On BP and Renewable Energy

BP just started construction on a new wind farm in Colorado, according to Bloomberg, adding to the eight wind farms it already owns in the United States. The news has gotten little attention in the popular press.

The question going forward is this: Will BP ever be able to shake its image as the responsible party for the country’s largest oil spill? Beginning in 2000, BP spent millions to cultivate an image as an eco-conscious company, changing it’s name from British Petroleum to BP and taking on a new logo meant to conjure up images of clean energy. Their slogan became Beyond Petroleum.

Even before the oil spill, many dismissed the rebranding as an effort to hide BP’s identity as an oil company. Now, in the aftermath of the oil spill with hundreds of thousands still recovering in the Gulf, it seems that the company’s efforts to trumpet its renewable energy projects will fall on deaf ears.