Jun 26

As BP Goes, So Goes Business

Mindset, The Ends - and how they are justified No Comments »

As the horror unfolds in and throughout the Gulf of Mexico region I see a bigger issue that permeates business in general that goes to the core of how and why there are millions of gallons of toxic oil and gas flowing into the planet’s oceans. BP is not alone. Most businesses, including the one I work for, act in the same way. How? To deliver a product or a service, one uses vendors, suppliers and outside consultants to patch together all the necessary pieces and parts and processes needed to come up with the end product or service delivered. BP is the consumer facing entity. In their case, with the Deepwater Horizon drill rig calamity (I won’t call it an accident because it was an accident waiting to happen), they utilized products and services from:

  1. Transocean – offshore drilling operator (owner of the oil rig)
  2. Cameron –  manufacturing of oil/gas industry equipment – including the blowout preventer that failed to close the well head
  3. Halliburton – oilfield services operator – including cementing the drill hole walls
  4. Hyundai – builder of Deepwater Horizon rig in 2001

Source of this list

BP bears the brunt of the scrutiny because they are at the top of the product food chain. The dilemma they face is shared across the business world. That dilemma is counting on the consortium of third party entities to provide products and services, which are integral to the production of the resource they bring to market. How do you, as the company that provides a product that relies on myriad of third parties, hold those parties accountable? This is a question at the forefront of my mind. Blame this question on my mindset. How one goes about obtaining the objective trumps obtaining the objective itself,  (see my earlier post about The Ends JUSTIFIABLE by the Means at http://bit.ly/chzxAD2).

Now, this question assumes, as an executive in a multinational corporation, or any company for that matter, you believe the buck stops with you.  The buck being the results or performance of the third party product or service needed for you to bring your product to market.  This question doesn’t compute in mainstream modern day capitalism. When the oil hits the water, finger pointing emerges. Safety, including backup systems cost money. Is safety, which includes redundant backup systems to cut off oil at the well head during an emergency, a design specification of the Leasee of the oil rig? Apparently not.

If you only do what you have to be told to do to protect the biosphere from unintended consequences, you are not doing the right thing, you are doing the expedient thing. Backup systems are insurance.  99.9% of the time, insurance is not relevant. BUT, one can’t claim on an insurance policy that is NOT in place. At the end of the day, it is a gamble. This calamity proves the point that the mindset running mainstream enterprise today is fatally flawed and not in tune with the realities we find ourselves going into the second decade of the 21st century.

Capitalism is an economic system, plain and simple. It  lacks morality, and any sense of focus on the bigger picture of the greater good.  So, it is by design we are experiencing a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, in day 67 as I write this. In the event of an emergency, it only takes one time for the single threaded safety shutoff system to fail to wreak significant havoc. The gamble was taken, and everyone is losing.

Conscious Capitalism, as it is called, brings deeper purpose along with a sense of expanded stakeholders lead by conscious leaders. It is a new way forward. It is evolution of the human spirit and the spirit of creation. Creation and commerce with purpose.

If not your company, who- if not now, when?

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Jun 20

Massive Solar Energy Spill?

Resource Musings No Comments »

Driving home recently I spotted a great billboard. Great you say- how can a billboard be great?  Yes, I get it that billboards aren’t great- but sometimes the messages they state are.

“When we experience Massive Solar Energy Spills- we call it a Nice Day”

The same could be true for Massive Wind Energy Spills, or Massive Tides, or Massive Water Flows (staying within the banks of the river, of course).

The play on words here points out the significant amount of energy that our planet has in the form of clean renewable sources of sunshine, wind, and flowing water- be it tidal flows or flowing rivers. When this type of energy  ”spills”, it is nature being nature.

The amount of untapped energy our planet receives each day is incredible. That energy, in the form of sunlight drives our weather system which drives the water cycle and movement of heat around the globe

Everything is powered by the Sun. Everything. The ancient stores of carbon (fossil fuels) are stored solar energy. Fossil fuels are ancient stores of carbon that at one time was plant life that got trapped and decayed over countless millions of years under significant pressure in geological forms that kept the material from escaping.

