Food & Energy

I am going to pick up where I left off in the last post and throw some more food for thought from Michael Pollan's book. I have always maintained that Conserving Energy requires a more holistic approach as it is more than just the mpg of your vehicle. However, I never imagined the strong link between food industry and energy. Here are two ways by which you can conserve fossil fuels and do your bit to prevent Global Warming.

Try Vegetarianism

Every step in food chain involves inefficiency and the higher you eat on the food chain more inefficient is the process. For example, in today's industrialized world it takes a cow about 7-8 pounds of corn fat to produce 1 pound of fat. The meat industry's energy efficiency is further degraded by elaborate but essential processes like packing, freezing and transportation. Here is a detailed analysis of food energy by my friend - Transmogrifier. So am I suggesting everyone to become vegetarian? No. We probably don't have enough arable land to sustain a world full of Vegetarians. Besides, I am sure many cannot even think of a vegetarian gastronomic feast comparable to a medium rare centre cut filet mignon or southern style barbecued pork ribs.

However, would it be too much to ask to give up 1 meat meal a week? I have decided that from now on (call it my 2009 resolution), atleast once a week whenever I go out to eat, I'll choose a vegetarian option over meat. Its not a drastic change to my lifestyle, but even if everyone were to implement such a small change it would save thousands of barrels of oil annually and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. For those of you who think this small change is unacceptable, I would say its OK, but can you atleast make an effort to minimize the amount of meat you waste. Remember every ounce of meat wasted is like wasting 8 ounces of equivalent grain or cereal!

Eat Seasonal

When I was a kid, I remember my family would gather in the living room after dinner and my father would cut a certain fruit and serve each of us. In the summer, he would give us mangoes, in autumn grapes, in winter apples. Life was simple, you ate whatever was available in that season. I never craved for mangoes in winter nor did I crave for apples in summer. I contrast this to my present day situation where irrespective of which season I walk into the supermarket I can still get my favorite fruit. In some ways its a triumph of globalization that even in winter you can find asparagus (grown in Argentina where its summer) or Pineapples from Hawaii available in the supermarket. But as you would imagine, all these unseasonal non-local items leave behind a huge trail of fossil fuel consumption. Using the same argument as in the previous section, If we can all educate ourselves a little and try to reduce consumption of non-seasonal items by only 10% it can have a great impact on our carbon footprint.

If we can live with and accept snow in winter, fall colors in fall, and rain in monsoon would it kill us to shun asparagus on one winter meal or red meat on one hot summer day. I believe that more often than not people waste energy out of ignorance and not out of necessity. A little energy education will allow us all to continue with our lifestyles without making drastic compromises in the future.

I don't want to sound preachy, but if you liked this rant please forward it to your friends. In return, the Lord shall bestow you with some carbon credits :)

GOP - The Gas & Oil Party

President Bush has done it once again. Not satisfied with the havoc wrecked in 8 years of one of the most forgettable presidency in the history, he has decided to take one last salvo at pandering to an oil addict country by proposing to raise the ban on offshore drilling. Worse, he is also debating the ban on the Artic National Wildlife Refuge(ANWR). Only a few months before the election, the GOP is trying to fool the common man by giving a false illusion of falling gas prices and a future with copious oil flow. However, one only needs to look past the veneer of this preposterous idea to realize that this move only mirrors the current government's denial of the inevitable.

After a long time, the United States was finally taking positive toddler steps towards energy conservation, as they drove 1.4 bn fewer miles in April, while SUV and truck sales plunged 36%. Ford and GM closed their truck manufacturing plants, while hybrid sales hit new highs. The sudden surge in prices had also inspired countries like India to increase its gas prices by 10%, and China - the second biggest consumer in the world - to increase its prices by 20% to curtail demand. But it would take only one foolish legislation to negate this hardwork, and I am hoping that sanity makes comeback before this idea gets a strong backing by the beltway boys.

Even if the ban on offshore drilling were to be lifted, it would take 5-6 years, if not more, for the first drop of oil to hit the pumping station. It would do nothing to alleviate the current supply of crude oil. Free market Capitalists argue that this would bring down the futures price of crude oil and subsequently drive the gas prices further down. But in todays politically charged atmosphere, it just takes one Nigerian militant blowing up an oil pipeline or a crazed Iranian president's jingoistic speech to drive the prices back to their inflated levels. In short, a potential for increased supply is no guarantee that the crude prices will continue to stay down. The demand will continue to outstrip the supply, and the only solution is to pursue a dedicated approach to lower the demand. Everything else is a mere hogwash!

Depending on whom you listen to, the estimates of crude from ANWR and most of continental offshore will only suffice to meet 2-3 years of US domestic gasoline requirement. A major assumption here is that India and China will not continue to grow their local demand and eat away into this share. So once we are done with this 2-3 year regime (which by the way would happen 10 years from now), the problem would only revisit us. In fact some reports cite that when this additional oil will be available (say 10 years from now), it would only drop the gas prices by about 3-4 cents. It would do absolutely nothing to wean the world of oil addiction, and would only prolong the inevitable by a couple of years.

