Global Wandering

Camden worked all summer washing dishes at a local pizza parlor. His goal was to earn enough to buy a Nintendo Wii. He saved $300 so he was excited when the Wii came out earlier this week. Unfortunately, it has been sold out at all of the local stores. It has also been sold out online. Wednesday I randomly dropped in on seven stores in a larger Idaho town about thirty miles from here, hoping I might arrive just after they finished restocking their shelves. No Wiis.

Camden got word that a game store at the mall would have a small number of Wiis available this morning. An ad in yesterday's newspaper confirmed it was true. I do all I can to avoid shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. No sale item is worth fighting the crowds and the lines. One reason I moved to Idaho was to avoid that madness.

Still, Camden had worked hard and had been waiting for six months so we woke at 3 AM and drove to the mall, about 30 minutes away. My initial thought was to drop him off at the door while I went to Best Buy in case they happened to get some Wiis in stock. At 4:30 AM, the line at Best Buy was all the way around the back of the store. There had to be at least 750 people standing in the cold.

Every time I see a line that long I wonder why the people who are more than a hundred spots back believe there will be any of the bonus deals left? What motivates them? I’d go home discouraged if I was more than 20 spots back⎯especially if it was 23 degrees outside with 15 mile per hour winds like it was this morning

At the mall, the line by the door closest to the game store, which does not have a separate outside entrance, was more than 20 people deep. I fought the urge to drive home and instead dropped off Camden and drove to JC Penney. Because the game store was not scheduled to open until seven AM while JC Penney was scheduled to open at five, I hoped by cutting through Penneys I might be able to get to the game store before the crowd. The line at JC Penney was short. I was fourth. There were two women ahead of me who had who arrived at four AM to buy a lighted Christmas tree that was discounted $200. There was also a gamer who had the same strategy I did.

At 4:55 AM, the Penney’s sales associate opened the door. I was careful to let the women go first so they could get to their trees, and then I ran after the gamer to the front of the department store, only to find the exit to the interior of the mall appeared to be locked. A closer look showed one of the doors was open but it was blocked with women trying to get the free snow globes wrapped in pretty red boxes the Penney’s worker was handing out. I sliced my way through the crowd and ran after the gamer, who in the bedlam still managed to get his hand on a snow globe. Inside the mall, we were joined by two others gamers as we dashed for the game store’s locked entrance. I was fifth in line. Ten seconds later, the group that had been at Camden’s door arrived, panting. They were furious. Several had been waiting since one in the morning and they didn’t hide their disgust we had beat them to the store.

This brings up an ethical question. If the relevant line is at the front of the game store, does it matter what time you were at one of the mall’s outside entrances? It was too early in the morning to ponder those things so I held my place in line and hoped the store had enough Wiis for at least the first twenty of us.

The game store worker arrived at 5:45 AM, opened the store gate and closed it behind him. Apparently the store would open at six. Once safely in side, the worker said they had only five Wii systems to sell. A chorus of F-bombs rose up behind me. No one went home. Either the folks thought more game systems would magically appear or they planned on rushing to the front when the gate opened. I whispered to Camden to protect my back so I didn’t get trampled.

At six AM the gate opened, the crowd rushed as the worker yelled to form two lines, one in front of each cash register. I was third in front of the left cashier, but when I saw how slow she was being at ringing up purchases and that several of the gamers who were behind me in line were now at the right cashier about to buy the last of the five systems, I cried foul. I said they should only form one line. The store manager ruled that the only relevant line was the one at the front of the store, not the one outside the mall. He asked who were the first five people in line. Ten hands went up. The gamer who had been at the front of the line then pointed out who indeed had been the first five to the store.

Camden and I walked away with the Wii. He decided next time he would wait until there was an adequate supply of systems before buying. The intensity of some of the gamers turned him off. After all, it’s only a game.

Posted by jd at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

LaPriel and I watched Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth last night. I spent much of the day fact checking. One doesn’t have to spend too much time on the Internet to come to the conclusion that global warming is a reality and the primary cause for the up tick in global temperatures is man made CO2 emissions. Of course, I was already convinced about global warming prior to watching the film. It’s just some of the long-term global temperature and carbon level graphs looked too extreme⎯too much like a hockey stick. Yet a review of the sources for the graphs show they are reputable.

There are plenty of critiques of Gore’s slide show, but the ones I reviewed didn’t dispute the basic premise that global temperatures and CO2 levels are rising. Nor did they disprove the link between CO2 levels and global warming. Instead, their criticism is focused on whether certain environmental events, such as shrinking lakes and glaciers, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, and heat waves, are the result of global warming or some other factors.

