11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
How SAP's Software Benefits Poor Rural Women In Ghana
To contact us Click HERE
First published by GreenBiz 2012-01-20
Fatima Abdulai is a wife, mother and the first link in the shea supply chain. The fruit she gathers in the northern Ghana bush is the source of shea butter -- the luxurious ingredient in cosmetics and chocolates.
Fatima Abdulai is one of millions of poor rural women who scrape out a living where they find opportunity. In Ghana, the opportunity is the shea nut. In other places, it may be cocoa, cashews, coffee, or hand-made goods. A small loan, efficient technology, and practical advice are the support these women need to help them maximize those opportunities.
Shea trees are also valuable to the global environment. They store carbon and reduce erosion that puts dust in the air. Increasing shea's worth will ensure that the shea trees are not displaced by other cash crops which use more natural resources and create GHG emissions.
Shea has been an important rural food and medicinal for centuries. Gathering and processing shea was always considered "women's work." In the last few years, exporters started selling nuts and butter to manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. But shea pays poorly for women like Mrs. Abdulai because middlemen take advantage of individual producers.
Opportunities for women are limited in northern Ghana. For her widowed daughter-in-law, shea is her primary source of income. If Mrs. Abdulai earns enough with shea and her other ventures, she is able to continue her children's secondary education. The U.N. reports that secondary school enrollment is about half the national average in northern Ghana where Mrs. Abdulai resides.
After learning about women like Mrs. Abdulai, SAP -- the business software giant -- sought to help as part of its corporate social responsibility program. But SAP wanted to make more than a financial contribution. SAP believed that its business management technology "that helps companies run better" could be applied to the shea trade.
Improved agricultural trade could benefit more than a billion people who live in poverty in rural areas. "Agriculture is an engine for growth and poverty reduction..." states a World Bank report [PDF], "Research has shown that every dollar of growth from agricultural products sold outside the local area in poor African countries leads to a second dollar of local rural growth."
SAP partnered with PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit that specializes in microfinance and technical assistance. PlaNet welcomed SAP's hands-on approach.
"We find that companies that put sweat equity into their social projects", said Ivana Damjanov, deputy director of operations, PlaNet Finance, "are more engaged and stay with it for the long-term."
Both partners found the basics were in-place in rural Ghana for the project to succeed; political stability, growing mobile communications infrastructure, and a product with demand on the global market.
SAP recruited a few of its top employees for 6-month fellowships on the Ghana project. During field visits, they learned from Mrs. Abdulai and other women that providing solutions would require more than technology to succeed.
Mrs. Abdulai typically gathers at dawn so she can help her husband on his small farm and manage the household. It is a 15 minute walk to the shea trees where she collects 30 to 35 pounds of fruit before she heaves her basket to her head and trudges back to the village. In the course of the season, she collects almost a ton of fruit.
Vipers, mambas and scorpions lurk in the elephant grass where Mrs. Abdulai collects shea. 1,040 snakebite cases were recorded last year by Northern Regional Ghana Health Service, but incidents are believed to be underreported. Mrs. Abdulai is lucky; she has avoided a snake bite, so far. Unlike her daughter, who was bitten and others who perished.
When she returns home, the next step is to remove the skin and fruit pulp to expose the shea nut, which resembles a spherical avocado pit. Mrs. Abldulai saves some of the fruit, which sustains the family in the "hungry season" when crops have just been planted.
It takes up to two months of drying before the nuts are ready to be transformed into butter. Rushing the drying may also reduce quality. During bad years, Mrs. Abdulai was forced to sell the shea nuts prematurely. She was desperate for cash to buy food, school supplies and other essentials.
The value of shea nuts are diminished considerably with an early sale: A Stanford University study found that the price differential is as much as 82 percent [PDF] for premium nuts that are dried properly.
Because of poor record keeping, Mrs. Abdulai worried that not all of the nuts would be accounted for and she would be short-changed. She has good reason to worry, it turns out: "Some three-quarters of all adults in the north are illiterate," reports the U.N. -- including Mrs. Abdulai and the women in her village who do shea work.
Brokers come to the villages since it is difficult to get to the market. The brokers buy the small batches of butter and nuts and then sell at a large mark-up to the exporters or other manufacturers. Mrs. Abdulai's cache of nuts in past seasons was only enough to partly pay for one child's tuition. She heard that manufacturers pay much more than what the brokers offer the small producers, but what could she do.
