Beyond Petroleum? Part 1 of 2

I watch TV. I have two or three shows I watch regularly, and other than that I watch its sports or cable news. The off switch has its merits. "It is a custom more honored in the breach than the observance" Hamlet would say. Television shows are just filler in between advertisements. British Petroleum runs ads frequently trying to use its advertising to cast itself as the energy company that is moving "beyond petroleum". Their ad campaign has been top notch. It makes the viewer feel comfortable that an enrgy company is thinking ahead. I'll give them credit, it looks like they are thinking ahead. But advertisements and small scale alternative enery projects don't move the needle.

I drove from Bradenton Florida on US41 and then US19. I must have seen dozens of BP stations. I would wage that fewer than ten percent of them offered diesel fuel. And of course none of the stations that do carry diesel have biodiesel. Diesel is better than gas because it is more efficient and biodiesel is better than diesesl because it burns cleaner and is sustainable. Oh, sustainable. BP has a "Sustainability Report" that they publish annually. Cool. Some good stuff in there. But I have to say if you are going to move beyond petroluem, move beyond it or at least get started on your way. What good do these advertisements do if the customer can't have a different experience at BP? Jack Welch asked GE early in his tenure as CEO - do you want to make and sell toasters or CAT Scan machines? It seems like BP has already addressed this same type of question for itself. I want to see action. Biodiesel doesn't need BP in order to thrive. But BP needs biodiesel.