I read somewhere that the amount of solar energy in 1 gallon of gasoline is something like 200 years. Question then is, how far does your vehicle take you to consume 200 years worth of solar energy that is packed in to that gallon of gasoline?

We can and do live with massive solar energy spills. In fact, most people prefer to experience a day that is nothing but a massive solar energy spill. We love sunny, cloudless days. We expect them when on vacation.  The cleanup of this type of spill is capturing the sunlight and converting it to energy (electricity or heated water). It is kind of ironic that renewable energy is energy spilling all around us. Our harnessing of it is fleeting at this point. Capturing solar energy by using solar panels on a roof is a bit anemic in regards to the total amount of energy that spills over the entire neighborhood, town, state, country and hemisphere.

It is a paradigm shift to move forward away from oil and gas – the bounty of stored solar and towards renewables – harnessing the bounty of present solar.  If the planet can drive weather and current and water systems with the sun, we can use it to drive our lives.

Tagged with: • • • • •
Jun 06

The Disturbing State of Oil Production

The Ends - and how they are justified, Uncategorized No Comments »

The ongoing calamity in the Gulf of Mexico is disturbing in so many ways.

1- The inability of BP to effectively stop the leak one mile under water. I trusted the oil industry to take great care in exploiting the bounty of resources the Earth has available for human consumption.

2- Our  government’s inability (or disinterest?) to hold BP accountable and force BP to perform real, effective and immediate action to stop the leak. I too trusted our government to have the public’s best interest at heart in permitting oil companies to pull oil from ever more remote areas of this country.

3- The loss of so many families livelihoods in the fishing industry and in a growing number of communities-  the tourism/vacation industry. These livelihoods are in congruence with the values of protecting the ecosystems and environment.

4- The unknown and long term consequences of millions of gallons of oil and gas being released into the marine ecosystem. Make no mistake, BP nor our government is going to clean up the millions of gallons of oil and gas escaping into the marine environment.

5- The probable inability to do anything about the millions of gallons of gas and oil that have and will reportedly continue to escape into the marine ecosystem that DON’T make it to shore OR don’t make it to the surface of the ocean.

What seems obvious to me from absorbing the media attention to the leak is as BP has been incompetent in stopping the leak, there technical ability or interest at this point is to capture a small percentage of water free oil from the leaking wellhead and pump it to a tanker.  The last 7 weeks has shown us they are clearly unable to cap the wellhead. This proves to me there has been no engineering effort THAT HAS BEEN REQUIRED TO BE TAKEN to protect our ocean and shorelines from failures of deployed technology 1 mile beneath the ocean surface. This is morally apprehensible. It indicates a blatant disrespect for me as a consumer and citizen as well as for everyone else that shares a worldview expecting industries that exploit our natural resources to do so with the utmost care and respect for the ecosystems from which they operate in.

I have thought of many ways to capture all the oil that is escaping. My focus on capturing the oil and gas is focused on encapsulating all the oil and gas and surrounding water using a mylar type synthetic wrapper to guide the oil and contain it as it rises to the surface. The assumption I have is it is not possible to fully cap the crippled wellhead. If oil is going to escape, contain it so it doesn’t make it’s way into the marine environment and guide its movement to the surface inside a pliable and very strong material probably reinforced by metal wire that is secured to the sea floor and rises the full mile to the surface. All the contained material can then be REMOVED from the ocean by pumping into tankers. The unintended consequences of this are probably many- and not being an expert I am sure this idea has many flaws. The cost is probably exorbitant to do this. Charge me more money for gasoline if you have  to because it is the right thing to do.

What is different between my point of view and that of the oil industry and their supporters is how they view the world and what is acceptable and not acceptable in taking resources we should be using more wisely than we are for the sake of our children’s children. For them it is a business and therefore it is just about the money. Their PR firms can attempt to tell me otherwise, but I and many others can’t be fooled.  For me, it is about HOW they go about exploited our planet for the benefit of all- not just for the dividends and returns for their shareholders. In situations like this, the true colors, motivations and values of a company come to light. My move has been to never give BP  a dime because of how they disregard valuing HOW they do what they do. Your move BP (Bellowing Petroleum).