I believe like most things these events are the result of numerous factors, not just global warming. Likewise, the models used to forecast future global temperatures and the potential impact are also subjective. But just because a model isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean the principles behind the model are flawed. The bottom line is global temperatures are rising. Man made CO2 emissions contribute to the increase. Rising global temperatures will have both negative and positive consequences, but primarily costly negative consequences due to the increase in weather extremes and displacements caused by rising ocean levels. The U.S. is the leading producer of CO2 emissions on an absolute and per capita basis.

I personally have seen enough evidence to take action, which is why I spent much of the rest of the day researching the Byzantine world of carbon neutrality.

In simple terms, achieving carbon neutrality means calculating the amount of carbon dioxide you generate heating your home, running your appliances, driving your car, and flying and then purchasing sufficient carbon offsets to cancel out your personal carbon dioxide production.

In practice, it’s not so simple. I sampled numerous carbon calculators and the amount of CO2 they estimated I produced annually ranged from 75,000 to 292,000 pounds. The wide variance seems to be due to how much I fly and differing assumptions on how much CO2 flying produces. All of the calculators indicated my CO2 production was well above average (again due to how much I fly).

The second part of the equation, purchasing carbon offsets, is just as challenging. What exactly are you buying when you purchase a carbon offset and how much should it cost?

The most established market for carbon offsets appears to be renewable energy certificates. Renewable energy certificates (RECs) represent the “goodness” factor of producing renewable energy through solar, wind, geothermal etc. A 1000 kwhs of power can be produced by burning high sulfur coal or through a wind turbine. The wind generated power doesn’t contribute to greenhouse gases and global warming. A renewable energy certificate represents the “environmental benefit” of producing that 1000 kwhs of power with wind. Of course, a certificate is only worth something if people place value on the environmental benefit of producing power in a renewable fashion. Some state governments create demand by requiring utilities to purchase or produce renewable energy certificates (through the production of renewable power) to meet environmental standards.

Likewise, individuals can purchase renewable energy certificates. Since a renewable energy certificate can only be created if a 1000 kwhs of power has been produced in a renewable fashion, when I purchase an amount of RECs equal to my annual power usage (in kwhs) then it is just as if all the electricity to my home came from a wind farm. When I buy the RECs from my local power company, they take the proceeds and purchase wind power for their customer base. Because wind power costs more to produce than coal generated power, the REC revenue offsets the higher costs. The sale of RECs demonstrates consumer demand for renewable energy, reducing the risk of building wind farms, making it easier for power companies to get financing for these capital intensive projects. This would all seem to be rife for manipulation and fraud except independent agencies certify that the RECs are indeed tied to the production of renewable energy.

A skeptic might say you aren’t really buying anything. It’s not tangible. But we pay higher prices for intangibles all the time. People are willing to pay more for a designer jacket even if the materials and construction are the same as the generic brand.

I place a value on renewable energy. I recognize it cost more to produce than coal so I am willing to buy renewable energy certificates. I also know the price of coal generated power doesn’t include the environmental costs from CO2 emissions. In my case, I have the added benefit of having a wind farm not far from here so I can see the result of purchasing RECs from my local power company.

As for the CO2 emissions from my travel, one kwh of power is equal to approximately 1.5 pounds of CO2. So once I decide what is the true amount of my CO2 emissions, I can purchase sufficient RECs to offset my entire CO2 production, and thus become carbon neutral. The only other wrinkle is to decide from whom to purchase the RECs. I noticed the providers all charge differing amounts. Here is a list of providers.

Posted by jd at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I like to travel, but I must admit after the last four weeks I'm ready to stow my bags and stay home for a while. Through the end of this week, I will have visited the following cities (not counting airport connections).

New York
Dallas
Seattle
San Antonio
New Orleans
Houston
College Station
Walla Walla
Portland
Chicago
Denver

Here are some quick observations:

Favorite meal: Restaurant August's tasting menu in New Orleans – I don’t even remember what I had but it was good, as always.

Ugliest Airport: Houston George Bush Intercontinental – the commuter jet terminals look like some failed Jetsons experiment.

Best hunting story: A client in New Orleans described his recent alligator hunt. He headed into the swamps and tied a rope between two trees. He hung chicken legs with disguised hooks from the rope. Alligators feed at night so he retired for the evening and returned at dawn to find some very angry gators dangling from the hooks. He ended the hunt with a 22 caliber rifle. Think about that next time you buy an alligator purse or shoes.

Favorite side trip: Visiting my niece who is attending her freshmen year at Lake Forest College. Beautiful campus. Makes me wish I had planned my college years more carefully.

Worst movie: Talladega Nights I never would have paid to see this movie, but it was playing on the airplane. I can’t believe people actually find this type of show funny. It was just stupid.

List of rental cars I drove in the last month that I can remember: Chrysler Pacifica, Toyota Corolla, Ford Mustang, Chevy Blazer, Chrysler 300, Pontiac Montana, Buick LaCrosse.

Posted by jd at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)