Working with SAP and PlaNet Finance colleagues around the globe, the project team developed a holistic solution to resolve the core issues.
The program also cultivated Mrs. Abdulai's leadership skills. She said, "I used to be very shy, but now I educate my colleagues, organize the association leaders and assist them in carrying out their roles."
Imagine Building an App to Connect With Your Customers and StakeholdersContact me to understand how to develop a simple app that compliments your brand strategyclaudia@g3biz.com
To learn more about other IT Green services >>
Fatima Abdulai is a wife, mother and the first link in the shea supply chain. The fruit she gathers in the northern Ghana bush is the source of shea butter -- the luxurious ingredient in cosmetics and chocolates.
Fatima Abdulai is one of millions of poor rural women who scrape out a living where they find opportunity. In Ghana, the opportunity is the shea nut. In other places, it may be cocoa, cashews, coffee, or hand-made goods. A small loan, efficient technology, and practical advice are the support these women need to help them maximize those opportunities.
Shea trees are also valuable to the global environment. They store carbon and reduce erosion that puts dust in the air. Increasing shea's worth will ensure that the shea trees are not displaced by other cash crops which use more natural resources and create GHG emissions.Shea has been an important rural food and medicinal for centuries. Gathering and processing shea was always considered "women's work." In the last few years, exporters started selling nuts and butter to manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. But shea pays poorly for women like Mrs. Abdulai because middlemen take advantage of individual producers.
Opportunities for women are limited in northern Ghana. For her widowed daughter-in-law, shea is her primary source of income. If Mrs. Abdulai earns enough with shea and her other ventures, she is able to continue her children's secondary education. The U.N. reports that secondary school enrollment is about half the national average in northern Ghana where Mrs. Abdulai resides.
After learning about women like Mrs. Abdulai, SAP -- the business software giant -- sought to help as part of its corporate social responsibility program. But SAP wanted to make more than a financial contribution. SAP believed that its business management technology "that helps companies run better" could be applied to the shea trade.
Improved agricultural trade could benefit more than a billion people who live in poverty in rural areas. "Agriculture is an engine for growth and poverty reduction..." states a World Bank report [PDF], "Research has shown that every dollar of growth from agricultural products sold outside the local area in poor African countries leads to a second dollar of local rural growth."
SAP partnered with PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit that specializes in microfinance and technical assistance. PlaNet welcomed SAP's hands-on approach.
"We find that companies that put sweat equity into their social projects", said Ivana Damjanov, deputy director of operations, PlaNet Finance, "are more engaged and stay with it for the long-term."
Both partners found the basics were in-place in rural Ghana for the project to succeed; political stability, growing mobile communications infrastructure, and a product with demand on the global market.
SAP recruited a few of its top employees for 6-month fellowships on the Ghana project. During field visits, they learned from Mrs. Abdulai and other women that providing solutions would require more than technology to succeed.
Mrs. Abdulai typically gathers at dawn so she can help her husband on his small farm and manage the household. It is a 15 minute walk to the shea trees where she collects 30 to 35 pounds of fruit before she heaves her basket to her head and trudges back to the village. In the course of the season, she collects almost a ton of fruit.
Vipers, mambas and scorpions lurk in the elephant grass where Mrs. Abdulai collects shea. 1,040 snakebite cases were recorded last year by Northern Regional Ghana Health Service, but incidents are believed to be underreported. Mrs. Abdulai is lucky; she has avoided a snake bite, so far. Unlike her daughter, who was bitten and others who perished.
When she returns home, the next step is to remove the skin and fruit pulp to expose the shea nut, which resembles a spherical avocado pit. Mrs. Abldulai saves some of the fruit, which sustains the family in the "hungry season" when crops have just been planted.
It takes up to two months of drying before the nuts are ready to be transformed into butter. Rushing the drying may also reduce quality. During bad years, Mrs. Abdulai was forced to sell the shea nuts prematurely. She was desperate for cash to buy food, school supplies and other essentials.The value of shea nuts are diminished considerably with an early sale: A Stanford University study found that the price differential is as much as 82 percent [PDF] for premium nuts that are dried properly.
Because of poor record keeping, Mrs. Abdulai worried that not all of the nuts would be accounted for and she would be short-changed. She has good reason to worry, it turns out: "Some three-quarters of all adults in the north are illiterate," reports the U.N. -- including Mrs. Abdulai and the women in her village who do shea work.