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May 10

Ends Justifiable BY the Means

Resource Musings 1 Comment »

We are all familiar with the saying:

“The Ends Justify The Means”

How you get to the end result is immaterial, irrelevant and not important to the fact the result was obtained.

That paradigm is corrupt. It lacks morality, integrity, and respect.

The paradigm I resonate with is:

“The Ends are Justifiable BY the means”

This worldview turns it all on its head. HOW we get to where we want to go, the actions taken, the resources used, the process undertaken IS of paramount importance and justifies the ends obtained. I find this approach to be moral, respectful and holding integrity.

As consumers, we can take this paradigm into the marketplace. We can vote with our dollars. Tens of millions of us are doing this every day. What we choose to consume and who we choose to consume it from, speaks to the values we hold.

Take this mindset and apply it to the devastation taking place in the Gulf of Mexico and the habitats within and around the Gulf.  Our consumption of fossil fuels has consequences. How every drop of oil is obtained is of paramount importance. The means matter. While BP has the responsibility to stop the leak and clean up the ecological devastation that is unfolding- I too have a responsibility as a consumer to the fact I consume this substance. I question the longterm consequences to continuing to grasp onto this paradigm.

The less I use, the more our grandchildren will have available to them. The less I use, the less demand there is to pump the oil from areas that pose risk to the natural systems that deserve to remain unspoiled. This is not leaving the world a better place. Turning the page to start a post fossil fuel chapter of human existence is an end that is in need of means that can justify it.

Tagged with: • • • •
Feb 02

E-readers vs. Paper Books – Green Your Choice

Resource Musings No Comments »

For Christmas this year my wife gave me a Kindle – one of the new “e-readers”. Being the technology junkie that I am, and knowing how much I enjoy reading, she thought this was a match made in heaven and was very excited to give it to me. She told me that all the information she had read on the Internet stated that e-readers were more environmentally friendly than paper books. I do admit that I like the Kindle but in my own research on the subject of e-readers vs. paper books, I found the information somewhat lacking, so I am going to give you my own take on the subject.

Both have impacts. Both are resource intensive to produce. There are arguments on both sides claiming that each is better than the other from a resource impact standpoint.

Instead of making a claim of which is better, I instead will point out what is rarely pointed out in the great debate of e-readers vs. paper books – a list of what is involved in the manufacturing of a book and putting it in the hands of the reader and what is involved in manufacturing an e-reader and the e-reader infrastructure needed to supply its user with content.

A lot is involved to produce everything we consume today- including books and e-book readers. Consider this a technologist/green-loving guys’ public service announcement…

It is from the pragmatic realization that no one will be swayed from reading paper books to becoming an avid e-book consumer if they value everything about a paper book. My goal is to have you make new choices in how you consume paper-based content. For the techie folks who love electronic gadgets and wholeheartedly embrace electronic content, my goal is to offer you a new paradigm on what to consider in consuming an e- reader and its content. Whichever one you choose it should be done with an eye toward doing so with the least impact.

A look behind the cover on the steps to print a book

Book production

  • Materials for ink production
  • Wood extraction from forests for paper production
  • Transportation of raw materials to manufacturing facility
  • Paper production
  • Ink production
  • Book manufacturing – printing and binding process
  • Transportation to warehouse/distribution/shipping facility
  • Buyer transportation to the bookstore or delivery – processing and resource usage to receive shipped book

A look inside the e-reader – what it takes to make an electronic reader and provide access to digital content

