BP Solar Panels And The Green Oil Giant

BP solar panels are manufactured by the oil giant BP. This used to stand for British Petroleum but they now run under the name of Beyond Petroleum and have adopted a green sun symbol as part of their new environmentally friendly face.

The new "green" image has bee marketed heavily and they have capitolized on their relatively clean environmental and human rights record.

It is important to note that this is only relative to other oil companies such as Shell and Exxon; BP is only the best of a rather poor bunch.

The large amount of money BP has put into creating a green, future-conscious image has been a success for it in comparison to the efforts made by the Shell Oil Company. To some extent this is backed up by their operations, though there are some very large holes in their environmental credibility. The major pressing problems for BP at the moment are the recent disasters at the Texas City refinery in 2005 and the Alaskan Prudhoe Bay oil pipeline leak in 2006. Both these incidents are believed to have been caused by cost-cutting measures that reduced regular maintenance activities required to prevent disasters.

BP Solar Panels

Summary

BP panels are of high quality and have an excellent performance record. However, the dubious way in which BP has operated for the entire history of its existence as a company make supporting them through purchase of their panels a less than ideal choice. There are other manufacturers of crystalline solar panels that have equivalent quality and warranty such as Kyocera and Sharp. The price of panels from these other manufacturers are not significantly different from the cost of BP units and look to be a more responsible social and environmental choice. This will remain the case until BP sets out clear guidelines and timeframes for its transition to a renewable energy company, if this ever occurs.