BP's Helios House: Greener than the fuel it sells
Last Friday the covers were pulled off of a brand new gas station on the corner of Olympic and Robertson in L.A. Dubbed the Helios House by BP, the Frank Gehry-inspired structure is what the petroleum producer calls "a little better gas station," referring to the earth friendly features built into the structure. For instance, the pump palace is composed of recyclable uncoated stainless steel triangles, the rooftop is covered with 90 solar panels and collects rainwater to irrigate nearby Environmental activists, however, are not swayed by BP's "green-washing", citing that the absence of alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel being offered at Helios House reveals a giant paradox with the facility. BP recognizes the inconsistency baked into its new building, and is considering adding alternative fuels in the future. As some activists point out, however, it's hard to criticize the oil company because at least the Helios House is a positive step, even if it is owned by what is traditionally considered an enemy of the environment.
Check out many more pics at LAist.com by clicking the Read link.
[Source: LAist.com, LA Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mitch E. 2:57PM (7/11/2008)
I live near this nifty piece of architecture that bills itself as “a little better”. The emphasis really is on the word “little”. I was a frequent customer of the Thrifty gas that used to occupy the same spot. When they closed down the Thrifty gas to construct the new bp I was excited, thinking that the future of alternative fuel stations was finally coming to L.A. the epicenter of the automobile. Being located in the middle of the ultra-chic Westside I thought what a bold statement from one of the worlds largest oil companies. Wrong! As far as I know there are no bp branded stations in the greater Los Angeles area, so this really peaked my interest, the future is hear I thought. Now I will certainly be looking into a Flexfuel, ethanol, biodeisel, car for my next vehicle purchase, maybe even a hydrogen car or car that I could swap in and out a standardized electric battery. Nope, just regular gasoline not even diesel. They wasted an opportunity and gave us the same thing just packaged differently. What a slap in the face as if to say, we recognize the global need for improving energy efficiency but we are not really interested in that, we just want the same antiquated products to look prettier and we want you to “feel” better about using them. I don’t buy my gas from that station in protest, I buy it at the Exxon across the street. A gas station that looks like a Frank Geary inspired H.R. Pufinstuff titanium tree house complete with magic mushroom mood lights, what a waste of talent and money. Save the big bp marketing dollars and build us the next generation of fueling stations with real alternative fuels next time. On a recent trip to Oregon I stumbled upon a real futuristic fueling station with all different grades of ethanol and biodiesel, It also had a real “living roof” on the store part and solar panels on the fuel canopy, organic self serve soda fountain and an array of locally made sustainable foodstuffs and other green products. How hard could it really be to build such a thing? Check out http://www.sqbiofuels.com/ . I call that “a little better” not just a little more colorful.
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Jro 2:17PM (3/01/2007)
i don't like how they're referring to the grades of fuel as "good, better and best!" what's good for one car isn't good for another. This may trick people into thinking if they put the "best" fuel in their cars, they will magically run better or getter better gas mileage. I'd also hate to see this gas station's reflection on a bright sunny, California day.
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TBlueMax 2:19PM (3/01/2007)
"the rooftop is covered with 90 solar panels and collects rainwater to irrigate nearby fauna"
Is the collected rainwater deposited in a trough for the nearby fauna? ...or are we thinking irrigation of nearby flora (i.e. plants). I haven't been to L.A. recently so I'm really not sure.
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bob 2:29PM (3/01/2007)
I drive by the area frequently. The place was shrouded with a covering that consisted of big silk screened grass bladed. I wasn't quite sure what they were doing until they unwrapped the place last week. It's quite a nice design for a gas station. If only they'd sell cheap gas. 87 octane has hit ~2.80ish here in L.A.
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Toufic 4:40PM (3/31/2008)
Welcome to the real world,, come to the UK and fill up, it now cost $4 per liter for unleaded. Crude is not cheap. an alternative fuel needs to be found fast both for the worlds increasing energy demand and fragile economy. In the mean time the cost will continue to go up.
bob 2:34PM (3/01/2007)
And one note about the harping by then environmentalist not happy that the place isn't offering atlernative fuels.
The environmental wackos won't be happy until there are no more gas burning cars and that that all the oil companies are out of business and their workers shot in the head and thrown into ditches to rot.
Why should BP offer alternative fuels when there are hardly any cars using them?
They will never be happy. I just hope car companies are able to extend the life of gas burning engines by making them more efficient and utilizing more of the wasted energy when gas is burned.
Honda is one company to look to as they are working hard to make gas engines more efficient.
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john 4:57PM (3/01/2007)
@1 - it's uncoated steel so probably not reflective. i'm sure they thought of that.
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BigTeebo 3:39PM (3/01/2007)
With all those triangles it looks like something out of the world of Tron.
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Vexorg 3:19PM (3/01/2007)
People just need to stop giving Frank Gehry money for architetural abominations like this.
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Phil 3:24PM (3/01/2007)
TBlueMax lol!