E-book production

  • Materials extraction and mining
  • Transportation of raw materials to processing facilities
  • Manufacturing of components and parts (case, electronics, storage, battery, screen)
  • Transportation of components and parts to factory for assembly, testing, packaging
  • Transportation to warehouse/distribution facility
  • Sale processing and shipment to retailer
  • Buyer transportation to purchase device or delivery resource usage
  • Electricity consumption from use (direct and battery charging)
  • Electricity and resource use of e-book store infrastructure
    • Electricity to run and cool the Data Center
    • Usage of  and impact of using WIFI and Internet network or cellular carrier network used to send Econtent
    • Server resource usage to store electronic copy of book and run ebookstore
      • Don’t forget the resource impact on the manufacturing of storage and computer systems used in the overall system delivery chain of reader and electronic content

Okay, so it’s pretty obvious that both platforms have an impact and use significant resources as part of the production and transportation of the product. Like I thought, I convinced no one to switch allegiances. Let’s then focus on the mindset best geared to reducing the impact of your preference.

Best practice – paper books

  • Frequent your local libraries by bike or public transportation
  • Reuse – buy a used book, sell it back when you are done
  • Buy a book made from recycled paper
  • Buy a book using paper from certified forests (specifically the Forest Stewardship Council)
  • For every book you buy- go to ecolibris.net and balance your purchase by planting trees on your behalf

Best practice – e-book

  • Only consume Ematerial exclusively – stop buying hardcopy whenever possible (continuing to consume hardcopy content when Eversions exist defeats the purpose of any impact advantage an e-book reader would have)
  • Power the device off when you aren’t using it
  • Use renewable energy to charge the e-reader
  • Sell, gift or recycle the e-reader when you want to replace it
  • Choose a future e-reader based on the least comparable impact it has from a materials, manufacturing and electricity use standpoint

There is even more detail to go into regarding HOW to do some of these things. Ask me how and I will help figure out the best way to do it with the least impact.

With the recent news that Apple is entering the ebook reader and ebookstore space, it makes this debate even more relevant. If the success of iPod’s and iPhone’s are any indication, millions upon millions of people will be putting iPad’s in their hands and consuming ebook content.

Happy reading.

Tagged with: • • •
Dec 20

The Red Herring of Hydrogen

Resource Musings No Comments »

Proponents of the hydrogen economy insist that hydrogen is the straightest path to the promised land of sustainable energy. But hydrogen has its opponents too, more than any other of the prominent renewable strategies.

For starters, hydrogen is not a source of energy — H2 is a carrier. Nor is it natural, like, say, the sun, or the wind, or the power of a waterfall. The beauty of hydrogen energy is that its byproduct is clean, drinkable water. Can’t beat that. But its inefficiency – current technology often uses more energy to create hydrogen-based energy systems than the system yields – still needs to be resolved.

An upstate New York hydrogen fuel cell company that seeks to penetrate the residential market – that is, equip homes with individual hydrogen fuel cell systems – relies on natural gas to unleash the hydrogen. That seems like two steps back for one step forward. It might be. In fact, if the market was to take off today, it the company’s wildest dreams were realized and they sold millions of hydrogen fuel cells to millions of residents and commercial buildings, well, then, we just might end up using more fossil-fueled natural gas than we do now. Maybe not, but it’s certainly not a road we should be going down given that it looks a lot like the road we’re trying to exit.

However, it’s not a mission we should entirely abort. Particularly since there is science that might be able to resolve the most troubling part of the hydrogen equation. For example, we can build renewable systems to harness the energy to produce the hydrogen. Still sounds like we’re chasing our tail, and we kind of are, but this tail-chasing has a potentially promising outcome.

MIT researchers have worked out a way to use sunlight to pull hydrogen out of water.  They separate H2 from water using solar panels. So H2 gets created during the day and stored in a fuel cell. At night, the electricity is created from H2 running through a fuel cell, combined with the oxygen “waste” created during the day, which creates a byproduct of water. The water is now the feedstock that starts the process all over again when the sun rises. This closed loop – energy tail-wagging – is an exciting prospect.

