Is is good to see that the latter day Flat Earth Society has finally acknowledged the earth to be round!

If you can't beat em, join em.

While they are at it, they will make a buck too.

_3 things a company needs focus on, in order to operate most profitably, in the 21st Century:

1) Social contract/license is necessary in order to operate...or at least operate more profitably. Simply put, there is a relation between good works, clean operations, and good PR.
_Oversimplifying it, the better your image, the more easily you attract top talent, the better coverage the coverage by the media, and view of by influential and powerful people and groups, increasing likelihood of attracting business, and decreasing probability of litigation. Altogether, this helps to better the bottom line, thus stock price and credit rating. This is when everything else is equal, Vs a firm with a lower standings with society.
_The rise of NGOs the Internet, with opinionated and watchful bloggers, and a more conscious public consumer, also have much to do with this.

2) Lowering long-term risk to operations is another key point. Proactively going after problems w/in the reach of their own firms, or a group of firms through industry associations, or by any other means will bring about improved conditions, which lends to results that are more favorable. GHGs, with associated climate change, and environmental degradation are two specific targets

3) Identifying and exploiting inefficiencies, developing new strategies, tactics, and technologies to do it. All may help profit margins by tightening internal costs/expenditures, or externally through marketing and selling new products (business consulting to IT to optimization of warehouse logistics).

_All three have existed in one form, or another for years, centuries, if not always. This is also not all of the things they need to do, since virtually all normal rules of running a successful business, still apply.

Something I'd like to see happen:

Energy companies/Federal govt impose a tiered consumption tax on all energy produced by fossil fuels.
(Triple or quadruple rates above a certain kilowatt usage.)

It frustrates me that people waste so much energy on things they do not need such as leaving the AC on when nobody is home, leaving the lights/tv on, setting thermostats too high or too low & using a 50inch plasma tv that conumes 300watts/hr.

If people refuse to conserve on their own, maybe a hit to the pocket book will motivate them.

Paul M. Anderson, Duke Energy’s chairman and a member of the president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, favors a tax on emissions of carbon dioxide.

Kind of self-serving, since they're leading the fight for more nukes (at taxpayer expense, of course).

Rather than hire lobbyists, I would like to see them invest some of their $100B per year profits in renewable energy industries in a really BIG way. Thousands of new companies, employing millions of people making wind turbines, solar panels, constructing cellulose biofuels plants and doing research would boost the economy and provide more energy security for all of us.

Energy companies exist to make money. They will adapt their tune to the shifting political winds only to the extent they have to to keep making money. Don't think badly of them for that - it's called capitalism, i.e. the worst way to run an economy except for all the others. The conclusion we should draw is that the sector is acknowledging the reality that the political climate did indeed shift massively on Nov 7 and, is looking to manage the change process.

Btw, Roger. Expect Exxon-Mobil to still drag its feet because of all the Western oil majors it is sitting on the largest proven reserves of crude oil. Shell and BP are producing faster than they are finding new resources, which threatens their share prices. For them, the gradual migration to biofuels is a matter of corporate survival, not environmental do-goodery. Their marketing departments just like to spin it that way.

From what I understand, all the oil companies pump more than they find to an average of 1 barrel found as proven reserves for ever 2 barrels pumped. Those are very round numbers, but they illustrate the problem.

Matt:

The only way is to find a more carbon-neutral fuel that can run on those 500 million cars. Biobutanol, for instance.

It seems reasonable that they should look for US wide regulation rather than a state by state approach.

The main thing is to reduce the amount of C02 released which jars a bit with the Oil companies' basic mission.

There is so much waste in affluent countries as cs1922 says - it should be easy to get it down by say 30% without dropping people's standard of living at all.

Beyond that thengs might have to change, but not by much. Just drive smaller cars, fit CFL's turn down the AC/heating etc.
You can do a lot with CFls and underwear.

Tiered fuel charges would be very hard to implement - how would you set the tiers - by Household, by person in a household, by adult etc etc.

Probably better to just have carbon taxes across the board. No exceptions.

Even this is not enough as people will pay an awful lot to keep driving and most people cannot change their cars just because the price of gas has gone up 30%.
It will take 5 to 10 years to refresh the nation's car stock.

I think it will take a stick and stick approach - carbon or fuel taxes (like we have in Europe) and fuel efficeincy standards.

On the bright side, the government will earn loads from fuel taxes - they just have to get reelected.

Thomas, how much is a litre of gasoline in Denmark ?
It is currently about 1 Euro in Ireland - mostly tax (and the same for diesel).
How much purchase tax do you pay on buying cars ?
We pay 22 - 30% + 21% VAT in Ireland.
hence cars are expensive (!)

This is just to help those in the USA realise how cheap motoring is in the USA.

- and to understand why diesel is so popular in Europe.

Ya politicos in america are already freaking out at the fact gas taxes are gona go to hell in a handbasket as alt fuels take over.

As for the oil companiesas always they make exactly about 9.5% profit. They have always made roughly that amount.