Brokers come to the villages since it is difficult to get to the market. The brokers buy the small batches of butter and nuts and then sell at a large mark-up to the exporters or other manufacturers. Mrs. Abdulai's cache of nuts in past seasons was only enough to partly pay for one child's tuition. She heard that manufacturers pay much more than what the brokers offer the small producers, but what could she do.
Working with SAP and PlaNet Finance colleagues around the globe, the project team developed a holistic solution to resolve the core issues.
• Dangerous working conditions: Provide boots, gloves and coats to protect women gathering shea fruit.
• Uneven cash flow: Make microloans to support families until nuts are sold at full market value.
• No data: Build an order management tool --- Rural Sourcing Management (RSM) --- to capture and share key data about the product and market prices. The tool uses mobile technology, cloud computing and SAP software. The RSM tool is used by field officers, who are literate and able to use the technology after training.
• Product quality: Educate women on how to improve quality to satisfy the standards set by highest paying customers.
• Weak position as sellers: Set up an association, Star Shea Network, among small shea producers to eliminate the brokers. Recruit a more educated person in the community to record notes from meetings and assist with bookkeeping. Negotiate a long-term contract with a manufacturer seeking organic, fair trade and high-quality shea nuts and butter. The detailed product data provided by the new system and consistent quality were key factors in closing the deal.Under the new program, Mrs. Abdulai joined the association. She qualified for loans to purchase additional tailoring machines for her small business and protective gear for picking. She has repaid these loans. With the additional income she earned, Mrs. Abdulai paid school fees for her three children. Mrs. Abdulai is grateful that the program "opened up her shea business to the world."
The program also cultivated Mrs. Abdulai's leadership skills. She said, "I used to be very shy, but now I educate my colleagues, organize the association leaders and assist them in carrying out their roles."
Imagine Building an App to Connect With Your Customers and StakeholdersContact me to understand how to develop a simple app that compliments your brand strategyclaudia@g3biz.com
To learn more about other IT Green services >>
1920's HSR PROPOSAL PRR
To contact us Click HERE
In the Spring 1999 of a periodical called THE KEYSTONE published by the Pennsylvania Railroad Historical and Technical Society an article appeared describing the "Samuel Rea Line." Samuel Rea retired from being the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1925. His most famous engineering achievement was the construction of the Penn Station and tunnels at New York City completed in 1910. The article indicated that preliminary surveys for a railroad capable of 90 mph were supervised by Samuel Rea for the PRR Board in 1926. The dedicated passenger line was to leave the existing 90 mph mainline at Fort Wayne, Indiana and be built across Ohio and Pennsylvania connecting with the PRR mainline at Lewistown, Pennsylvania. It would have lessened the PRR distance from Chicago to New York City by 100 miles.
In an attempt to learn more about the basis for the article, an attempt was made to contact its author without success. Contact with the Hagley Museum at Wilmington, Delaware, and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, Pennsylvania; major repositories for Pennsylvania Railroad archives, came up empty. The absence of more information about the basis for the article is probably due to a a fire at Philadelphia's Broad Street Station in 1943. Substantial volumes of PRR records stored there were destroyed in the fire.
The route across Pennsylvania would have required 22 tunnels. The longest tunnel would have been north of Altoona and south of Tyrone. That west to east tunnel would have been 29,400 feet or 5.57 miles long. Steam locomotives would have had their fires banked and the passenger trains hauled through the long tunnel by electric locomotives. It would have taken a civil engineer of the caliber of the Samuel Rea to have have supervised such a preliminary survey.
The yellow line represents the proposed Samuel Rea Line noted as SRL. The PRR mainline is shown in blue. The Conemaugh line from the Northside of Pittsburgh to Bolivar, Pennsylvania is shown in dark red / brown. Northwest of Pittsburgh, near Rochester, Pennsylvania a dotted line shows a new connection from the mainline to a place called Ogle for a connection with the Samuel Rea Line. Northeast of Pittsburgh near Kiski Junction across the Allegheny River from Freeport a dotted line shows where a proposed connection with the Connemaugh Division would have been made at a place called Godfrey, Pennsylvania. All tunnel locations have their length in feet indicated.
Was the equipment operated by the PRR in 1926 capable of 90 mph operation? Yes. Was their larger passenger locomotive, the K4 type, capable of sustained 90 mph operation? Yes. Was the smaller PRR passenger locomotive, the E6 type, capable of faster operation? Yes - 115 mph.