Instead of giving summer gas tax breaks, the government needs to start investing that money in alternative energy and giving subsidies to those progressive minded individuals who make conscious attempts to reduce their non-renewable energy resource consumption. Don't mistake me to be a far left liberal activist, I am not against digging in the ANWR. A few moose dying to reduce my gas prices doesn't alarm me. Besides technology has advanced to a state where we can safely drill and consume gas without harming the immediate surroundings in the process. The best example was the almost negligible spillage caused by the hurrican Katrina. But the decision to increase current oil supply while not investing enough resources to find an alternative is like subsiding the price of cocaine to a cocaine addict. Instead of making it harder for him to buy cocaine, and curing his addiction, the decision would only please him today by providing a quick fix, while conveniently ignoring the real malaise. The only solution to lower gas prices, is to raise it!

Think beyond MPG*

Consider 2 different personalities below

I. Joe Redneck grew up in a small super conservative town of Midland, Texas. Thanks to striking oil in his backyard, Joe reaped riches and soon moved to Houston. Now Joe drives a 10 mpg Hummer, lives in a mansion consuming MW's of energy. He does not care about the environment and doesn't believe in conservation of our natural resources. He never recyles and doesnt care about running faucets in his palace. He has never set foot outside Texas and is totally illiterate about other culture.

II. Allene Green, grew up in the super liberal neighbourhood of Berkeley, CA. He now lives in the city of San Francisco in a small condo and drives a Prius which gives him 50 mpg. His small condo is lit with energy saving bulbs and he utilies only 1 light at a time in his house. He recycles all the cans, and never uses a plastic bag. He takes public transportation wherever possible. He is a conservationist and a tree hugger. Allene is also a big fan of travelling, and makes several trips to international and local destinations every year and is very well learned.

After reading the first 2 stories, it is very easy for a common man to draw the conclusion that Joe Redneck doesnt give a damn about the environment, whereas Allene Green is 21st century thinker who believes in preserving the natural resources of this world. Yet if you were to do a complete examination of their lifestyles, you would notice that the fuel consumed by Allene's international and domestic pleasure trips well exceed that of Joe's Hummers consumption. For example Allene' last weekend round trip to NY and back was equivalent of driving Joe's Hummer for 1250 miles** - a feat Joe accomplishes in more than a month! Thus in stark contrast to your assumptions based on two extreme cases presented above, Allene's carbon foot print is actually much more than that of Joe's.

If this result startles you, read more. Allene also spends 10 extra minutes in shower compare to Joe....and pray how is the hot water heated? Allene also has a voracious appetite and eats more than Joe. All forms of food be it meat or vegetables need enormous amount of energy for harvesting, transportation and packing. These are just a few examples from our daily lives where Allene consumes more energy than Joe.

Saving energy and natural resources are not simple as the mpg of your car. It takes a more holistic approach. We all need to realise, that at certain level all of us are hypocritical. Some may be aware of it, some may be denial...but at the end of the day the only way to conserve our resources is to do our bit. It might be as simple as recycling, or keeping the tap running for 1 less minute, or consolidating your dirty laundry to wash them all at once instead of washing 1 sock at a time.

* MPG - Miles per gallon
** Assumption - SFO -NY roundtrip is 6000 miles @ 48 mpg.

Hubbert's Peak - The Impending World Oil shortage

I recently finished reading the above mentioned book written by Kenneth S. Deffeyes. Hubbert's Peak is a well known term which has existed in the industry for a few years, and a neophyte like me is only being introduced to it now. The absorbing book left me shocked and definitely much more aware of the energy problems facing our future generations.

M. King Hubbert a member of US Geological Survey (USGS) and an ex-employee of Shell Research Lab, made a rather prophetical and bold declaration in 1956, that the US oil production will hit its peak in early 1970, and the world oil production will hit its peak in this decade. His prediction came true when the US oil production peaked in 1970. A lot of mathematicians have followed on Hubbert's lead, and now predict the peak of World oil consumption to be around 2010. Hubbert's theory in its entirety has now been globally accepted, with very few criticism, and the only debate now is regarding the exact date of the peak.

A simple explanation of the mathematical derivation by Hubbert can be found here. The basic assumption underlying the math, is that most of the large oil reserves of the world have been discovered. Although, I still have tough time believing it, it can be easily proven, basis the geological mapping done by USGS and various other surveys. Infact 80% of today's oil still come from fields discovered before 1970. Once you agree that oil reserves are finite - 3 trillion barrels by the most optimistic estimate, it is just a matter of predicting the rate of production based on the demand. This is precisely what was done by Hubbert, using a gaussian curve initially and then correcting it with other fits.

So what does this mean? It only means that, soon, the world oil demand will exceed the production, and the invisible hands of economics will automatically cause oil price increases to maintain equilibrium. With energy starved countries like India & China only joining the race, the demand is set to sky-rocket, and in absence of viable alternative resources, the oil prices will definitely hit the roof soon.

