Well, that is encouraging! (Even though, I must admit, a part of me is suspicious of what they will actually do with any knowledge they gain...will they try to make huge profits, or bury it?).

Back in the seventies, many of us believed that practical solar power was just around the corner.....but here we are into the next century, and still no wide spread usage of solar....but I remain hopeful.

BP Solar has been a player in the photovoltaics (PV) business back to the time when I was working as a systems engineer for Solavolt International (a Shell Oil-Motorola joint venture) in the late eighties.

ARCO Solar was also a big player, and it, too, was an oil company outfit.

But whay are you surprised? The oil companies know as well as anyone else that the supply of hydrocarbons is limited and it will cost more and more to make it available as time passes. Don't think of these guys as just "oil" companies; they're energy companies, and they want to have a piece of whatever energy is sold to the consumers in twenty, fifty, or a hundred years. That's how they make their money.

Interestingly enough, in the late seventies/early eighties, when the PURPA legislation was passed mandating tax credits, etc. for alternative energy producers, the oil companies thought that they needed to get a handle on PV. This was why they set the PV R&D companies up in the first place.

What happened is that they learned that PV simply can't compete with cheap hydrocarbons, even with tax breaks, and there wasn't much money to be made in building PV systems. So Shell did the sensible business-case move and bailed. The other oil companies did the same, or sold their interest to other outfits, or just scaled way back. Now that the costs are higher and the PV systems a bit more efficient, we're gettin close (but we're not there yet) to a price/cost crossover point where PV makes economic sense.

This is why the energy companies are getting involved again. No Secret Insidious Conspiracy, just common business sense.

This is the only company I've been buying gas from for a while now when I learned about their investments.

This is the LEAST harmless of all the companies. I've been pressing on another forum for everyone to buy from BP instead of companies such as EXXON.

BP is an acronym for Beyond Petroleum -- they are doing considerable research into renewable energy sources.

Off_The_Street is correct. They are pretty hot on it. It makes sense for a few reasons. In fact BP is currently the largest producer of photovoltaic panels in the world, or has been very recently. I think they actually bought Solarex (or one of the biggies) several years ago.

It is good for them. First, the technology is getting better all the time and eventually a truely efficent solar energy collection technology is going to surface. It may be by degrees or some breakthrough we can't predict. Second, don't you think a little better of that nasty oil company now that you know they are at least looking at more enviormentally positive technologies? Have you seen their commercials? That is certainly how they want you think.

BP is an acronym for Beyond Petroleum -- they are doing considerable research into renewable energy sources.

Actually it's British Petrolium although I suppose they might have legally changed it.

Yeah, it was (still is?) British Petroleum, but I get the impression they've changed it now after reading their website the other day.

Originally posted by Ambient Sound

BP is an acronym for Beyond Petroleum -- they are doing considerable research into renewable energy sources.

Actually it's British Petrolium although I suppose they might have legally changed it.

They claim it's "Beyond Petroleum" in their TV adverts.

Ah, thank's for confirming, it was beginning to annoy me []

Just out of interest. Why do people think BP (and other oil companies) are evil? Remember, they only make lots of money because we let them do so! and if they wern't there we'd be screwed. You've just got to appreciate that they are in such a profitable business.

Originally posted by glastonaut
They claim it's "Beyond Petroleum" in their TV adverts.

- After they became privatised they became much the same as any other big corporation, they are no longer a 'state' company, they are answerable only to their shareholders and to a lesser extent their customers therefore will present themselves in whatever favourable light they like to attact custom.

Nice to know that the concept is alive within them and their business though.