Exxon's stance on alternative energy

[WRXtranceformed]

I can't find the thread in which we were all talking about this, but I made this point and some people said that it was too "conspiracy theorist." Well, straight from the horse's mouth, the number 1 U.S. oil company making $1318 a second Exxon Mobil speaks out about it's stance on alternative energy:

Henry Hubble, Vice President for Investor Relations:
"There are very few that are economical without subsidies. We don't think it makes sense to invest in it at this point."

Sure, companies like BP are putting some cash forth, but I can bet you the ones that are aren't pushing it TOO hard, because they're running into the same thing that Exxon, the most profitable US oil company, is running into. Why would they waste money on alternative energy when they are seeing silly stupid profits from rising gas prices, investors, and conflicts in the Middle East?

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[G.Irish]

Yeah but the line before that one:

When asked about investing in renewable energy technologies, an Exxon official said that, apart from ethanol, it's generally not part of the company's plan.

It kinda boils down which companies are thinking long term and which ones aren't. A good example of this is the auto industry.

10-15 years ago when Honda and Toyota were starting primary research into fuel cells and hybrids it seemed like a waste of money. Fast forward to now and they're ahead of the game.

Its always a tough sell though, most publicly-owned companies are under a lot of pressure to make profit now, rather than invest in being profitable long term. Either way I think alternative energy will need some sort of push from the government to get going more quickly rather than waiting for the market to force the issue.

[BLINGMW]

I'm sure it's kind of hard to convince your investors that crazy money should be poured into long term reasearch when the current product is plenty profitable, demand is high, supply is.... who knows.... but it's not going to be a problem for at least a few years, maybe hundreds, and most businesses don't take on a project unless they can come up with an idea of when it will be profitable. I'm sure that when THEY think it's getting scarce, then they'll try something else. But why would you expect them to do anything but push their most profitable product?

[WRXtranceformed]

But why would you expect them to do anything but push their most profitable product?

Exactly ^_^

That's been my point all along. Why waste time / energy when you're hitting retarded profits right now?

[Mike]

:thumbup: the collins family <3s exxonmobil

[Feersty]

I tried to look into job openings, but man the navigation on that site is complex.

[WRXtranceformed]

:?:

[CaptainHenreh]

I've got an idea.

Let's remove the CURRENT government subsidies for gasoline production, LET ExxonMobileBPTexacoEtc pay for their own drilling, research, etc, (with, of course, the positively mind-fucking profits they've been making) take those millions that the government has saved and do something productive with it.

[Mike]

take those millions that the government has saved and do something productive with it.

like what? pay for 5 minutes of war?

[CaptainHenreh]

take those millions that the government has saved and do something productive with it.

like what? pay for 5 minutes of war?

Uh.

Well, I...

See, the thing is...

If you only take a minute to look...

All I'm trying to say is...

If I could just...

I got nothin'.

yeah.




(It's a mountain of backpedaling!) I mean, while we were not giving money to the oil companies to make money, in this fantasy land where people do what Rex says, we could stop the war, too. And buy everybody ice cream on fridays! And give everyone the Right To Choose (to wear pants).

And don't think I'm not qualified to make these decisions! My nation is doing just fine, not at war with anybody.

[Stage5]

Arguing about profits and market power misses the real problems:

1) Oil CONSUMPTION is subsidized implicitly through subsidies on roads, farming, industry, automobiles, trucking, housing incentives that move people to longer commutes, lack of leadership, and by failure of the state to capture (and redistribute) the full cost of negative externalities etc. etc.

This has created a nation that is dependent on Automobiles and therefore Oil.

2) Oil PRODUCITON is subsidized through both blatant giveaways i.e. cheap/free land/ocean leases, exploration funding, and implicitly with trade protections/distortions, lack of leadership, and by failure of the state to capture (and redistribute) the full cost of negative externalities. etc etc

You might have noticed some commonalities?

The production and consumption of oil creates negative externalities including but not limited to; air polution, noise pollution, water pollution, light pollution, unsightlyness, increased run-off, heat pollution...... As individuals it is impossible for us to collect compensation from each of the consumers and producers. Therefore, those that produce and/or consume the most end up relatively better off than those who consume the least because they get to enjoy all of the benefits while only suffering a portion of the total costs---pollution or otherwise.

Moreover, those who produce/consume the most also tend to be those that can afford to avoid many of the externalities that they disproportionally create by living in nicer, cleaner, quieter, safer, less polluted areas.

It is just another form of expanding inequality that is self reinforcing.

Forget windfall taxes, forced renewables investment and such---remedy the implicit subsidies and create/enforce some meaningful laws to curb the externalities and you will see a dramatic shift in what technologies are invested in.

[Andy]

Who are you and how does anyone in this club know about externalities? Yes, in essence Big Oil externalizing their costs is the real underlining issue.

[Stage5]

Who are you and how does anyone in this club know about externalities? Yes, in essence Big Oil externalizing their costs is the real underlining issue.

Well, I'm stage5 of course! :lol:

JMU Econ now living somewhere else...I drop in the forums to see what's going on occasionally.

[ScottyB]

Who are you and how does anyone in this club know about externalities? Yes, in essence Big Oil externalizing their costs is the real underlining issue.

Well, I'm stage5 of course! :lol:

JMU Econ now living somewhere else...I drop in the forums to see what's going on occasionally.

cool, i was about to say i don't think i've seen you post before. and for the record your post made me feel really dumb :lol: darn you, smart econ people

[WRXtranceformed]

Yeah that shit was way over my head lol!

All I know is oil companies are making a shit ton of money on their current product, so they're not in a hurry to research alternative energies until they see more profit in that than oil. That's not conspiracy theory, that's fact y0!