Exxon CEO: "Alternative" just means finding new ways to burn fossil fuels
Here's a good one.
How would you define alternative energy? Solar power? Wind turbines? Recycling waste grease into biodiesel? Well, if you're Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon, then "alternative" energy has a very special meaning. The Dallas Morning News heard Tillerson say the following during the company's annual shareholder meeting last week:
Our approach to alternative energy in the near term is alternative ways to consume fossil fuels (more efficiently).Just wow.
How this will play out in the world, Tillerson said, is that as the U.S. and Europe begin to wean themselves from oil, the rest of the world will pick up the demand slack. He said China will want three times more oil in 2030 than it does today. Activist shareholders attempted to get the company to change its line of thinking during the meeting - by setting goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, for example - but their proposals were defeated. As one non-activist shareholder put it: "It's not the company's job to save [the world]."
[Source: Dallas Morning News via Domestic Fuel]Photo by DieselDemon. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jharlan 1:24PM (6/01/2009)
I think he is either short sighted or spinning the content (lying). My guess is China will solve their energy problems pretty well by 2030.
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polo 5:15PM (6/01/2009)
Clearly he was refering to "alternate fuels", not alternate energy production (obviously oil has little to do with wind and solar production). But he was correct
"Alternate" fuel sources like hydrogen use natural gas (which comes from same oil pits, which the oil cartels own). Ethanol is merely blended into gasoline, and as a stand-alone fuel cannot compare (in addition to being unsustainable due to its food crop eating ways). These are the main two alternate "fuels", which the oil cartels happily support because it keeps them in complete control. What they don't support is electricity powered transportation. It removes oil from the transportation equation. This comment by the Exxon corpro-terrorist is basically him saying "we support all alternate fuels that keep us in business, anything else is a problem". The oil lobby's grip is going to weaken dramatically in the next few years, wise investors could make a mint positioning themselves for this.
harlanx6 7:30PM (6/01/2009)
Agreed, and it's a good thing. China will likely be running around in EVs on nuclear produced electricity by 2030 whether Exxon likes it or not. We should be also or we will just be left further behind.
Steve 1:45PM (6/01/2009)
While it may not be their job to save the world, it is their job / responsibility ( and everyone elses) to not F*** it up for everyone else, including our children.
That means taking a considerably more responsible attitude towards the end result of the products they supply and the direction that their decisions steers the world in, than they do now.
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TylerDurden 1:50PM (6/01/2009)
Thank you, Steve; could not have said it better myself.
paulwesterberg 2:01PM (6/01/2009)
Actually in the US corporations & CEOs that run them are legally obligated to maximize shareholder wealth even if that means destroying the earth.
Unless you can prove to them that saving the earth will generate more revenue(in the next 6 months) than destroying the earth they wont be interested.
steve 2:33PM (6/01/2009)
whatever happened to corporate social responsibility?
Throwback 2:56PM (6/01/2009)
There is no such thing as "corporate social responsibility". This term has/is used by companies to try and show how they care about their employees, customers etc. All it means is "we will continue to maximize shareholder value as is our fiduciary responsibility by all available legal means." If they can do that and get some positive press, even better. Will the activist shareholders now sell their shares since they do not believe in Exxon's mission?
gorr 1:48PM (6/01/2009)
Don't forget that as any human beings here on earth today , they are old immortal angels too. All old angels speak latin in the bottom of their soul and brain( subconscient and inconscient ). They interpreted 'energy' as latin meaning e + nerves+ disposition = e ner gy. So as chevron energy compagny they are looking to create an immortal kind of corpse made in old latin oil ( flesh )and this corpse is sexual instead of been a robot corpse powered by a water electrolyzer. Exxon employ 12 000 scientists and are paid by u.s.a goverment to try to discover how the human brain works. Chevron is actually doing the same with subsidized researchs on green algae fuels, they try to build a human with science with green algae mud as a biological basis. Barack is doing the same with taxpayer money invested in human genome modifications to build human prototypes based on your personnal genome to see what it would look like. Hitler was doing the same thing with arrest of the jewishs to try to understand their working brains to make more money then them.
I said and i repeat that the human brain is similar to dogs, cats or horses but the cultural knowledge and human biological form is derivated from old latin history that beginned 85 billions years ago. There is no gimmick in human brain constitution, if there is trouble sometime, it is because of religious and cultural and communication problems.
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downtoearth 3:25PM (6/01/2009)
Gorr forr U.S. prresident 2012!
Nick P. 1:50PM (6/01/2009)
Agreed. Many companies think that Russia, China & India will be happy to get our leftover oil. China has the power to accelerate any trend they choose to take on, from space exploration to electric cars.
They can be the number one producer of electric cars within a year, if they decide to go that way. In fact, one way to get there is to appeal for their desire to beat America and Japan.
- Nick -
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BlackbirdHighway 2:55PM (6/01/2009)
Watch the documentary "The Corporation". It was on my list for a long time, but I never watched it because I expected it to be boring as hell.
Instead, it really was fascinating and quite entertaining. I highly recommend it. This sort of corporate behavior is easy to understand once you've seen that documentary.
Basically, it's up to all of us to convince Exxon that a different strategy will be more profitable. As long as drivers continue to fill up at Exxon stations that will be impossible. Once electrics start taking off then we will have some possibility for change.
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Ernie 3:16PM (6/01/2009)
"It's not the company's job to save [the world]."
That's right, it's not Exxon's job to save the world, it's the world's job to save themselves from Exxon.
Personally, I do my part by not buying from Exxon. And not owning a car.
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Mike!!ekiM 4:54PM (6/01/2009)
If Exxon's position is it has to destroy the earth to be profitable, then we must DESTROY Exxon. They Give us No Alternative.
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Chris M 6:58PM (6/01/2009)
"Destroying the earth" is not the plan of Exxon or any other corporation. After all, it is not profitable to kill off your customers, and it is not being responsible to kill off the shareholders, either.
So, it isn't really necessary to "destroy Exxon". The trick is to persuade the shareholders, the board of directors, and the executives that the best, most profitable path is one that doesn't damage the world. Unfortunately, they are unlikely to listen to wild eyed radicals, especially ones that threaten to destroy them.
gorr 10:24AM (6/02/2009)
I've said it many times before that there is corporate subsidized bloggers here that push polluting petrol use.
JohnZ 7:20AM (6/02/2009)
"Destroy the World"! Where does this crap come from? Do any of you bother to really study the facts about CO2 and the environment, or do you just swallow all the UN's computer model garbage and the leftist's junk. Yeah I thought so.
Get your heads out of the sand before Obama's Liberal Fascist Government destroys Exxon and takes away your economic future and your freedoms. Welcome to USSA.
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Mike!!ekiM 9:21PM (7/30/2009)
Where do you get your "facts" from? Some wacko right wing mouthpiece of the Oil and Coal industry? Those Fox "News" guys making millions of dollars don't give a damn about how much you pay for oil, or that they're shipping your job to China. The crack pot radio industry is Paid Off by these Corporate types.
matt j 7:14PM (6/02/2009)
He's right. The transition to 'sustainable power' will have to start with getting more efficient with the power we use now.
There are no electric cars that us common Joes can buy.
Solar and wind power generation at home are still too expensive for most people.
So what do we do? Stop oil usage altogether and ride horses until there's an economically viable 'sustainable powered' vehicle?
Can't do it. We have to reduce our usage through better efficiency while new technology is developed and brought to market.
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