I have always been a believer of technology overcoming human necessities to maintain things at equilibrium. I even believed that exhaustible natural resources will eventually be substituted by comparable human discovered/invented substitutes. However, given the current over dependence on oil at the rate of amortization of fossil fuels, it would take a discovery of epic proportions to overcome the impeding crisis.

The most effective ways to conserve and impact changes is through legislation by the government. However, at most times, politicians pandering to their electorate, negates the possibility of this occurring. This would then need to be overcome by induvialistic actions taken by progressive citizens. To take an example from the book, aluminum cost $200 per ton, but that is only $3 for aluminum ore and a whooping $197 for electricity, which is largley produced by non-renewable sources. A simple act like recycling, can make big inroads into the conserving electricity and prolonging the life of nonrenewable sources! Think people....think !!!

Oil swell that ends well !

Nowadays, it's hard to hold more than 5 minutes of conversation without passing a wailing reference to the high gas prices. 74$ a barrel, 3.30$ Regular unleaded at the pump and it seems like only a brash word from Ahmadinejad or another explosion by Nigerian Militants separate us from 100$ a barrel (5.09$/ gallon gas !!).

A lot of people complain that India & China have increased their oil consumption drastically and thus driven up the demand. People fail to realise that USA, which in terms of population is 1/18th of these 2 nations put together, consumes more than 3 times of the total oil consumed by these countries together. Infact the US consumption continues to rise at a healthy rate of 3% per year. While US has traditionally hogged a disproportionate amount of world's natural resources, China and India are only seeking their fair share. I think the problem lies not in Asia, but in freeways outside our houses. There is no better example of the criminal waste of oil than the car crazy city of Los Angeles. 12 laned freeways, bumper to bumper traffic, with 98% of the cars with only 1 person inside them. No wonder, Southern California pays the highest gas prices in the country ! If only people realised that prices could be brought down by reducing demand, and not just by increasing supply, we could do much better at the gas station.

Some blame ExxonMobil, and the oil cartel created by major mergers of the huge company. Raymond Lee, the Exxon CEO's $400 mn retirement package only ended up adding fuel to the fire. Last year Exxon made the highest profit ever by any corporation in the US History. Duh! It's a $370 bn company, even a moderate 9% profit is enough to break the record. Infact companies like GE, Citigroup, Apple, Google all operate with a much higher profit percentage. Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon, unabashedly claimed that his first priorty is to create value for investors, not to reduce gas prices. Welcome to the Capitalist Economy. Rather than blaming the huge corporations, people should introspect and think about the politicians they elect. People voted for Republicans, and they got what they asked for - a corporation friendly government.

I think rather than blaming all the external factors, we should start changing our habits and do our bit to curb oil consumption. Some of the habits that I have cultivated over the last 2 weeks, 1) Drive at 65 mph, instead of cruising above 70 mph - this will save atleast 2-3% gas consumption. 2) Curb your instincts on the freeway ramps. 0-60 mph in 7 s might be more fun than 0-60 mph in 9 s, but it also consumes more gas. Is 2 s worth it ? A simple calculation yeils that if I increase my mileage from 22 mph to 23 mph and drive the average 15,000 miles at $3 a gallon, I could save almost 100$ a year !!

Paper Cut

"Where do you keep the paper plates ?", I asked my brother, while holding a packet of Haldirams in one hand, and ransacking the cabinets with the other.
"Paper plates!", he exclaimed, "What do you need that for?"
"So that I dont end up spilling peanuts and chips all over your carpet", I replied, still searching for those elusive paper plates.
"Well I dont stack paper plates, and neither should you. Why waste paper when you can use regular plates and clean them.....", and he went on on lecturing about environment and energy. In my usual style, I started joking about this issue, and claimed that such tiny things are like drops in an ocean....till I came across this quote

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." - Mother Teresa

I had taken special liking to all the "use and throw" stuff readily available in this country. Paper plates, plastic spoons, knives and fork formed an integral part of my daily consumption. They were convenient, cheap, and made sure I never end up wasting time on a chore like washing my plates every now and then. Living in a country where 6% of the world's population consume 25% of the world's natural resources, I never regretted my actions.

However, a month ago, when I went grocery shopping, I forgot picking up a packet of these paper plates, and I ended up sending a week deprived of my daily dose of paper. But to my surprise, I faced very little trouble in adjusting to this new lifestlye. Its been more than 50 days, since I have touched paper plate/plastic spoon, and I am feeling really good about myself.

Even at work, I have started making an effort at printing only necessary information and using used printouts as rough paper and making a sincere effort to reduce my paper consumption. Does this effort change the world in anyway ? I hope it does, but even it doesnt...hey, it didnt change my lifestyle, so why not keep doing it.

A guy driving a 3.5L V6, guzzling a gallon of gasoline for 20 miles, should probably refrain from talking about natural resource conservation......but I was just wondering, if tiny changes to our normal day lifestyle could yeild significant results.