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ruggels 3:50PM (3/01/2007)
I'm with bob. let's be real for christ sakes. I work in land development, specifically writing documents like environmental impact reports to assure various projects comply with NEPA and CEQA, this is a wonderful step forward. Imagine if every gas station employed a sense of sustainability the way this one does. Give credit where credit is due, green architecture and a bevy of alternative fuels shouldn't be in the same context.
I oft wonder if anything is enough, say they did offer alternative fuels, what then, “well they just cost too much”. It’s a never ending cycle.
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Brian Reid 4:10PM (3/01/2007)
Check out the linked website for some free entertainment. All of the greenies are in such a tizzy that they're practically choking on their bean sprouts!
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Jim 5:00PM (3/01/2007)
Oil companies are quickly becoming energy companies, and they'll be around for a long time to come. So perhaps the 'environmental activists would get farther by saying 'Good first step, now lets try some alternative fuels', rather than complaining all the time about how evil oil companies are.
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Nathan 7:55PM (3/01/2007)
Has the world gone mad, Al Gore's house is an environmental mess and BP is trying to clean up it's act. Both superficial efforts if you ask me. Al's done more damage than good now if you ask me, continuing in a long line of politicians saying one thing and doing the other.
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r 8:10PM (3/01/2007)
cool
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rwdmtparkingonly 12:39AM (3/02/2007)
I do work for BP at a somewhat high level; it is not an energy company, it is an oil company (and also a petrochemical/plastics company, but many of those divisions are being spun off). This gas station is an example viral marketing, not of a shift in company policy.
87 octane is the "best" gasoline you can buy unless you have a forced induction or high compression engine, which is not the case for probably 90 percent of car owners. Read the inside of your gas door.
Maybe people stupid enough to fall for buying unnecessarily high octane gas deserve what they get, but we live in an incredibly complex world and people can't stay on top of every area of knowledge. Under other administrations the FTC would not allow this shit.
Even if higher octane gas was always better, this place does not sell E85, which, at ~105 octane, is the "best."
Companies like Tesla are finally threatening to take out this blight on society. The industry that corrupts international politics and weakens our position in the world, creates these ugly retail stations on every corner, and is one of the contributors to climate change.
Screw your long tailpipe theory, whatever is being used as fuel at the source of the electricity is more efficient than individual IC engines burning gas.
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Pixel 8:55AM (3/02/2007)
Are the employees with the tire gages checking the placards in the vehicles for the correct tire pressure for that particular vehicle? Are the quizzing the customers on how much they're going to have the vehicle loaded in case that changes the rear tire pressure requirements?
Because if they're just blindly filling tires to some arbitrary number, or worse to the "max" PSI marked on the tires, they are opening themselves up to a world of lawsuits for blowouts/accidents/rollovers caused by incorrect inflation pressures.
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Larry 11:27AM (7/09/2007)
The problem is Helios House is still a gas station and if Beyond Petroleum wanted to move in that direction (that is moving beyond petroleum) this could have been a great start. BP can afford to set up one station in the Car Capital of the World that sells altlernative fuels. There are enough diesels in town to warrant Bio-Diesel. There are only two or three places in all of LA County that sell bio-diesel. Even if flex cars are few and far between in LA having a place to buy E85 would showcase the fuel in Los Angeles. The only way to get beyond petroleum is to start moving in that direction on a large scale. While the building should be lauded..it could have been more.
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Micah Owens 12:22PM (3/09/2007)
When I found out today what Helio house was, my instant reaction was "what a sham".
I have to admit that I was excited to see the station as it appeared that the first publis alternative fueling station would be available in California. However, much to my dismay, this was not the case. BP, Chevron and the like would all benefit by investing in the E85 market not just through retail sales, but by investing in the production.
Regarding the comments that there are not many vehicles that use E-85. Fact: Any 4 cylinder to 8 cylander vehicle on the road today can be converted to run on E-85. The parts cost from $400.00 to $800.00. So you to cna run on corn, and BTW get better performance from your vehicle an increase your engine's lifespan.
I really think it is beyond sad that here in California we are years behind almost every state in the nation when it comes to alternative fueling stations. Not even one exists. So sad.
BP if you truly want to make a statement, eliminate the middl grade gasoline, replace it with E-85 and have your attendants trained with information that will really help the environment...have them trained to educate people about E-85 and how to make the switch.
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Ana Mano 10:33PM (4/01/2007)
Let's not take the wind out of the oil companies' sails here.
Somewhere, deep in the bureaucracy of BP, someone - presumably with plenty of things to do in her day - dreamed up the idea of Helios House. BP has acknowledged that Helios House is not perfect. And it's not a giant leap; it's a small step in the right direction.
My concern is that if all of the cynics become too vocal in their opinions, then we might be dissuading the oil companies' desire to make the world a little greener. And if there's anyone we need on our side, it's the oil companies. Let's humor them, bite our tongues and see how it all plays out.
Of course if all the contrarians out there would prefer to have the oil companies, like BP, focus on things other than making the world a little greener (perhaps like drilling in Alaska or raising gas prices), then speak up.
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