Wind Farm in China Is Mostly Idle

(03/08/2017) There is a famous sentence in the movie of Kevin Costner "Fields of Dream": If you build it, he will come. Now Chinese built a lot of wind farm and solar farm harnessing energy from Mother Nature, but nobody comes (from NY Times).

Several key problems in the alternative energy market in China: (1) lack of logistics shipping excess energy to the market of demand, (2) there is no marketplace trading alternative energy (and no clear guidelines for regional governments to work together), and (3) lack of infrastructure.

This video below is made before the dream becomes a reality. (ironic, isn't it?)

Conscious Innovation - Edible Six-Pack Rings

(5/19/2016) We have seen several pictures showing animal stuck in 6-pack rings. In the future, animals who are stuck with it may be able to rescue itself by chewing the ring. Saltwater Brewery makes the new 6-pack rings from their brewing byproducts (grains) and they are willing to share their innovation with big breweries.

Before animals got stuck for their whole life

Now, they can enjoy a good meal when stuck.

100-Mile Local Food-Sourcing? Think Again

(5/18/2016) Are you willing to pay more in restaurant for local food sourcing, organic food, or non-GMO ingredient? If so, this article (Farm to Fable-- At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction) will interest you and make you rethink again. It is an example of investigative journalism, which is very rare in modern days.

Many high-end restaurants claim their ingredients are from local farmers (and they normally charge a premium on that): the pork is from Farmer A, organic salad green is from Farmer B. There are several operational constraints that are too tough to pass.

First, many local farmers are small in scale and cannot afford to hire a professional account manager to handle all restaurants that 'claim' to be their clients. Most of these farmers have their produces handled by one or several distributors. They don't deal with so many restaurants directly.

Second,  if a restaurant claims the ingredients are from more than several dozen's suppliers, the complexity of inbound logistic, paperwork, and account management is way too much for a stand-alone restaurant to handle.

Third, if the restaurant claims ingredients are shipped 'directly' from suppliers, the transportation cost is also very expensive. Food ingredients have to be fresh, so let's assume there are two delivery shipments every week. So how many pounds of pork could a restaurant buy every time? 200 pounds? This volume will be shipped at high cost because the volume is too small. So who is paying the premium in logistics?

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/restaurants/

Replenish -- Green packaging

(3/11/2016) Shipping and logistics cost can sometimes be 20% or more on the total product final cost. For some product, water is also the heaviest element inside the product. Think of the coke, beer, tea, detergent .... Since the weight mostly determines the shipping cost, if we can reduce water then we can save some shipping cost. Now Replenish wants to change the packaging to this (see below), consumer just need to add right amount of water back to the product. Will business adapt it? Will consumers buy it?

Some may wonder, why should they still include the big container? Why don't they just sell refill packages? Well there are several reasons. First, the big container shows the exact portion of water (especially for those product that chemical mix has to be exact). Even if the product is not dangerous if the chemical mix is wrong, consumers often fail to follow instruction correctly. See the concentrated detergent example in the US (that's why eventually P&G designs Tide Pods). Second, small refill package looks less valuable and easy for stealth.

I guess is, "It's a good idea. But it will only be in a niche market for specific products." I don't expect that I will be able to buy Arizona Greentea concentrate and add water on my own.

Prototype of Replenish packing.

Supermarket Without Bees?

(6/17/2014) This news has strong and impressive message telling readers how a supermarket looks like without bees. "Last year, Whole Foods Market removed all of the fruits and vegetables dependent on pollinators from its produce section to create a striking visual of what our supermarkets would look like without these important creatures as part of its Share The Buzz campaign." The following two pictures are copied and pasted from HuffingtonPost.com. To know the before and after, go to the news.

Wind Power's Benefits

(4/4/2014) What are the benefits of wind power? According to American Wind Energy Association, "wind power has cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 4.4 percent."

"There are now 61,000 megawatts of wind power installed in the U.S., with turbines in 39 states. Another 12,000 megawatts of wind power are currently under construction, and power projects for which contracts are signed but construction has yet to start are expected to produce another 5,200 megawatts. AWEA says those additional projects should cut another 1 percent of power sector emissions, putting the country closer to the Obama administration's goal of cutting total U.S. emissions 17 percent by 2020."

Biodegradable But Not Popular

(11/26/2013) As consumers become more environmentally conscious, it is surprising a new biodegradable packaging is unpopular to consumer. Sun Chips (a brand of Frito-Lay, own by Pepsi) had its chips inside a new 100% biodegradable material in 2008. However, this new materials made very loud noises (see how loud it is here) that consumers repelled and the sales dropped 11% after new packaging. After 18 months of experiment, Sun Chips dumped this noise bags. In 2011, Sun Chips made another try to have a quieter bag. It looks like this time it works.

Coors Going Green

(6/28/2013) Doing green business is not that difficulty. Coors Brewery now can totally recycle the materials of their beer brewery and go landfill free! It says achieving land-fill free is "remarkably low-tech." I visited this brewery in a CSCMP conference tour to this Coors' brewery, it was amazing. Congratulations!

VA Will Punish Hybrid Vehicle Owners with New Tax

(2/21/2013) This is probably one of the most stupid proposals of transportation policy(Jones' Act too) in the United States. While scratching the transportation funding, the senate and the house of the Commonwealth of Virginia come up with a new tax: taxing $100 annually on the owners of hybrid vehicles. One possible reason, the hybrid vehicles use less fuels and pay less fuel tax to the states. Your must be kidding me.

2011 Traffic Congestion Cost - 2012 Report

(2/5/2013) This research is done by Texas A&M University. They do this traffic congestion survey every year, and each year it gets worst. Based on 2011's survey data, the US congestion cost is $121 billions. To the trucking industry, it costs them $27 for their wasted time and fuel. Since the US federal and local government did such a poor job for providing good public transportation or diverting people's driving, the worsened traffic cost will only come back to haunt everybody (from the upstream suppliers to the end consumers).  If you are interested in the full report, this is Texas A&M's webpage.

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Death Spiral? Chinese Car Obsession

(1/31/2013) China has overtaken U.S. as the largest car market. Owning a car is a symbol of social status in China even though driving in many cities in China is not a exciting experience at all. The traffic congestion in China is pretty well known (Look at this historical gridlock near Beijing in 2010). Recently, Beijing is experiencing severe smog for days. How bad was it? You cannot see the Sun in Beijing when you are in a sunny day (See CNN's report below). People say "The More The Air Is Polluted, The More I Prefer To Drive." Is it another new paradox smilar to Prisoner's dilemma or Paradox of thrift in the Economics?

Starbucks's Plastic Reusable Cup for $1.

(1/3/2013) Starbucks will sell you a reusable plastic cup with Starbucks' logo on it for $1. Bring it or your own tumbler to get Starbucks' drink, you get 10 cents of discount. Good for the environment, consumers, and Starbucks. Win, Win, Win.

Environmental issue of Pipeline

To be continued.

(10/4/2012) The following news is about the oil pipeline leaking in Michigan in 2010. The spill from Enbridge pipeline leaking turns out to be worst than we thought. Do you still support Keystone XL pipeline?