BP = Beyond Petroleum?

[Caoimhe]

huh? Just saw a commercial for them that had a guy standing outside saying "I can't believe that these multibillion dollar corporations aren't thinking, what now?" then cue in the BP logo and slogan BEYOND PETROLEUM. I am paraphrasing completely. Too tired.

Can someone explain it for my ignernt murkin brain?

[Moochy]

1. Greenwashing

This is BP trying to greenwash their image.

They claim to be the oil company with the most money in alternative energy resources. Also I don't know much about their CEO and board, but I've heard moderate people praising them for their moves.

I don't beleive it passes the smell test though, and think its all about PR and marketing.

[Caoimhe]

6. Is Greenwashing in Demopedia?

if not it should be. Make you feel like a GOOD consumer while continuing BAD habits.

I think some freeps call it PC.. but as a liberal I think it is deeper than that. It made me wonder what the hell they were selling.

[Moochy]

13. Not in demopedia, but it's in wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing


http://www.thegreenlife.org/dontbefooled.html


AMERICA'S TEN WORST GREENWASHERS (2005 report)

1. Ford Motor Company
2. BP
3. United States Forest Service
4. ChevronTexaco
5. General Motors
6. Nuclear Energy Institute
7. Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
8. TruGreen ChemLawn
9. Xcel Energy
10. National Ski Areas Association


from this report on the above page: http://www.thegreenlife.org/reports/DontBeFooled.pdf

[Caoimhe]

19. bwahahhaa

you rock! :yourock:

for looking that up !

[Moochy]

26. Wikipedia

It's a good resource for a thinking person.

Not some blind source of truth, that is reliable for all things.

Being a *thinking person* who READ the definition, the greenwashing definition fits the useage of the term that I'm most familiar with.

Just replying to the broad-brush swipe at wikipedia, as if it was free republic or rense.com.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ready4Change]

15. A local BP station is solar PV powered.

I don't know how much if its operation is solar powered, but a nearby BP gas station has covered the entire roof sheltering it's pumps with solar PV panels, and they have a digital display nearby showing how much powered it's captured.

Also nearby, in Frederick, MD, what I call a solar breeder planter. It uses power from solar panels to power a factory that makes MORE solar panels. I was concerned when BP bought that plant, concerned big oil would take it off line. Nope, still chugging away.

Of all the big oil companies, BPs approach is closest to what I'd do in their shoes. I'd be developing alternatives like mad, get those patents early and often, so when oil eventually plummets my legacy will be an energy empire reborn. BP's not there, but there is a glimmer there.

(Hey, I can hope.)

[Moochy]

18. Its defintiely has the greenest reputation

... of the big oil companies.

And I'll readily admit that some of it may be accurate, but that doesnt mean that attempts to highlight their more environmentally-friendly actions, are anything other than serving their public-relations need to greenwash their image.

I've read some of the CEO's speeches, and I agree, they are being more pragmatic with regard to peak oil than perhaps some of their competitors.

The solar panels may just be a bottom line thing too, since energy costs money. :-)

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Exactly.. I think they will be like all the other oil companies and milk

us for every red cent they can get for fossil fuels.. THEN they'll really get on the ball with the green energy market and milk us for every last red cent there.

[UDenver20]

30. Jeez People...

So what the hell do you want them to do?

They invest in solar energy because they believe in it and you chastize them for maximizing profits. What? their reasoning doesn't suit you well enough? Their motivation isn't just as yours is? Who cares?

Maybe they shouldn't invest anything in solar and wind power? Maybe they should go back to only selling good 'ol petroleum. Its not like solar and wind power is ANYWHERE NEAR as lucrative as petroleum is. You do realize that they are sacrificing profits (by not investing every available penny in petroluem production during a period of $60-70 barrels), right?

Its pretty disgusting that we actually have a corporation out there (a global, politically active NGO at that) that is doing what we'd want them to do and yet people still complain about their motives.

[Moochy]

32. Yeah totally disgusting

give me a break, cry me a petroleum river.

Poor little oil company, getting picked on by me.

your tone is very aggravating, I must say.

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. Sure it's great they are taking baby steps, but the steps could be bigger

and we all know it.

[sweetheart]

2. transnational branding

A multinational company is not "in the oil business" but rather
in the "energy solution business", and in that sense, given the
horizons of petroleum, unless an energy company can suggest how its
revenues will continue "beyond petroleum", they are in a fix.

So BP is trying to rebrand its british nationalism out of "british" and
they just can't find a word to replace petroleum. It allows the
company not to stir up nationalist sentiment with its logo and
presence, considering the economic volatility in oil-rich areas,
maybe a wise branding move.

[CatholicEdHead]

4. That sounds about right

as they made a massive profit like everyone else last quarter.

[Caoimhe]

12. All of them did

but only Exxon and MOBIL (correct me if I am wrong) were into throwing parties about it

[UDenver20]

31. SHHHHH!!!!!!

Don't let it get out that someone's learned to make a profit while also being environmentally friendly!!!!

Someone else might try it too!

[Caoimhe]

7. OMG like healthy forests means clear cutting

I am so sick of this shit-passed-off-as-chocolate

[sweetheart]

14. gotta admire that

The East india Tea company reincarnated as BP for a while... 2 little
letters, happy, innocuous... with a pretty yellow and green flower,
reminding me of birds and happy dancing children.

BP, and i see the very pleasant persons who i purchase petrol from
at the forecourt, paid minimum wage for gasoline station monotony..
and the peoples right nice them.

If they hire you as BP's CEO in future, you might change it all, and
just bankrupt the company to get out of the oil business? Come on,
as bloody 'orrible as the imperial oil governments have been, the oil
companies are engineering outfits, constructions, pipelines and so
much complex technology... not political except for their boardroom
and above in the nationalist agencies behind fuel sufficiency.

