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Arco gas stations recently (around 2001 December) began selling gasoline that produces less pollution! The new gasoline has reduced sulfur content. The cleaner gasoline is currently only available as Premium and only at Arco stations. According to Porltand, Oregon's KGW television station (on 2002 January 9), buyers of the new Arco Premium gas are not paying extra for the reduction in sulfur content compared to the previous Premium gas. The television station said the cleaner gas works just as well as the older version and does not harm cars. The television program says that BP owns Arco. According to the news brodcast, all US gas staions will be required to sell the cleaner gas by the year 2004. BP plans to have its stations converted by the year 2003!
If your car runs fine (with no knocking) on Regular or Medium gasoline, then it might be best to continue using that fuel instead of buying Arco's Premium. That's because federal government environmental sites say that high Octane gasoline produces more pollution than regular Octane gasoline. Premium gasoline tends to be of higher Octane. Therefore Arco's new Premium gasoline might produce more pollution than Arco's regular gasoline. However Arco's new Premium gasoline produces less pollution than Arco's old Premium gasoline.
See "Billions Wasted on High Octane Gas", by ABC News for a discussion of high Octane gasoline.
Exxon/ESSO has done little to promote renewable energy. Of the major oil companeies providing gasoline in the USA, Exxon is probably the least concerned about the enviornment. Whereas on the other hand Shell bought out Siemens Solar in 2002 April (see the Shell Renewables website and the former Siemens Solar website). But of all the major oil companies providing gasoline in the USA, BP (which merged with Amoco and later bought ARCO) seems to be the most concerned about the environment. BP seems to be the most committed about making gasoline cleaner burning. Since they bought out Solarex, they became a leading manufacturer of solar electric power panels. See BP Amoco confirms support for California Fuel Cell Partnership for more information. Several BP gas stations accross the USA are being fitted with BP/Solarex solar electric power panels on their roofs. The panels provide much of the energy to operate the gasoline pumps and lighting for the station. The CEO of BP has stated that eventually the oil companies must be in the renewable energy business if they are to survive. He even stated that hydrogen will eventually replace gasoline as an automobile fuel.
I noticed that in my local area, one of the ARCO stations now includes 10% methanol (presumably instead of MTBE) and sometimes ethanol in all of its gasoline. This makes the fuel cleaner burning while avoiding the alledged carcinogentic effects of MTBE.
If you currently buy your gasoline from non-BP Amoco/ARCO stations, I urge you to consider switching to BP Amoco/ARCO. Switching will reduce pollution and send a message to the oil industry that you expect them to transform themselves into renewable energy and hydrogen companies. If you are a shareholder of the oil companies, let them know how you feel about the environment. You can do this by supporting shareholder proposals that require the companies to support clean energy.
Update of 2002/10/2: It looks like a "Business Week" writer, Heesun Wee, has now reached the same conclusion that I did some time ago. In an article called "Can Oil Giants and Green Energy Mix?", Heesun Wee documents the greening of BP and Shell. Here is the link to the original source of the article.
Update of 2002/10/19: Greepeace has launched an international campaign against ExxonMobil. On 2002/10/19 the campaign ramped up in the USA with temporary shutdowns of one USA Mobil station and one USA Exxon station. Full details about the Greenpeace protest can be found in the article "Greenpeace Delivers Message: "Don't Buy ExxonMobil"". The artcile tells readers how they can get involved and it provides documentation of ExxonMobil's efforts to prevent reduction of global warming.
In the article, Melanie Duchin, Greenpeace Climate Campaigner, is quoted as saying "We are here today with a simple message - don't buy ExxonMobil products until they stop interfering with government action on global warming. It's time for concerned citizens to use the power of the pocketbook to force the world's number global warming villain to change its ways."
Be sure to read the Greenpeace Expose on ExxonMobil!
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