The Samuel Rea Line is shown in yellow. The Allegheny summit would have been attained to the west of a large 14,750 foot tunnel that would have been built between Alburn and St. Lawrence, Pennsylvania. The mainline is in blue. The Conemaugh division is in dark red / brown.
The west portal of the 5.57 mile tunnel proposed for the Samuel Rea Line in yellow would have been near Frugality, Pennsylvania. Connection with the PRR mainline would have been made at the west portal of the 9200 foot tunnel through Brush mountain between Tyrone to the north and Altoona to the south. Other connections to the PRR mainline would have been made in the vicinity of Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania.
Had the Samuel Rea Line been built, it would not have had a grade exceeding 0.6 per cent. It would likely have been easily upgraded for 125 mph operation either by diesel locomotives or electric locomotives.
The proposed Samuel Rea line demonstrates that an actual High Speed Rail HSR across the Alleghenies would and require a substantial number of tunnels.
In an attempt to learn more about the basis for the article, an attempt was made to contact its author without success. Contact with the Hagley Museum at Wilmington, Delaware, and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, Pennsylvania; major repositories for Pennsylvania Railroad archives, came up empty. The absence of more information about the basis for the article is probably due to a a fire at Philadelphia's Broad Street Station in 1943. Substantial volumes of PRR records stored there were destroyed in the fire.
The route across Pennsylvania would have required 22 tunnels. The longest tunnel would have been north of Altoona and south of Tyrone. That west to east tunnel would have been 29,400 feet or 5.57 miles long. Steam locomotives would have had their fires banked and the passenger trains hauled through the long tunnel by electric locomotives. It would have taken a civil engineer of the caliber of the Samuel Rea to have have supervised such a preliminary survey.
The yellow line represents the proposed Samuel Rea Line noted as SRL. The PRR mainline is shown in blue. The Conemaugh line from the Northside of Pittsburgh to Bolivar, Pennsylvania is shown in dark red / brown. Northwest of Pittsburgh, near Rochester, Pennsylvania a dotted line shows a new connection from the mainline to a place called Ogle for a connection with the Samuel Rea Line. Northeast of Pittsburgh near Kiski Junction across the Allegheny River from Freeport a dotted line shows where a proposed connection with the Connemaugh Division would have been made at a place called Godfrey, Pennsylvania. All tunnel locations have their length in feet indicated.Was the equipment operated by the PRR in 1926 capable of 90 mph operation? Yes. Was their larger passenger locomotive, the K4 type, capable of sustained 90 mph operation? Yes. Was the smaller PRR passenger locomotive, the E6 type, capable of faster operation? Yes - 115 mph.
The Samuel Rea Line is shown in yellow. The Allegheny summit would have been attained to the west of a large 14,750 foot tunnel that would have been built between Alburn and St. Lawrence, Pennsylvania. The mainline is in blue. The Conemaugh division is in dark red / brown. The west portal of the 5.57 mile tunnel proposed for the Samuel Rea Line in yellow would have been near Frugality, Pennsylvania. Connection with the PRR mainline would have been made at the west portal of the 9200 foot tunnel through Brush mountain between Tyrone to the north and Altoona to the south. Other connections to the PRR mainline would have been made in the vicinity of Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania.Had the Samuel Rea Line been built, it would not have had a grade exceeding 0.6 per cent. It would likely have been easily upgraded for 125 mph operation either by diesel locomotives or electric locomotives.
The proposed Samuel Rea line demonstrates that an actual High Speed Rail HSR across the Alleghenies would and require a substantial number of tunnels.
Keystone West High Speed Rail Study
To contact us Click HERE
Here is the outline for a recent (5/22/12) briefing by PennDOT as to the status for the Keystone West High Speed Rail Study:
Initial Work Order (1) and study initiated late Spring 2011.
* Initial work included prepartion of Worplan for FRA and approval.
Following Workplan approval, began development of Legislative Briefing Packet, website, and
Prior Studies Report.
* Legislative briefing packet distributed June 2011, a copy has been sent to Brent Sullivan.
* Developed link on "Plan the Keystone" website to update public on KWHSR efforts
(www.planthekeystone.com).
* Prior Studies effort included assessment of more than a dozen studies completed over last
20 years to gather useful data.
Reached out to Amtrak and NS with initial meetings in 2011: April 25th and June 30th.
Drawing in large part on data drawn from Prior Stuies Report, updated with current census data, etc.,
prepared "Project Purpose, Needs and Goals Report." Report concluded:
* Improved corridor mobility and access is supportable goal.
