Am I jaded in thinking that buying petroleum and doing good for the environment are NOT concurrent actions?
I mean, I say this as an as-of-now car owner who does buy petroleum, albeit grudgingly. I have no illusions about my gas purchases. They are NOT eco-friendly. I do it about once a month, grudgingly, sadly. Then I buy carbon offsets as a step toward undoing the damage of my reluctant gas purchases.
Where am I going with this? Let me back up. A “new” kind of gas station’s opening up in LA. It’s called Helios House. And according to the job descriptions HH’s been putting out on Craigslist, it’s all ’bout being green (the eco way, not the money-grubbing way): “Not your ordinary gas station, Helios House is an innovative and green information station, built in an eco-friendly, sustainable way.”
Dave over at blogging.la reported on Helios House a few days ago, with much skepticism. Though Helios House has no website as of yet, clearly, it’s a part of bp, whose greenwashing tactics I wrote about here.
We could argue forever as to whether bp’s making green strides or not. What’s undisputable is this: A gas station’s billing itself as innovative and eco-friendly.
Why the new name? Greenwashing will only get you so far — but rebranding can get you farther! Helios House is bp’s ad agency’s effort at PR repair.
Not sure when it opens, but it’ll be at Robertson & Olympic –
Update, 2/23/07: Helios House is supposed to open today –
Yo Siel,
Just thought I’d let you know that you are the first and only link in the “greenie links” blogroll that I just added to my own brand new blog (http://beeractivist.wordpress.com). Now that my book is out (have you received your copy yet? - if not I’m gonna start thinking the mail carrier is stealing them!) it’s cool to have a blog as my creative outlet for writing.
Cheers,
Chris, a.k.a. the Beer Activist
Comment by Chris 'Beer Activist' O'Brien — January 14, 2007 @ 4:26 pm
P.S. Your blog is the main source of inspiration for my own decision to hit the blogosphere.
By the way, about your car woes, have you ever considered getting a scooter? I ride a Honda Metro - does me good as an alternative to driving a car, though in LA it might be tough finding routes that don’t include high speed highways. My scooter has a 49 cc engine, which means I don’t need a special license for it nor do I need ANY insurance. But it also means it can legally only go 35 MPH, which means it’s not legal on highways. You can, however, remove the gadget that limits the speed and I’ve heard you can then reach 45 MPH or so. You can also get scooters with bigger engines that go faster and are legal on highways, but they also require a motorcycle license and insurance. Oh, and there are also some electric scooters out now.
One more thing - I think what BP has been doing is to be lauded. Are they eco-angels? Hell no, but they are doing mroe than anyone else and they started taking environmental considerations more seriously sooner than any of the other big oil pig-dogs. I’m really curious about the Helios House now. I haven’t heard about it anywhere else except from you!
Cheers,
Chris
Comment by Chris 'Beer Activist' O'Brien — January 14, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
The only way a petrol station that only dish out fossil fuel to be environmental friendly is to stop selling fossil fuel and instead tell everyone that drives in to stop using their cars and start selling bikes … or something along those lines …
Is it legal to claim that fossil fuels are environmentally friendly? I mean because it is a clear attempt to lie to the customers.
Comment by Johan — January 15, 2007 @ 2:25 am
Hey Chris — Still haven’t gotten the book. Any way you can send it to me directly? Yr publisher seems a lil not all with it –
Comment by Siel — January 15, 2007 @ 10:48 pm
Siel - crap! I must have given them the wrong address or something cause they’ve sent out hundreds of copies that’ve reached their destinations safely. Can you email me offline with your coordinates so I can double check? My email: beeractivist at mutualaid.org.
Comment by Chris 'Beer Activist' O'Brien — January 16, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
Re: BP — Greenwashing or not, they are one of the largest producers of reliable, high quality solar cells around. My family of five gets 90% of our electric from BP solar cells, and we would recommend them to ANYONE. BP may still sell more petroleum than anything else, but that an Oil Company can have the audacity to bill itself as “Beyond Petroleum” and put serious business capital in making and marketing solar cells, is more than I can say for Chevron or Mobil . . .
