Shell goes cold on wind, solar, hydrogen energy | Environment | Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil Major Royal Dutch Shell Plc doesn’t plan to make any more large investments in wind and solar energy in the future and does not expect hydrogen to play an important role in energy supply for some time.

“We do not expect material amounts of investment in those areas going forward,” Linda Cook, head of Shell’s gas and power unit told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.

“They continue to struggle to compete with the other investment opportunities we have in our portfolio,” Cook said of solar and wind.

[...]

One renewables analyst said the decision could reflect the $100/bbl drop in oil prices since July which has eased concerns about energy supply and the economic crisis which has pushed environmental concerns down the agenda.

“There may not be any political pressure on them to invest in renewables at this particular stage,” the analyst, who asked not to be named, said.

The decision may anger environmental groups who, in recent years, have put pressure on Shell over its major investments in Canada’s oil sands, an energy and water intensive business which involves squeezing crude from bitumen-soaked soil.

Do you get it yet, ya big green dummies? It doesn’t pay. Because it doesn’t work. Not at the macro level. Not for running an industrialized world, otherwise known as The One We Live In.

You and me, sure, we can put solar cells on the carport and re-charge our iPods and stuff, and maybe save a few dollars on the electric bill. But it won’t give me a hot shower, cook my bacon & eggs, or run the three or four servers here that I need to run my development business.

I read this kind of thing, and I have to wonder where T. Boone Pickens is today. Oh, here he is, just up the road in New Braunfels, getting his ass kissed by politicians for being such an energy iconoclast. Couple years ago, he was a water iconoclast. Somebody get the investor list for that bit of buggery and give them a ring, see how that worked out for them. I bet they’re not at the dinner up in New Braunfels. Seriously, how do people exist with so little sense of history, so little knowledge of science? Yet, here they are, they surround me, and regale me with their theories at the bar. Makes a man want to just hermit it up.

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