* Service and travel time disparities between Keystone West and Keystone East corridors merit
attention and long term gap closure.
* Corridor has an extensive array of travel generators that bode well for market development.
* Phased improvements are necessary to support rail network connectivity (PA and beyond).
* Community and economic development can be bolstered through improved corridor access
and travel alternatives.
* Transportation system redundancy is strategically important for the corridor and the Common-
wealth.
* Pennsylvania's socio-demographics underscore need for a more multimodal approach to
transportation planning and system development.
* Envionmental benefits of rail passenger transportation justify reasonable efforts to promote
this mode.
* A focus on improving existing transportation assets is a pragmatic approach in an era of
severe fiscal constraint.
* Freight-passenger challenges demand innovative methods and institutional cooperation.
* Pennsylvania must be prepared and be able to adapt to change (Marcellus Shale, technology,
etc.)
Overall goals for the study include:
* Increase passenger train speeds and reduce travel times.
* Incrementally increase service frequency with ultimate goal of 8 round trips daily.
* Improve access and connectivity.
* Improve passenger rail amenities to complement other improvements.
* Establish effective institutional partnerships.
Based on identified needs and goals, began an analysis of alternative concepts to increase frequency and improve travel times along the corridor. Resulted in 4 alternative concepts described in Conceptual Alternative Paper:
* Concept 1 - Operational improvements along the existing corridor and between Amtrak and NS
and minimal infrastructures improvements generally within existing ROW. (Cost $0.5B).
* Concept 2 - Operational improvements with modest infrastructure improvements at key loca-
tions along the corridor - includes new track and curve straightening at key locations.
(Cost $1.0B).
* Concept 3 - Operational improvement along with major infrastructure improvements including
an additional track the entire length of the corridor to provide for separated passenger service.
( Cost $1.5B).
* Concept 4 - New passenger only high speed rail line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh,
generally following the Pennsylvania Turnpike or other major transportation corridor. (Cost
$6.3B).
Report recommended further evaluation and assessment of Concepts 2 and 3 based on cost and potential for service improvement along corridor.
Initial work also included development of GIS base-mapping oc corridor showing key resources and constraints based on available secondary source data and a preliminary operations model to help support evaluation of alternative concepts.
Work Order 2 initiated November 2011 - primary focus is the Preliminary Service Development Plan (PSDP) and further exploration of Alternative Concepts 2 and 3 to build the "Menu of Options" for the final feasibility study.
Not unlike the Department's "Decade of Investment," our goal is to identify decade (or some other timeframe to be determined) of improvements that can be implemented over time along the corridor that individually and collectively lead to meeting the goals discussed above.
Work Order 2 tasks expected to be completed in 3 - 4 months - includes update to legislative briefing packet and distribution, update to Plan the Keystone website, advancing the PSDP through refinement of conceptual engineering, operational analysis and demand estimating, meeting with business and community leader in Altoona and initial efforts to outline the final Feasibility Report.
Work Order 3 (anticipated late Spring / Summer 2012) will provide for final assessment of alternatives, further enhancements to the PSDP, development of feasibility Report and outreach to legislative and community / public interests.
Current Issues of Concern:
NS resistance to any increase in passenger service along the corridor.
Potential loss of funding for Pennsylvania due to PRIIA 209 cost allocations.
Initial Work Order (1) and study initiated late Spring 2011.
* Initial work included prepartion of Worplan for FRA and approval.
Following Workplan approval, began development of Legislative Briefing Packet, website, and
Prior Studies Report.
* Legislative briefing packet distributed June 2011, a copy has been sent to Brent Sullivan.
* Developed link on "Plan the Keystone" website to update public on KWHSR efforts
(www.planthekeystone.com).
* Prior Studies effort included assessment of more than a dozen studies completed over last
20 years to gather useful data.
Reached out to Amtrak and NS with initial meetings in 2011: April 25th and June 30th.
Drawing in large part on data drawn from Prior Stuies Report, updated with current census data, etc.,
prepared "Project Purpose, Needs and Goals Report." Report concluded:
* Improved corridor mobility and access is supportable goal.
* Service and travel time disparities between Keystone West and Keystone East corridors merit
attention and long term gap closure.
* Corridor has an extensive array of travel generators that bode well for market development.
* Phased improvements are necessary to support rail network connectivity (PA and beyond).
* Community and economic development can be bolstered through improved corridor access
and travel alternatives.
* Transportation system redundancy is strategically important for the corridor and the Common-
wealth.