What we need to keep in mind is that energy is neither created nor destroyed. It’s a constant. It changes states, or transforms, but it doesn’t disappear. Take oil and natural gas for example: when these fuels are burned during the combustion process to make electricity, it produces heat to turn a turbine. The energy byproduct, or the transformed material, is carbon dioxide plus a few other poisonous gasses. We only recently learned – last 30 years or so — that these carbon-based fuels have consequences. And now we find ourselves in a climate and energy crisis, with few people understanding the severity of the crises. And even if they did: we know smoking causes cancer, but that hasn’t stopped the western world from lighting up. It’s all too addicting to suddenly stop now.

Dec 18

Our Children, Their Future – What Government And Parenthood Have In Common

Politics, Resource Musings No Comments »

Society makes choices. Collectively we move forward or we don’t. There is no inherent gurantee our future will be a better one. It is all based on the choices we make individually that role up
collectively to where, we, as humans on this magnificent planet, build the future we create based on our actions today.

Government is a collection of people — some elected, some appointed — who pay attention to where society is going. Government is not inherently bad. Though there is a common mindset that this is so.

Buzz words like “big government” and “socialism” sound the alarm. Yet we take the work for granted and miss the point: like our roads, police, public schools and universities, the public library, water and sewer, and on and on.

I liken government to parenthood and the society as a whole as the children. Some things need to be done for our own good. Unwieldy children don’t want rules, think they know everything and can do without the parent (government).

Hence, we have rules (i.e laws). If people could be entrusted to do what’s right for the greater good, then we’d need less laws. But that, unfortunately, is not the case.  Teenage children are invincible and feel immortal. There level of maturity is questionable at times. Should a 16 year old be able to
stay out with friends till midnight or later? Should we condone teenage drinking?

We can all do a lot as individuals to make a difference in this world. Those of us that take the responsibility each of us have for our consumption and the fallout from that consumption. Basing your purchase decisions and lifestyle on the value of minimizing our impact on the ecosystem that sustains our existence. It matters for our kids. How we live today, the decision we make in the here and now effects the future more profoundly than most of us can comprehend.

As individuals we can do a lot, but only so much. Leadership can steer us in the right direction and bring society economies of scale by encouraging behaviors that enhance society and our ability to increase the chances of a resource plentiful future.

Our current trajectory is not guaranteeing a resource plentiful future for our children and those that will follow. Those that work to discredit the messengers and confuse the public and frame the debate in favor of do nothing when it comes to climate change are the unruly teenagers who prefer to not be parented.

The free-market economy — more like economic anarchy — does not inherently move the economy and culture toward the best interest of the people or culture. It moves blindly, driven by profit, not the interest of people or the planet, usually seeking the lowest commom denominator to maximize profit. With the right nudge from government, the market can shift to a desired direction, while maintaining the spirit of the free market.

Government, then has the moral obligation to make hard choices. To see the bigger picture and long term benefits for a better tomorrow. Just as parents make the hard choices in raising their children. The child might not like the discipline the parent envokes on their child — but it is in their best interest they do.

We cannot change the past, but we can know the past. We cannot know the future but our actions today shape the future we will have.  Action to change how we move ourselves and the goods that make up our economy,  how we build the buildings we live, work and play in and the consumption of resources to heat and cool these buildings, not to mention the food production systems are all needed for our collective best interest. Not for today, but for your kids and their kids, and on
and on, down the line of future human existence.

Oct 07

Beyond The Payback Trap

Resource Musings No Comments »

Everything in America is assigned a value. If it’s not a commodity, if you can’t put a dollar value on it, then it has no value.

I can’t ever remember getting in a conversation about my solar panels without someone saying, “What’s the payback?”

Now of course I know what they’re asking. But my wise-guy tendencies prompt this kind of response:
“The payback is I love it;”
“My wife and I feel good about ourselves;”
“We enjoy learning about the system, following improvements in the technology, following new legislation and watching stories on the news about solar developments.”
“ It’s become a passion and a hobby.”

Well, those answers do not go far for everyone, though it does for some.

