BP: Beyond Petroleum

What if oil companies don't even believe in the future of oil anymore?

This is not just any oil company I'm talking about. This is one of the multi-billion oil majors that is starting to invest in alternative energy sources. To be exact: $8 Billion per year (according to them), which is really considerable if you look at what they make per year: $22 Billion income (according to wikipedia.org).

Think about what that means for the oil industry and what it tells about the oil reserves.

Read up on bp's webpage about this.

Wind Energy as an Investment in Niagara

I thought I would quickly report on a little observation I made some time ago. Whenever I drove through Vineland I noticed what look like a wind testing tower just up the escarpement in Niagara. I finally had the time to stop and ask about it, and in fact it is a testing tower that has been standing there now for almost 3 years, recording data about the wind.

Mark (of Mark's Automotive) owns the tower and it was really interesting to talk to him briefly. As I understood he never intended to put up a turbine, he' was simply recording the wind up on the escarpment to sell the data (which he did). He resold the tower and it seems as if the investment paid of for him. He referred me to a guy called Ken Baigent who he calles "the number crunshing guy" behind this project. I'll contact Ken soon and see what more interesting things we can find out about wind energy in Niagara.

With some luck and the work of some business savy people we might see a wind turbine erected right outside of Vineland in the Niagara region.