Comment by Roger, Gone Green — January 17, 2007 @ 2:47 pm
Let me make it clear that I DO think that bp is one of the better oil companies (I never, ever buy from Exxon, as I note in my monthly de-car-ing updates). I’m all for bp making solar cells.
But I still think that marketing a gas station as green’s oxymoronic. A gas station’s exactly the part of bp that hasn’t gone beyond petroleum.
Comment by Siel — January 17, 2007 @ 8:52 pm
In Chicago, BP has a gas station which gets some (all?) of its electricity from solar panels. It’s on La Salle Street just north of the mega-McDonald’s.
Between not driving much any more, and driving only short distances when I do drive, I may be able to get my next tank of gas at the new BP station when it opens (it also doesn’t hurt that it’s just a couple blocks away).
Comment by don hosek — January 19, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
I am a contractor working on this project and understand that this station is the beginning of things to change not just pumping petro based products. It is capable of doing alot more enviro friendly things than any other station I have been associated with. Also the building is very asthetic for a gas station.
Comment by Randy Inglis — February 21, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
For more information, please visit http://thegreencurve.com
Also, please remember, it’s just a start! Change has to start somewhere.
Comment by Hopeful — February 23, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Hey Hopeful — Your link doesn’t work. But was wondering if you might be more specific — A start to what?
Comment by Siel — February 23, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Sorry, it’s http://www.thegreencurve.com
And I was referring to a start in the right direction - a more environmentally aware and eco-friendly way of life! These types of changes do not happen overnight :)
Comment by Hopeful — March 8, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
I agree — It’s not overnight. Still, sometimes I get the impression that I’m supposed to clap wildly whenever any oil dude puts a soda can in the recycling bin. With great power comes great responsibility, no?
Comment by Siel — March 8, 2007 @ 10:18 pm
I applaud their efforts but feel it is necessary that they offer biofuels in order to deliver a truly consistent message.
Comment by lex — September 28, 2007 @ 5:58 am
I like how the billboard behind the building says “a little better.” (You can see it if you go to the webiste in reply #12)
I think that BP knows that pushing petrol out of a eco-friendly building is only “a little better.” But they are a company that makes a lot of money selling oil, so they arn’t just going to pull out of that business all of the sudden. Anyone who knows anything about the state of the environment knows that mankind is going to have to wean itself off of oil to survive (among many other changes), but it isn’t going to happen overnight. I hope that BP is at least trying to move in that direction.
And about biofuels…there are so many better things we should be pushing for. Most biofuel is not much better than gasoline.
Comment by Olivia — March 18, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
I live near this nifty piece of architecture that bills itself as “a little better”. The emphasis really is on the word “little”. I was a frequent customer of the Thrifty gas that used to occupy the same spot. When they closed down the Thrifty gas to construct the new bp I was excited, thinking that the future of alternative fuel stations was finally coming to L.A. the epicenter of the automobile. Being located in the middle of the ultra-chic Westside I thought what a bold statement from one of the worlds largest oil companies. Wrong! As far as I know there are no bp branded stations in the greater Los Angeles area, so this really peaked my interest, the future is hear I thought. Now I will certainly be looking into a Flexfuel, ethanol, biodeisel, car for my next vehicle purchase, maybe even a hydrogen car or car that I could swap in and out a standardized electric battery. Nope, just regular gasoline not even diesel. They wasted an opportunity and gave us the same thing just packaged differently. What a slap in the face as if to say, we recognize the global need for improving energy efficiency but we are not really interested in that, we just want the same antiquated products to look prettier and we want you to “feel” better about using them. I don’t buy my gas from that station in protest, I buy it at the Exxon across the street. A gas station that looks like a Frank Geary inspired H.R. Pufinstuff titanium tree house complete with magic mushroom mood lights, what a waste of talent and money. Save the big bp marketing dollars and build us the next generation of fueling stations with real alternative fuels next time. On a recent trip to Oregon I stumbled upon a real futuristic fueling station with all different grades of ethanol and biodiesel, It also had a real “living roof” on the store part and solar panels on the fuel canopy, organic self serve soda fountain and an array of locally made sustainable foodstuffs and other green products. How hard could it really be to build such a thing? Check out http://www.sqbiofuels.com/ . I call that “a little better” not just a little more colorful.
Comment by Mitch E. — July 10, 2008 @ 2:38 pm