A reader helpfully pointed out this video from the Rainforest Action Network taking Chevron to task for greenwashing itself with its solar panel testing facility, Project Brightfield. Chevron was ranked No. 1 on today’s Top Ten Players in Green Energy, in part, for opening Project Brightfield.
The hosts of Greenwash of the Week, say that “The Energy produced by project Bull$*#@ will go directly to… the Kern River Heavy Oil Extraction Facility.” They find this appalling.
So, Chevron isn’t moving into solar?
Of course not. That’s not the point of the test facility nor was Chevron advertising itself as a green energy company.
As Chevron’s Jerry Lomax told us in March,
We are looking for technology that we can integrate into our different operations, refineries or oil and gas fields and support our core oil and gas businesses.
The point is not for every oil and gas major to become a green energy company. The point is for them to use their R&D to find different models to make green energy work.
Perhaps it goes without saying that prior to the installation of solar panels at this facility, Chevron was powering this extraction with… fossil fuels!