* Pennsylvania's socio-demographics underscore need for a more multimodal approach to
transportation planning and system development.
* Envionmental benefits of rail passenger transportation justify reasonable efforts to promote
this mode.
* A focus on improving existing transportation assets is a pragmatic approach in an era of
severe fiscal constraint.
* Freight-passenger challenges demand innovative methods and institutional cooperation.
* Pennsylvania must be prepared and be able to adapt to change (Marcellus Shale, technology,
etc.)
Overall goals for the study include:
* Increase passenger train speeds and reduce travel times.
* Incrementally increase service frequency with ultimate goal of 8 round trips daily.
* Improve access and connectivity.
* Improve passenger rail amenities to complement other improvements.
* Establish effective institutional partnerships.
Based on identified needs and goals, began an analysis of alternative concepts to increase frequency and improve travel times along the corridor. Resulted in 4 alternative concepts described in Conceptual Alternative Paper:
* Concept 1 - Operational improvements along the existing corridor and between Amtrak and NS
and minimal infrastructures improvements generally within existing ROW. (Cost $0.5B).
* Concept 2 - Operational improvements with modest infrastructure improvements at key loca-
tions along the corridor - includes new track and curve straightening at key locations.
(Cost $1.0B).
* Concept 3 - Operational improvement along with major infrastructure improvements including
an additional track the entire length of the corridor to provide for separated passenger service.
( Cost $1.5B).
* Concept 4 - New passenger only high speed rail line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh,
generally following the Pennsylvania Turnpike or other major transportation corridor. (Cost
$6.3B).
Report recommended further evaluation and assessment of Concepts 2 and 3 based on cost and potential for service improvement along corridor.
Initial work also included development of GIS base-mapping oc corridor showing key resources and constraints based on available secondary source data and a preliminary operations model to help support evaluation of alternative concepts.
Work Order 2 initiated November 2011 - primary focus is the Preliminary Service Development Plan (PSDP) and further exploration of Alternative Concepts 2 and 3 to build the "Menu of Options" for the final feasibility study.
Not unlike the Department's "Decade of Investment," our goal is to identify decade (or some other timeframe to be determined) of improvements that can be implemented over time along the corridor that individually and collectively lead to meeting the goals discussed above.
Work Order 2 tasks expected to be completed in 3 - 4 months - includes update to legislative briefing packet and distribution, update to Plan the Keystone website, advancing the PSDP through refinement of conceptual engineering, operational analysis and demand estimating, meeting with business and community leader in Altoona and initial efforts to outline the final Feasibility Report.
Work Order 3 (anticipated late Spring / Summer 2012) will provide for final assessment of alternatives, further enhancements to the PSDP, development of feasibility Report and outreach to legislative and community / public interests.
Current Issues of Concern:
NS resistance to any increase in passenger service along the corridor.
Potential loss of funding for Pennsylvania due to PRIIA 209 cost allocations.
California Legislature OKs State HSR Effort
To contact us Click HERE
California legislature OKs state HSR effort From RAILWAY AGE 7/6/12
THIS is a 220 mph system!!
California High-Speed Rail Authority Statement on Passage of SB 1029
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California High-Speed Rail Authority Board Chair Dan Richard today issued the following statement regarding the Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 1029 which appropriates federal grant funds and Prop 1A funds for California High-Speed Rail:
“Today’s vote to commence high-speed rail construction, like all major public policy decisions, is the result of hard work and collaborative effort. Credit must go to Governor Brown whose courage and steadfast leadership has improved the High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans and operations,” said California High-Speed Rail Authority Chair Dan Richard. “We also express deep gratitude to Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg for passing this measure through their houses. The Legislature’s action sets in motion a Statewide Rail Modernization Plan for California. Not only will California be the first state in the nation to build a high-speed rail system to connect our urban centers, we will also modernize and improve rail systems at the local and regional level. This plan will improve mobility for commuters and travelers alike, reduce emissions, and put thousands of people to work while enhancing our economic competitiveness,” said Richard.
Link to Senate Bill 1029: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/
888 365 0122 • san.francisco_san.jose@hsr.ca.
www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov
THIS is a 220 mph system!!
