Valid points but I wasn't even thinking of that. It was the way they held on to their Trinitron CRT technology and got totally usurped by the Koreans when the LCD revolution came.
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Oil companies and alternative energy
- Thread starter vfx
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- Energy Environment Policy
Andrew - that is a bit generalised. Opinions do differ within companies as well as the industry. E.g. Shell: Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) expects electricity-powered vehicles to account for as much as 40 percent of the worldwide car market by 2050, Chief Executive Peter Voser said on Thursday. (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/04/shell-cars-idUSN0414071920100304 )
The only reservation I have is that I do not find predictions with time horizons beyond perhaps 15 years to be particularly relevant. The uncertainties are too large. Just consider that an engineering knowledge has a half life of perhaps 5 years on average, but varies a lot across disciplines.
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EVNow
Well-Known Member
Real problem for oil companies is not EVs - it is reserve depletion. The rate of discovery has not kept pace with depletion and that is a big problem for companies whose valuation depends on reserves. Infact BP is a sponsor of the EV Project to install chargers. This time around (unlike in the early part of last decade), oil companies really don't view EVs as a threat and I think they are correct. Even if in the developed world people gradually shift to EVs, developing world can easily consume all the oil that is produced.
Chevron and its allies take aim at California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard - San Jose Mercury News
Here's an ad they ran on the BBC News website...
Here's an ad they ran on the BBC News website...
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JRP3
Hyperactive Member
The oil companies may not be wrong on this one. I'm not sure ethanol is any sort of solution.
I co-authored a paper for the American Petroleum Institute about the risks of moving towards high levels of ethanol too quickly. There are a lot of infrastructure issues, particularly in light of the fact that most gas-fired engines can't operate safely with higher concentrations of ethanol. So, you end up having to maintain two delivery systems: one for current fuels, and one for flex-fuel vehicles. That gets really expensive, fast. There are also a non-trivial number of older motors (marine, snowmobiles, garden tools, etc.) that were not designed to run with any ethanol. Forcing these motors onto a mixed fuel is a death-sentence.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
The big concern with ethanol in older boats has been mostly with the tanks and hoses. Built in fiberglass tanks tend to breakdown and the resulting gunk can ruin an engine. With SS and Al tanks the ethanol "cleans" out decades of buildup, which ends up going through the fuel system, often clogging things up. Additionally, with seldom used pleasure craft sitting for long times condensation can form in the tanks and when moisture levels get high enough you get phase separation in the fuel where the ethanol, gas, and water all separate out, lowering the fuel octane and leaving a layer of water in the tank. On the other hand I've had no issues as of yet in my 1989 power boat using E10. I did preemptively change the fuel line to avoid any breakdown issues and I try to keep the tank as full as possible. I don't buy into all the expensive fuel additives other than a long term storage additive which I used with regular fuel anyway. I'm just waiting for battery advances that will allow me to do a proper electric conversion that can run above displacement speeds for an extended period.
They seem to have no trouble introducing different grades of petrol and diesel. When I was a kid it was just 4* and 2*, then unleaded came in, then diesel became ubiquitous and now it's not unusual to have four hoses on the same pump here: 95 RON unleaded, 97, 98 or 99 RON unleaded, regular diesel and synthetic GTL diesel. Some places even have 3rd petrol grade.
If they can do all that then having one for an ethanol blend seems manageable.
If they can do all that then having one for an ethanol blend seems manageable.
+1
Ethanol is heavily subsidized and uses land that could be used for food instead.
IMHO, industries need to stand on their own two feet without government subsidies. It's not the re if the federal government to pick private sector winner and losers (track record is NoT good
Solyndra, A123, Fisker just to name a few).
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
The problem around here seems to be that all the gas has ethanol already in it, so we have different octane ratings at the pump but they all have ethanol, can't avoid it.
