the alt-energy market, squeeze out small businesses, do price cartels, try to form monopolies, and do a bunch of other nasty things. But they won't continue to be propping up absolute monarchies and funding international terrorist organizations like they have been. It'll be a different kind of evil - closer to Nestle, Monsanto or Bechtel. Companies become large through aggressively exercising power. Sometimes it's mostly benign, sometimes it's bloody. Electric storage/generation looks like it'll be less bloody than oil.
- nindalf 6y ago
  It doesn’t take a genius to see the graphs of cost to produce batteries and solar power plummeting. In 3 years, it’ll cost more to operate existing coal power plants than it will to build a solar plant. If that trend continues for a further 3 years, electricity during the day will be given away nearly for free, making it dirt cheap to own an EV. It’s hard to compete with free for petroleum companies. It’s a bit worse than that for them because lower demand means they might lose certain economies of scale, making it even harder to compete. For example, some gas stations might close down if they lose half their customers, making it even more likely that customers will switch. And of course, after 2030 it’ll be difficult to find anyone selling an ICE car at all. Transportation (land, sea, air) accounts for 60% of all petroleum. And land accounts for 75% of that. So around half of all consumption is going dwindle to 0 over the next 10-15 years. The writing is on the wall for those who care to read it.
  - kristopolous 6y ago
    None of this is inevitable. I'm sure lots of smart people are working hard finding out how to make sure PV is still metered or the panels are leased or licensed or some other scheme to put a middleman or two between us and every watt. Demonitization of clean energy is within the realm of physically possibly but we'll still have to fight like hell for it.

by hannob 6y ago

kristopolous 6y ago

It's not a moral pivot. They're still bastards. The economics of fossil fuel energy is becoming increasingly poor with the advancements in alternatives. It's becoming more expensive while electric storage and generation is become cheaper. I'm sure they'll raid their way into the alt-energy market, squeeze out small businesses, do price cartels, try to form monopolies, and do a bunch of other nasty things. But they won't continue to be propping up absolute monarchies and funding international terrorist organizations like they have been. It'll be a different kind of evil - closer to Nestle, Monsanto or Bechtel. Companies become large through aggressively exercising power. Sometimes it's mostly benign, sometimes it's bloody. Electric storage/generation looks like it'll be less bloody than oil.

nindalf 6y ago
It doesn’t take a genius to see the graphs of cost to produce batteries and solar power plummeting. In 3 years, it’ll cost more to operate existing coal power plants than it will to build a solar plant. If that trend continues for a further 3 years, electricity during the day will be given away nearly for free, making it dirt cheap to own an EV. It’s hard to compete with free for petroleum companies. It’s a bit worse than that for them because lower demand means they might lose certain economies of scale, making it even harder to compete. For example, some gas stations might close down if they lose half their customers, making it even more likely that customers will switch. And of course, after 2030 it’ll be difficult to find anyone selling an ICE car at all. Transportation (land, sea, air) accounts for 60% of all petroleum. And land accounts for 75% of that. So around half of all consumption is going dwindle to 0 over the next 10-15 years. The writing is on the wall for those who care to read it.
- kristopolous 6y ago
  None of this is inevitable. I'm sure lots of smart people are working hard finding out how to make sure PV is still metered or the panels are leased or licensed or some other scheme to put a middleman or two between us and every watt. Demonitization of clean energy is within the realm of physically possibly but we'll still have to fight like hell for it.