California High-Speed Rail Authority Statement on Passage of SB 1029
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California High-Speed Rail Authority Board Chair Dan Richard today issued the following statement regarding the Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 1029 which appropriates federal grant funds and Prop 1A funds for California High-Speed Rail:
“Today’s vote to commence high-speed rail construction, like all major public policy decisions, is the result of hard work and collaborative effort. Credit must go to Governor Brown whose courage and steadfast leadership has improved the High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans and operations,” said California High-Speed Rail Authority Chair Dan Richard. “We also express deep gratitude to Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg for passing this measure through their houses. The Legislature’s action sets in motion a Statewide Rail Modernization Plan for California. Not only will California be the first state in the nation to build a high-speed rail system to connect our urban centers, we will also modernize and improve rail systems at the local and regional level. This plan will improve mobility for commuters and travelers alike, reduce emissions, and put thousands of people to work while enhancing our economic competitiveness,” said Richard.
Link to Senate Bill 1029: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/
888 365 0122 • san.francisco_san.jose@hsr.ca.
www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov
California HSR Thoughts
To contact us Click HERE
California has a state GDP, gross domestic product of $1,958.9 billion or about $1.95 trillion.
(See Department of Commerce, Bureau Economic Analysis: http://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/action.cfm)
California's GDP in comparison to other countries places it as being the 9th largest economy in the world after Italy and before India. (See: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/GDP-ranking-table)
California's budgetary problems are problems caused by beliefs in how a government is to be funded and in the purpose of government. Ultimately government exists to protect life and property. Whose life and whose property; how and why life and property is protected defines the government.
A government owned high speed rail system is a system that is capable of being built by all the citizens of California. Once built it may or may not be operated by California. That will be seen.
As an economic tool, the high speed rail system will contribute to California's economic strength just as such systems have contributed to the economic strength of France, Germany, Japan, etc.
Today it is not possible to begin and end a trip in California without reliance upon an oil propelled transportation mode.
It is possible to begin and end a trip in Italy, a place with a GDP slightly ahead of California's GDP, without relying upon an oil propelled transportation mode.
It was once possible to begin and end a trip in the USA without relying upon an oil based transportation mode.
The United States needs to build a higher speed (HrSR) rail system for the whole United States starting by upgrading the existing freight railroad system to higher speed rail capability. Higher speed rail (HrSR) capability is speed up to 110 mph. That can be accomplished through electrification of freight railroads. Doing so would create a transportation system capable of supporting higher freight train speeds compatible with passenger train speeds. Such universal passenger train service would be the feeder system to high speed rail (HSR) speeds up to 220 mph.
(See Department of Commerce, Bureau Economic Analysis: http://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/action.cfm)
California's GDP in comparison to other countries places it as being the 9th largest economy in the world after Italy and before India. (See: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/GDP-ranking-table)
California's budgetary problems are problems caused by beliefs in how a government is to be funded and in the purpose of government. Ultimately government exists to protect life and property. Whose life and whose property; how and why life and property is protected defines the government.
A government owned high speed rail system is a system that is capable of being built by all the citizens of California. Once built it may or may not be operated by California. That will be seen.
As an economic tool, the high speed rail system will contribute to California's economic strength just as such systems have contributed to the economic strength of France, Germany, Japan, etc.
Today it is not possible to begin and end a trip in California without reliance upon an oil propelled transportation mode.
It is possible to begin and end a trip in Italy, a place with a GDP slightly ahead of California's GDP, without relying upon an oil propelled transportation mode.
It was once possible to begin and end a trip in the USA without relying upon an oil based transportation mode.
The United States needs to build a higher speed (HrSR) rail system for the whole United States starting by upgrading the existing freight railroad system to higher speed rail capability. Higher speed rail (HrSR) capability is speed up to 110 mph. That can be accomplished through electrification of freight railroads. Doing so would create a transportation system capable of supporting higher freight train speeds compatible with passenger train speeds. Such universal passenger train service would be the feeder system to high speed rail (HSR) speeds up to 220 mph.
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
On to Snodder's Switch
To contact us Click HERE
So I have to admit I have not quite been following all the nuances over the current spat on proposals for new development by the Buncher Company in the Strip District. Part of the debate seems to be over a distinct proposal to restart the Allegheny Valley Railroad which might not quite mesh (my oversimplification) with what Buncher has proposed.
The Allegheny Valley Railroad itself has one of those long Pittsburgh histories that are almost inexplicable in how long they have been debated. Actually the story of the AVRR's terminal connection to Downtown has been a news item just a few year longer than that. Persistent we are.
