Thoughts on Energy, Water, Social Development & Sustainability

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Travel Mug is a Friendly Idea

Like millions of other human beings I too am a caffeine addict. But I try to restrict my intake just in the form of morning coffee. Well, that's actually how it started until I got hooked on to it. Now, I step inside my favourite coffee shop, wherever I can find it, about 3-4 times a day atleast if not more.

Recently, one morning I stopped for a coffee along with a colleague of mine when she actually went ahead and bought a travel mug. I asked her why and she said because she always uses one and prefers to get her coffee in her mug. Again, out of curiosity, I asked her if it tastes better in a mug. The answer was not quite what I had expected. I was waiting for her to say "yes" so that I get an excuse to buy one myself. They look cool, don't they? Sorry for the digression - but her answer was, "No". That's when I couldn't resist and asked her one more question, "Why would you spend $10 to get a mug when you can get it in a disposable cup?" Just as I was asking the question the obvious answer came to me. And that's exactly what she said. She didn't want to waste paper.

Alert and Thinking
Putting it all into context, I ran a few numbers quickly. My favorite coffee shop chain may be selling between 1.5 to 2.0 billion paper cups annually. That number in itself was mind boggling and big enough for me to become a convert. I am glad that the coffee company realized the impact it has on the environment. So they introduced 10% post-consumer recycled fiber in their cups and sleeves. The difference it made is substantial, which is highlighted in the figure on the right. Imagine a world where we don't have paper cups at all in just this coffee chain alone. It would:

Save atleast 780,00 trees from being felled,
Provide 6400 homes a total of 580 billion BTUs of energy,
Avoid 470 million gallons of wastewater, and
Prevent 30 million pounds of solid waste.

These are huge figures, that doesn't count the other big places where we as consumers waste paper getting out water and sodas in paper cups. Think about it the next time you are out to grab a cup of coffee. The environment may be safer with you buying a travel mug.

Did I just waste $10
So you just bought the idea because you want to have a little impact on the environment because of your coffee drinking habit. Well done, you say to yourself and head to get the $10 travel mug only to have a last minute revelation that you are actually getting robbed. That's what I thought too only until I did a little math.

Bringing in my own travel mug saves me about $0.10 cents everytime I buy a coffee. With my consuming pattern of 3-4 coffees a day, it'd be just a month of so before I break even and almost get a tavel mug for free. It's not a bad proposition, if you ask me. And let's not forget that I also contributed 100 less paper cups to the trash cans.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Save Energy in Offices

A few months ago I was browsing through my picture gallery and wondered why I took so many of them, late at night, not of people but of high rise buildings. That is because there's something about tall buildings, well lit from inside against the dark sky that fascinates me. That's when I started noticing that residential towers start to turn dark as the night progresses but corporate America almost never have their lights turned off. Look at the picture on the right, the bulding on the near right is an office that is lit when the two towers to the far left are starting to turn dark as the night progresses.

Just last week I was in an office space trying to turn the lights off so that a powerpoint presentation could be better visible. It turned out that there was no switch on that floor that'd do it. This was an 80 storey building and seeing the lights on late nights from outside on the street, I suspect that this is how most of the floors would be. Now I realize that it's not the hard working employees putting in long hours but the outdated and inefficient electrical systems designs and layouts that make the metro skylines beautiful at night.

Inefficient and Outdated Lighting Systems

What surprises me is that in this day and age these building engineers can't program their lighting systems efficiently and install intelligent sensors that would turn the lights off when no one's around. Imagine the benefits this could reap if high rise corporate America can take a few little steps. The power saved could be used to get the chillers ready for being used next day to cool the buildings, putting less load on the grid during peak temperature hours. Or it can be used to cool down the server farms that are now consuming more power than ever and growing at an astounding pace, around the globe. Most important of all, the money saved in electricity bills can be donated for charity, or to investments in alternative energy sources.

Image Polishing

It is not long before people like me along with other environmentally conscious, hopefully like some of you, will start to realize that the real belivers and caretakers of the environment are the ones who think and act genuine, who innovatively try to reduce the negative impact they have, and who take steps to conserve the precious resources we've got. It is or will be very obvious

that no matter how much media you get on your side highlighting your getting on the environmental bandwagon, it'll all be seen as image polishing steps unless basic attitudes and habits are changed and demonstrated. Turning your offices dark at night can be your first step towards a greener world.

How can you Help?