So blame the counter clerk at macdonalds because US Beef farmers
inject their cows with dangerous hormones. Punch that clerk and
leave him bleeding on his macdonalds uniform, motherfu.., how
dare he work the cash register of a company that kills animals.
Punch him again, for all the paper products and trees that he
clearcut by his original sin. :-)

[Moochy]

33. Companies are not political

?? did i read that right?

Ok, well I guess we'll just ignore their political contributions, their marketing dept. their advertising and public relations arms as being 100% apolitical.

from the BP website:
Welcome to BP. Our products and services contribute to a better quality of life.

The love of BP in this thread astounds me, and makes me wish I was selling some bridge in Brooklyn. Kudos to you BP, you got more people to buy your green image.

(on edit spelling )

[sweetheart]

36. They are the only supplier up here

If i could not buy petrol from them, i would be fucked. I would not
be able to run the kitchen stove, or have hot water. I would not have
petrol for my car. I can't afford the ill will of the regional monopoly
supplier, and i'm glad they're being "good" in their corporate citizenship.

I went to MBA school in edinburgh with some executives of BP, and i
found them to be brilliant and honourable folks. I judge a company
by its management, and in that sense, BP is good wood.

I accept that they're doing their best to keep the petrol and oil
tanks full, and they've done a good job at that, "ouch" the price of
1 pound per litre.

[NewJeffCT]

3. don't hate them because they're a $300 billion corporation

that is what they're trying to say... they do occasionally think of things like the environment or peak oil

[Caoimhe]

10. peak oil?

you mean where they have INCREDIBLE windfalls of cash from high fuel prices?

I haven't heard anything about BP deliberately trying not to SCREW fuel consumers.

Is it just a case of British *gloss-nevermind the starving man in the corner* advertising? NOt that ours is any different now...

[3waygeek]

16. Here in metro Atlanta

back in September & early October when gas was in short supply ostensibly because of Katrina, the BP stations seemed to be out more frequently and for longer than other stations. The BP nearest my house was out for more than a week at one point, when other stations were out for a day or less.

[cosmicdot]

5. I loathe BP's ads ...

one ad asks: which would you rather have: a car or a clean environment?

:crazy:

the 'citizen': give up the car? ... that's like asking people to give up chocolate, it's not going to happen :crazy: :crazy:

as if THAT is the choice

BP 'acknowledging' there's a problem is "it's a start"

puh-leeze

you've touched on what one my pet peeves: BP ads

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. I've been on their rigs.... on land.... and clean doesn't even come

close to how they do things and adhere to epa guidelines.... and they take safety to an extreme artform. I hope their ads aren't all BS... for everyone's sake.

[Caoimhe]

11. That is great but...

isn't that akin to wearing a condom while raping someone?


I am tired, like I said.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

17. Good, no great analogy.... yeah, we are being raped in more than

one way... these are the worst times I have seen in my 50 years.

[marbuc]

9. BP has been more active than most in the industry in trying to diversify

nt

[don954]

21. Well, BP is a very large maker of solar panels

and they fund more expansion of RE than any of the other oil companies. It doesn't make them saints but its better than nothing!

[Moochy]

28. See post #27

the world’s largest photovoltaic producer when BP acquired it in 1999, was eclipsed by three competitors within four years.

from http://www.thegreenlife.org/dontbefooled.html

[hootinholler]

34. You mean that BP bought their way into solar.

Not through funding research, but by buying the largest US Solar panel maker, Solarex. Happened about 3-4 years ago.

-Hoot

[UDenver20]

22. BP is very green...

They meet standards 9-10 years prior to requirements, they're the world's largest investor in alternative fuel sources, and they actually changed their name to "Beyond Petroleum" over five years ago.

People can bitch all they want about big oil companies, but as far as I'm concerned - they are exactly the type of oil company I want - One with an eye for something other than petroleum.

And by the way, they're also one of the largest supporters of environmental issues (to the extent than an NGO can be) through the United Nations.

I both buy from them and buy into them because I believe they are truly making a difference in the industry and in the world.

[Moochy]

24. Yay we bitch all we want

thanks for giving us liberal eco-freaks permission!

[Moochy]

27. From The green life .org : don't be fooled

from http://www.thegreenlife.org/dontbefooled.html

Third Party’s the Charm

BP on the street sparks a conversation between BP and everyday Americans about issues related to energy and the environment.

But the dialogue is disingenuous. By employing the manipulative third-party technique, the campaign artificially aligns BP with the public’s vision of an ideal energy company: one that is progressing “beyond petroleum” to realize the promise of renewables. Oil still comprises the majority of BP’s reserves, while its solar subsidiary, the world’s largest photovoltaic producer when BP acquired it in 1999, was eclipsed by three competitors within four years. Even as solar panels sold by BP in 2003 are expected to save 0.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over their lifetime, the company’s fossil-fuel products emitted 1,298 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2003 alone.

Looking ahead, BP pledges a “precautionary approach” to global warming based on stabilizing atmospheric carbon concentration between 500 to 550 part per million (ppm). Yet that range exceeds the 400 ppm threshold above which the International Climate Change Taskforce believes “the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly.”

Debate about the energy industry and the environment is confused enough without BP conflating corporate and public voices. BP should cease implementing the third-party technique in its marketing.

bold emphasis mine

[Ilsa]

25. My dad is a retireee from a company they bought, and

at least his pension and health insurance and benefits are safe. He worked for peanuts for decades, but the retirement is paying off for him. He's comfortable, but lives simply. I wish all companies would do that for their retirees without ripping the consumers off.

[BuyingThyme]

29. Beyond petroleum, you can get $1 hot dogs and hamburgers

at ARCO-AM/PM (a BP company).