How To Market Alternative Fuels 101
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01.25.07
We wonder what our marketing friends at Seth Godin or PSFK will say about Terror Free Oil,- that's a name that will drive business! Opening in Omaha in February, it is the first of a chain of stations from the Terror-Free Oil Initiative , dedicated to encouraging Americans to "buy gasoline that originated from countries that do not export or finance terrorism." and "We are also looking into creating a healthy debate concerning alternate methods of fuel production and consumption." It is a startlingly graphic demonstration of how security is trumping global warming when it comes to energy in America- as the New York Times said in an article today: "The intertwined goals of developing domestic energy resources and reducing global warming gases are not necessarily in step with each other....while all kinds of domestic energy technologies are being advanced in the name of energy independence, most of the money and attention are still focused on the dirty but cheaper standbys: offshore oil, oil sands and coal, in all its various incarnations, from straight out of the pit to black-coal liquid. “You have fossil fuels competing with renewable fuels,” said Benjamin Kroposki, a senior scientist at the Renewable Energy Laboratory. “Renewables lose every time.” Via ::Myninjaplease
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Uhhh...oil is a commodity, brokered and delivered from all over the place, mixed into pipelines, blended in trucks and so on. To fully segregate it would take a chain of custody process and cost a lot more, unless of course it was biodiesel.
This guy was on Fox this AM, and he admitted that he couldn't guarantee that all the gas he pumped was from the US and Canada. He basically said that he's getting his supplies from Sinclair, which gets its supplies predominantly from the US and Canada.
He didn't mention anything aboutt any ethanol, even though he's in the middle of Nebraska.
Of course, this is going to be impossible to do on an affordable scale, and in places remote from US supplies, this will be impossible.
Some consumers might get a good feeling from buying gas at a place like this, but let’s face it, oil is oil. In order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil from sources that we do not like, we need to reduce our total energy consumption and that simply means changing driving habits. I understand that people don’t like change, but driving less is the only real solution. To make that a reality in the US, we also need to address the infrastructure that we have built that makes living without a car difficult. That will take some long term planning; there really is no quick fix.
Though the people at Terror Free Oil may very well have the best intentions, to me this idea sounds more like a marketing gimmick than a solution.
See today's LA Times headline for news that Americans have already begun serious alteration of their driving habits !
You know this is just going to contribute to the smug problem.
...and it's right-wing Smug ! Steve Ducey couldn't stop chirping about this on Fox and Friends. Good for HIM ! Thssaanks !
The problem with this plan is that oil is fungible. Also this is doing nothing to get America off oil so we will just need more and more. This is Nebraska, they have a lot of corn.
Sweet, terror-free oil! I guess that means US oil is also out then.
Canada and the US have and continue to finance terrorists, rebel groups, and oppressive regimes. One person's peace fighters are another's terrorists.
Thank you for your interest in Terror-Free Oil
The www.Terrorfreeoil.org site has a number of free 'corner banners' that you may find interesting for use on your Treehugger. See -
http://www.terrorfreeoil.org/cb/
and they might just give you an insight into the driving motives behind the organization too . . .
"buy gasoline that originated from countries that do not export or finance terrorism."
Last time I checked "W", "The Fool on the Hill" or what ever you want to call that idiot in the White House was the biggest terrorist on earth so I beleive that leaves out USA home grown oil also.