Big Energy Company Makes Small Effort To Go Green
from the better-than-nothing? dept
As big energy companies jump into the green tech gold rush, some of them have faced criticism that their efforts amount to little more than a cosmetic makeover. Chevron's recent release of an online game in which players are asked to tackle the energy demands of a virtual city does little to soothe such critics. Chevron was beaten to the punch by Starbucks, of all companies, who launched a similarly themed online game back in April. Both companies state their aim to increase awareness of energy issues and encourage participation in the search for solutions. Judging by their investment of creativity into these games, however -- Starbucks' "Planet Green Game" is both more fun and more informative than "Energyville" -- the energy company has been soundly beaten on their own turf by the coffee company (even then, Starbucks' game won't be mistaken as much fun or brilliantly informative any time soon). Chevron appears to have realized that video games can be a useful tool to reach the upcoming generation of their customers and investors; it so happens that it is also this game-playing generation that will face the environmental, security, and economic problems related to energy demand. Unfortunately, Chevron's half-baked game is unlikely to generate any real dialogue, and, for critics, it certainly fails to demonstrate a serious commitment by the company to solving these problems.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: corporate games, energy, greentech
Companies: chevron, starbucks
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
My awareness is risen
This in itself is absurd.
Anyone who is not aware of the high cost of energy, the
need to conserve where possible and the deleterious effects
consumption exerts on the environment, must be living under
a rock.
This is nothing more corporate image buffing and it's not
even effective at that.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The only solution I can see.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
God forbid...
Here in America we have some real entitlement issues that have to do with our energy consumption. Basically we feel that it is our god given right to use as much as we possibly can afford and everyone else be damned. It's going to take a real attitude change before we can make any real progress, which is why we need fresh, innovative thinkers in positions of power to implement change. Games like this are doing their part to change the attitudes of the younger generations. We need fewer people making statements like, "This will never work so therefore let's keep doing things like we've always done it.", and more people saying, "This can work, we just need to work hard to figure out how." Change is hard, but it's good to hear that some big players are trying to help change people's attitudes. Now, if Starbucks would tear out their drivethrough windows and start putting up bicycle racks.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The Energy Construct
[ link to this | view in thread ]