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Skeptical Science Debunks the Deniers

312
Cineaste11/30/2009 5:22:57 pm PST

re: #308 zuckerlilly

All the big ones in the energy industry sell what? Right, energy. They don’t care what kind of energy they sell (oil, bio-fuel, algae-fuel, solar-, wind-power or whatsoever) and they have invested since decades in alternative energy and they are the big stakeholder in the alternative energy industry and they don’t care to what price they sell. Consumer and the industry need energy like a piece of bread so they will pay any price but what they want and need are clear and worldwide enforceable rules.

You’re almost correct here. It is true that they don’t care about the type of energy they sell EXCEPT that they do care about how much that energy will cost them to develop and whether or not they will continue to be the dominant energy supplier. Right now oil is unbelievably easy for them. You stick a straw in the ground somewhere in the middle east and start sucking. Figuring out a new source of energy is wildly expensive and they are not structured to guarantee they will create better solar panels than kyocera, or better wind farms than GE, or better algae than MIT. It’s an enormous risk for them to move into a new type of energy economy and it is a risk they would like to forestall as long as possible. Case in point, look at the ongoing battle between oil & coal over electricity production.