The critical point here is that we need massively increased energy and resource productivity, or as this Blog prefers, massively reduced ‘resource intensity’ to fit the One Planet Equation.
For two hundred years we have been removing ‘ingenuity’ from processes by continuously replacing people with fossil fuel energy. Energy Productivity is the key, we have plenty of people on the planet - the only renewable resource available that comes with ingenuity attached, which we criminally squander.
Have ya been to the post office lately or the DMV? How do you feel about waiting in bumper to bumper traffic for 40 minutes and finally getting to the source? Ever been held up by a road crew with a guy jack hammering and six crew members standing around sipping coffee? Have you ever sat in line waiting for one bank teller to help you wondering while three others over there are just chatting with each other? (Here’s a trick. If you ever need anything that involves a government employee to help you, try this. Find out exactly what time the facility closes and get there 5 minutes before closing. You will be amazed how fast the lines move when it gets close to closing time and there are still customers aka taxpayers on line.)
Bottom line: It matters little what number Obama throws out there –3 million, 4 million jobs created, saved, created and saved. Heck, he may as well have promised a trillion jobs, one for each dollar we print and spend.
What America needs is productivity. We need jobs that come as a result of free enterprise, free markets and capitalism, not free money. I happened to jot down the following quote as Obama spoke about the economy last week at George Mason University. Toward the end of his speech, he said, “We need to put money into the pockets of Americans.” What does Obama mean when he aims to “put money into the pockets”? Shouldn’t we focus on creating opportunity for Americans to earn money, start and grow businesses, build equity in homes, work, earn, live? There are ways better ways to build a solid economic foundation rather than sponsoring an unmotivated, unproductive work force that has little incentive to create and innovate.
Apologies for searching for these links, – while drinking tea. But the point is important, we have to recognise that everything we consume has a ‘resource intensity’, which must be eliminated or minimized.
This is the key – the necessary prime focus of our effort in the foreseeable future.
Perhaps if the searches happened locally I could use the heat to boil the water
11 Jan 2009 … About 1kg a day; 365kg a year; about 42g/hr; or a half hour Google search over a pot of tea. Running your computer off a bicycle dynamo … technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece – Similar pages -
Another example of the lack of understanding pervading our economies of the risks and possible costs of failing to do the ‘right thing’ and do it ‘right every time’ – of our failure to grasp that our ‘quality of life’ can only be improved by concentrating on improving the ‘quality’ of the goods and services we consume.
Factory workers making clothes destined for fashion chain Primark work up to 12 hours a day for £3.50 an hour, an undercover BBC investigation has found.
Supplier TNS Knitwear was also found to be employing illegal workers in poor conditions at its Manchester factory.
A previous BBC investigation found Primark contractors were employing children in slum workshops in India.
TNS has denied all the claims. Primark says it is “extremely concerned” and is carrying out its own investigation.
Primark is best known for its cheap fashion clothing and bucked the trend on Britain’s high street last year to make a £233m profit.
On its website, it claims to deliver fast fashion without breaking its ethical code or exploiting its workers, but the BBC has uncovered evidence that shows some of its manufacturers are doing so.
There are many misconceptions about electric vehicles and hybrids, mainly concentrating on perceived marginal fuel gains but we have to recognise that the ones on the road at the moment are purely early iterations of an ongoing evolution.
Whilst the technologies will bring greater economies, we also need to recognise that resources to give over two billion people in China and India the freedom of mobility we have enjoyed will not likely be available.
Most research effort and ingenuity needs to be invested in eliminating the need for mobility, then reducing the ‘resource intensity of mobilty’ – by amongst other possibilities, providing mobility as a service, rather than a product.
Any plan that sees the ‘Big Three’ as simply manufacturing companies, rather than integrated service companies is unworkable. Cradle to Cradle stewardship of their products is needed to maximize the value added to society by the provision of mobility; whilst minimizing the loss to society resulting from its creation, use and recreation. This is quite simply superb quality management.
For interested readers, here is a link to a letter of mine on the Toyota Prius that was published in two engineering journals in the UK, Professional Engineering and The Engineer, see sidebar for links.
GM To Open US Lithium-Ion Car Battery Pack Plant In Michigan
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES January 12, 2009: 11:10 AM ET
General Motors Corp. (GM) will establish the first lithium-ion battery-pack factory operated by a major auto maker in the U.S. to produce battery pack systems for its Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car.
GM is looking to the much-hyped Volt to do what the Prius hybrid did for Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) – give the auto maker a must-have technology while cultivating a green image.
Preparation for the plant, to be located in Michigan, will begin in early 2009, with production tooling to be installed mid-year and output starting in 2010.
Until GM’s battery facility is operational, Volt’s battery cells will be supplied by LG Chem Ltd.’s (051910.SE) Compact Power Inc. unit, which is based in Troy, Mich. A joint engineering contract with Compact Power and LG Chem is expected to speed up development of the Volt’s lithium-ion battery technology. GM has been testing battery packs for the Volt, powered by cells from LG Chem, for the past 16 months, with tests – both on the road and in the lab – providing “invaluable insight into lithium-ion battery technology.”
“The design, development and production of advanced batteries must be a core competency for GM, and we’ve been rapidly building our capability and resources to support this direction,” Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said during the North American International Auto Show, where the Volt concept was rolled out two years ago…………………….
After 150 years the World is coasting to the top of an oil curve but the view over the top is still obscured and we cannot see how steep the rest of the roller-coaster ride is
-whether the steepness of the useful energy curve will cause the car to come off the rails, or if we have the knowledge and skills to manage the transformational change required in societies and organisations to stay on them.
The aim of this blog is to bring together the knowledge and skills that will enable this tranformation. Your constructive comments are vital and welcome