What about the expensive sneakers you splurged for? Or the dress that you’ll probably wear only once? Or the new skis you bought? Or the convertible car? You just got your house painted, though you’re not moving for at least 10 years.

Where’s the payback for those things? Why is it no one asks?

The irony though, with the solar panels — unlike the items listed above — is that there is true payback. I’ll probably make back the money I spent on solar panels in about 10 years or so. And then after that it’s all gravy, and I can imagine the cost of energy in 10 years.

My “payback” will increase every year. As energy costs continue to go up, my savings will grow increasingly.

But back to the core of the issue. Some of us feel it is immoral to consume resources that cannot be regenerated at the pace that humans are consuming them. For me, and others that believe similarly, this is the place where I want to spend my money. This is where I want to invest. I’m interested in spending the money so that I can live better now.

I believe we’re robbing from our children right now. We’re pushing into the corner our next generation, who may face astronomical prices for energy. Our entire country might be restructured by time my kids are grown up, because of the energy we exhaust today.

I will spend money to live better now. Fortunately, it so happens that the better I live, the less I have to spend. But that is by default, and not the driver for me. In fact, pretty much no other investment in the home saves you money, other than resale value.

My living better is better for the world

If you don’t feel the same way, you may never. But if it comes to you, you’ll know when it hits, and there will be little you can do except learn more and act, regardless of “payback.”

Tagged with: • • •
Jun 21

Why Do Today What We Can Put Off…Indefinitely?

Resource Musings 2 Comments »

It’s not that I have a bad attitude, I am just seriously blown away by the idiocy I see in the marketplace. What idiocy am I talking about? The perpetual denial of energy depletion and the long term climate effects of our lifestyles today and over the past 50 years.

Price Chopper, a local grocery chain in Upstate NY recently unveiled a frequent buyer program that rewards customers with subsidized gas. It is called Fuel AdvantEdge. For every $50 spent at this grocery store, the shopper saves 10cents PER gallon of gasoline at local Sunoco gas stations.

I don’t begrudge the average family that welcomes this program as a means to make ends meet.

The bigger picture problem I have is Golub Corporation is perpetuating the unsustainable energy addiction situation we find ourselves in. We had an opportunity to address this in the mid 70′s when the Middle East oil exporting countries took advantage of the increased oil imports the United States purchased after domestic continental oil production peaked in the beginning of the 70′s by cutting supply which increased prices. The geopolitics of the time including the world currencies removing themselves from the gold standard didn’t help either. How many of us remember the lines at the gas station and even-odd rationing that went on?

We chose as a society to ignore learning any lessons from that situation and we let the oil companies solve the problem by “Drill-Baby-Drill”. Off shore drilling became common-place and oil imports, according to T. Boone Pickens, are today just under 70% of the oil we consume. This is up from 20% in the early 1970′s. Today we export $700 billion a year to import this oil.   President Nixon, in 1970, stated that we would reduce our oil imports from the then 20% to 0% by 1980. That clearly didn’t happen.

The page needs to be turned. How? Stop subsidizing the addiction with our tax dollars and marketing enticements from local grocery store chains. Face the dilemma head on. If you USE LESS gasoline, you will SPEND LESS money.  Enticing the public to ignore their behavior  it is like offering drugs to drug addicts. When our collective behavior changes, the results will change.

What have I done about my behavior?  In 2004 I purchased a Prius and in 2005 I purchased another Prius. In 2008 I had a 5 Kilowatt Lithium Ion battery (by Hymotion- http://tinyurl.com/4ylvjo) pack installed in the 2005 Prius. The 2004 Prius gets 50MPG. The 2005 is now getting around 80MPG. The electricity to power the 5Kilowatt battery, which lasts between 30 and 40 miles is charged by roof top solar panels. My lawn mowers since 1991 have been rechargeable battery powered (either by Black and Decker (http://tinyurl.com/yv5h7h) or most recently by Neuton (http://tinyurl.com/kuo96y).

There are other pages to be on as a society. Doing things they way we did things because that is how we do things is putting off till never what can be done today.

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