So the question now is who can take steps to do something about it? It certainly should be the facilities managment staff of these big buildings. But even before them, it's people like you and I who can make a difference. Turn your office lights off when you leave for home. Shut down whatever you can before you leave for home, including monitors, TVs, table lamps. And spread these good habits around. Talk to your friends and co-workers and influence them to do the same.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Corn Hangers - Promotionally Challenged

A few weeks ago I wrote about Walmart's initiave to turn green. On my last trip to Walmart I wandered in the clothes' hanger section out of curiosity to see how the product range has varied since my last visit. To my surprise there wasn't much change. But it was good to see the corn hangers have a decent space for themselves, albeit a little lower than I had expected. Yes, they were in a row that was about at the knee height of a person of average height; a place where it was not quiet as noticeable as it it ought to be. Another thing that made it a little less attractive was the pricing. Can't blame Walmart entirely for it. At $3.xx for a set of 5 hangers it was about 3 times as expensive as the all plastic ones which were $0.99 for the same number. I guess, the technology is still expensive.

Missing from the Website
Another area of improvement is the placement of the product on the Walmart website. This

product doesn't show up in the search result for Featured Items. I guess, it's the price that makes it a lesser candidate to show up on the site. At Walmart price is the biggest differentiator, afterall.

Made in the USA
All said, the sight of those was wonderful and pleasing. Specially, when I read "Made of 100% Corn", "100% Compostable" and the big and bold, "Grown and Made in the USA".

Walmart website image is from www.walmart.com and the image is edited with the text box and text, "Where's the Corn Hangers, Mr. Green?".

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Nau Open - For Positive and Substantive Change

In a previous blog about Walmart's green intiative ( http://udairaj.blogspot.com/2007/01/greenwalmartcom.html ) I had written about cloth hangers made out of corn. To take the concept a little further down and closer to your body today I am glad to write about clothes that are made out of corn.

Nau, an apparel business, has recently announced opening new stores in Boulder, Portland, Seattle, and Chicago. These stores, which will open by April 2007, will be the first for the company.

It has launched a line of clothing, both indoor and outdoor that is made out of corn and recycled soda bottles. Moreover, they have committed to contribute 5% of every sale from their point of sale process to an environmental, social, or humanitarian charitable organization, which are preselected. Every customer has an option at the time of purchase to select an organization of their choice to make their donations to.

It is impressive to know that Nau has an environmental inclination while designing material and clothes. They recommend line-drying, not ironing, avoiding dry cleaning, and a cold wash. Just think about how much energy and water we'll all save if we all followed these practices. Well, don't worry, if Nau gets popular, very soon it'll be a trend.

And just when you thought, 'what about after my clothes wear down', Nau is ready with the solution. They have an afterlife program for clothes. Give it back to them when you think you have worn it enough. They'll ensure that it doesn't end up in landfill somewhere. Slick, isn't it?

Nau's website is: https://www.nau.com/homepage/index.jsp#/homepage/index&0

Image is from Nau's website.

Friday, March 02, 2007

DestiNY USA - Dream too Ambitious?

How often does it happen that people draw business plans and invest their time not just for material gains but for improving the world around them. Not very often. And that is because the road for common good is not as simple as the road for personal good. Sadly that's exactly what happened with the DestiNY USA project; the road was bumpier than expected.

DestiNY USA?
DestiNY USA? Yeah I know. I Had the same reaction the first time I heard of it. Name sounds like a philosophical offshoot out of a socio-economic research at some ivy league. Suprisingly, it is quite the opposite. It's a name that Robert Congel chose to name his 'monumental' gift to America. In concept, DestiNY is a huge theme park that will not only transform the local economy of the surrounding regions of Syracuse, NY but will also be a live example of eliminating dependence on fossil fuels and will drive innovation in areas of renewable energy, sustainable design, building systems, transportation, and lifestyle technologies.

Economic Transformation

250,000 new jobs

$65 billion in new taxes generated over 30 years

Independence from Fossil Fuels

100% fossil fuel free vehicles

100% water reuse

Innovation Powerhouse

3-D design and simulation for construction

R&D Park

Using these innovative techniques Bob Congel's dream is an 800 acre waterfront recreational theme park that has 6 million sq. ft. of glass covered paradise under it with 4000 hotel rooms.

Problems

Recently, the project has run into rough waters. On the one hand there are concerns about the genuinity of the intention behind the dream, while on the other there are doubts about the technical feasibility of the project. There is no such building in the world as of today and none of the mega-scale projects have dared to even claim being as green as DestiNY is promising. The kind of consumption pattern that this theme park will generate once it comes up is also a matter of concern to some. In particular, the gas people will burn to drive up to Syrasuse, NY from different parts of New England and eastern Canada and the upper mid-west including flying from different regions is not going well with the sceptics.

Meanwhile, it seems that Bob Congel has diverted his attention back to his original business - mall construction.

Feelings and Frustrations

It is sad to see such a good initiative, which had the potential to change the energy generation and consumption patterns of this country, come to a halt, which leaves me wondering how the people of Syracuse feel. What are there feelings and frustrations they have about this see-saw with a capitalist and the government?

The website of DestiNY USA is: http://www.destinyusa.com/

Images are from the DestiNY USA website above.