Forbes: Exxon "Green Company Of The Year. WSJ: CFLs "Probably" Save Energy Over Incandescents

[hatrack]

:wtf:

Excuse a brief rant about what seems to be a rise in ridiculous cover stories and op-eds. Apparently, the only way to get printed these days is to say something that makes 'counterintuitive' seem quaint. No, you have to go all the way to crazy-town. This kind of nonsense is happening on all topics (do I even have to mention "death panels"?), but in my wheelhouse, I've seen some doozies in the green world. A couple cases in point lately:

1) Forbes Magazine declares Exxon the Green Company of the Year. The basic argument of this piece is that Exxon is the world's best producer of natural gas, which is lower carbon than coal. That alone apparently makes the company "green."

2) An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today declares that switching to compact fluorescents is not worth it because of "bad lighting." The core absurdity: "Will some energy be saved? Probably. The problem is this benefit will be more than offset by rampant dissatisfaction with lighting." Really? Cutting energy use and expense 75% for each bulb changed probably saves energy? And it will be outweighed by lighting concerns?

What makes these kinds of arguments so dangerous is that chunks of the discussion are logical and well-thought out. Those are the flowers growing out of a turd of argument. But gullible people will latch onto the most ridiculous claims and just remember those.

EDIT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-winston/exxon-is-green-cfls-proba_b_272640.html

[n2doc]

1. Bizarro world. They live in it. n/t

[Nihil]

6. I don't really care about them living in it ...

... but I am really p*ssed off with them taking us into it as well!

:grr:

[TheWraith]

2. (Bangs head) nt

[Turbineguy]

3. A huge company

that is slightly green is going to out-green a small company that is all green.

As for the WSJ Op-ed: Who around here would write for a Rupert Murdoch-owned fishwrapper?

[XemaSab]

4. I've been boycotting Exxon since I was 12

and I will continue to do so until my dying day. :patriot:

[NNadir]

5. On the question of CFL's, which dominate my home, it's not always a slam dunk on carbon dioxide...

For what it's worth, I did some direct calculations elsewhere:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/8/185552/4950">Um, My Compact Fluorescent Bulb Is Hot. (Places and Times NOT to Conserve Electricity.)