The shift away from fossil fuels like oil towards reliance on renewables like solar will be decisive in many nations during the 2020s. By the end of this decade, the energy sources in use across the world will be far greener than they are today. There’s no controversy about this contention. Where common agreement becomes hard to find surrounds how soon such a shift should happen, and how many nations will have made a decisive shift by the end of 2030.
It is understood in this decade many nations and their energy providers will be in a “transitional” mode. To the minds of many eco-advocates, a good transition involves the scaling up of energy sources that are 100% renewable while scaling down fossil fuel sources. To others, they argue utilizing renewable energy to power fossil fuels can also assist in the transition—even if critics contend such a move is deeply unethical and problematic. Finding common ground in such a debate may be elusive, but it’s essential in the early days of this critical decade for green energy that all stakeholders are aware of its key perspectives.
Chevron Using Renewables to Generate Fossil Fuel
In April 2020 Chevron brought online a new energy project in California that has won the ire of environmentalists near and far. In the southern reaches of the Golden State, the American multinational’s Lost Hills location generates around 8,000 barrels of oil a day. Although true the most passionate renewable enthusiasts would contend in 2021 that number is 8,000 barrels too many, it is not simply the quantity being produced, but how, that has caused such consternation.
Thanks to a 29-megawatt solar installation, 80% of the oil field is now powered by renewable power. To supporters, such projects can serve as an important aspect of the gradual transition from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources. It’s also true Chevron is not alone in pursuing installations like Lost Fields, with at least two other projects approved for California alone in recent times.
There’s also the politics of these matters. In an international community that is more turbulent in 2021 than in any time during this century, energy security is becoming a more critical issue. Just as renewable advocates will argue this is yet another reason to shift to renewable sources located at home even faster, for many major oil-producing nations the rapid wind-down of their reliance on fossil fuel while other nations continue the status quo—and indeed signal they intend to do so for many years, if not decades to come—is a challenging area to win popular support on.
These factors notwithstanding, although more solar anywhere, anytime is surely welcome when their installation is used to help the ongoing production of fossil fuels, many feel such a dynamic misses the mark on contemporary attitudes. Also, that it does a total disservice to pursuing future goals on renewable targets, and combating climate change.
The Justification for Oil Production a Slippery Slope
Eco-advocates will bristle at the arguments in use to justify using renewables to produce fossil fuel. For anyone holding such a perspective, the notion that renewables aren’t a first option—and then find use as a support for the production of more fossil fuels—surely leaves a bad taste in the mouth. This is evident in the perspective of David Turnbull
, Strategic Communications Director for Oil Change International.
Using renewable energy in the generation of fossil fuels is at best putting lipstick on a very dangerous pig. There is already enough carbon embedded in existing fossil fuel projects to take us beyond the 1.5ºC global warming limit, so using technology to justify more mining and drilling is completely out of line with our climate imperatives.
—Mr. Turnbull told Solar Magazine.
“Big oil and gas companies already use solar energy to squeeze even more oil out of existing fields, through a process called ‘solar thermal enhanced oil recovery’. There can be no justification for using solar power to squeeze every last drop out of existing fields”.
Mr. Turnbull also held there remains a disconnect between what fossil fuel companies put forward in the public relations campaigns, and the reality of their energy production.
Only if the fossil fuel industry was fully committed and accountable to a sustainable ramp down of production in line with what’s needed to address the climate crisis could its use of renewable energy be significant. But, the reality is that the vast majority of oil and gas producers’ emissions are derived from their products being burnt. That’s where the focus needs to be.
“While the fossil fuel industry continues to aggressively pursue production at a scale that will completely cook our climate, we can only view the use of renewable energy in their operations as either shameless public relations or unfortunately ironic business sense to use technology that grows cheaper by the day. Using renewables for unsustainable production simply can’t be seen as altruistic or sustainable.”
