Is Big Oil turning back from wind and solar to focus on oil and gas despite carbon emissions?

(Photo of Shell station in Britain from Flickr and photographer Lee Jordan.)

News Update: Shell Oil pulled out of plans to build a large off-shore wind farm in the UK last week, sparking concern about the viability of the project, which could have powered a quarter of London’s homes. The company said it was selling its one-third share in 341-turbine London Array wind farm, casting doubts about the viability of the 1-gigawatt project. Another partner said it was weighing its options. The cost of the project had skyrocketed from $2 billion to about $5 billion, largely because of the high demand for wind turbines. Britian was counting on the project to help it meet its target of 20% renewable energy by 2020. Shell said it would continue to invest in onshore wind in the U.S., but a story in The Guardian questioned whether two oil giants, Shell and BP, were turning away from renewables to focus more on oil and gas, after ExxonMobil made the biggest profit this year while avoiding renewable investment. BP is cooling on solar, The Guardian said, and putting money into tar sands, after earlier refusing to do so because of the greenhouse gases emitted. Meanwhile, descendents of John D. Rockefeller, who started Standard Oil, forerunner of Exxon, pushed the company to begin investing in renewables, citing the dangers of climate change. Leading the charge was Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) (Sources: The Financial Times and The Guardian.)