For far too long, Exxon has lagged behind its peers when it comes to renewable energy and sustainability. Not that any oil company is even remotely green – but where others have at least taken baby steps, Exxon has willfully refused. Well, the company has finally made a move, beginning a $600 million partnership with biotech company Synthetic Genomics Inc. to develop transportation fuels from algae.
From The Huffington Post:
“This is not going to be easy, and there are no guarantees of success,” Emil Jacobs, a vice president at Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering Co., said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But we’re combining Exxon Mobil’s technical and financial strength with a leader in bioscientific genomics.”
Jacobs said the project involves three critical steps: identifying algae strains that can produce suitable types of oil quickly and at low costs, determining the best way to grow the algae and developing systems to harvest enough for commercial purposes.
Besides the potential for large-scale production, algae has other benefits, Jacobs said. It can be grown using land and water unsuitable for other crop and food production; it consumes carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas blamed for climate change; and it can produce an oil with molecular structures similar to the petroleum products _ gasoline, diesel, jet fuel _ Exxon already makes.
It’s about time Exxon started putting its money where its mouth is – sort of. The oil giant has spent years ‘fighting back’ against reports about its anti-green practices but hasn’t stepped up to the plate. No amount of PR can make up for inaction.
Exxon is still one of the world’s biggest oil companies, making billions in profits annually off environmentally destructive practices – and $600 million is a tiny amount compared to what the company spends to find new supplies of crude and gas. They’re still not green, and it’s highly unlikely that they ever will be.
Now the question is, how long before we’re bombarded with Exxon ads proclaiming their greenness for making this investment?
Link [Huffington Post]