As mentioned here a couple years ago... and as noted in the PG article today there is a legal land dispute issue in all of this that needs to be resolved by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. If you really really want to learn the details on that there is a video record of the hearings which is actually online here. (wmv file, and the AVRR case starts at time 53:08). As I said in 2010, transit wonks, or anyone interested in city development efforts in the Strip District or those interested in th AVRR will want to watch most of it as painful as that might be.
The Allegheny Valley Railroad itself has one of those long Pittsburgh histories that are almost inexplicable in how long they have been debated. Actually the story of the AVRR's terminal connection to Downtown has been a news item just a few year longer than that. Persistent we are.
As mentioned here a couple years ago... and as noted in the PG article today there is a legal land dispute issue in all of this that needs to be resolved by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. If you really really want to learn the details on that there is a video record of the hearings which is actually online here. (wmv file, and the AVRR case starts at time 53:08). As I said in 2010, transit wonks, or anyone interested in city development efforts in the Strip District or those interested in th AVRR will want to watch most of it as painful as that might be.
Daily ranking: Greene and Westmoreland Counties Ascendant
To contact us Click HERE
So first this is a repeat performance as Washington County is showing up again as one of the fastest job gainers in the nation in the 4th quarter of 2011. #6 among all 'large' (top 323) counties in the US. A side note is that that if WashCo had not had that over the top growth last year, it would have dropped off the list for not being among the 323 largest counties in the US. It is now solidly at #305.
But this this new.. in the same ranking, Westmoreland County ranks even higher in terms of how fast the average weekly wage is going up. #5 across the nation.
One of those funny media things. Nobody noticed the Westmoreland factoid because the press release that went with this data only chose to highlight the counties which had the biggest decreases in wages (those nabobs!). There was no table of the counties with the fastest wage increases as was ranked for employment growth. Go figure.
Anyway. Here is a bigger factoid for us. Below is a table of the latest (4th quarter 2011) data on average weekly wages along with the now complete 2011 annual averages. For the first time in the annual data, likely ever, Greene County now has the highest average weekly wages of any county in Southwestern Pennsylvania. So for those who might think geography does not matter any longer, wages of jobs located in Greene county are now more than 50% higher on average than jobs in brodering Fayette County. The caveat of course that Greene county is the smallest in the region with ~40K folks these days. Still, someone should send a note to the O-R.
But this this new.. in the same ranking, Westmoreland County ranks even higher in terms of how fast the average weekly wage is going up. #5 across the nation.
One of those funny media things. Nobody noticed the Westmoreland factoid because the press release that went with this data only chose to highlight the counties which had the biggest decreases in wages (those nabobs!). There was no table of the counties with the fastest wage increases as was ranked for employment growth. Go figure.
Anyway. Here is a bigger factoid for us. Below is a table of the latest (4th quarter 2011) data on average weekly wages along with the now complete 2011 annual averages. For the first time in the annual data, likely ever, Greene County now has the highest average weekly wages of any county in Southwestern Pennsylvania. So for those who might think geography does not matter any longer, wages of jobs located in Greene county are now more than 50% higher on average than jobs in brodering Fayette County. The caveat of course that Greene county is the smallest in the region with ~40K folks these days. Still, someone should send a note to the O-R.
A Quantum of Hope
To contact us Click HERE
More elusive than the Higgs-Boson, but yet again first place. Despite the hype, the actual length of time the Pirates spent in first place by themselves last year bordered on being a singularity. So we will see how long this lasts.
Just think, in 1992 the public had no idea what the World Wide Web was, mobile phone usage was under a percentile, Goog*l was a number akin to Avogadro's and Justin Bieber had yet to be born.
and I just checked, but I think the spot price of the Sid Bream bobblehead is drifting down. I'd blame the Euro.... or maybe John Roberts.
Just think, in 1992 the public had no idea what the World Wide Web was, mobile phone usage was under a percentile, Goog*l was a number akin to Avogadro's and Justin Bieber had yet to be born.
and I just checked, but I think the spot price of the Sid Bream bobblehead is drifting down. I'd blame the Euro.... or maybe John Roberts.
Not all pensions are created equal
To contact us Click HERE
So here is one of those factoids that may confuse those who read too much news.
So what do we know about the City of Pittsburgh's pension system? Officially it was funded at around 56%, but that really is an old number. It also is a number that is more than double what it would be if you took out the notional 'asset' that I still find hard to talk about seriously. No matter. Pretend it really is 60% for sake of argument. Only in Pittsburgh logic is that a 'success' when the rest of the world would call it abysmal. We also know that the Pennsylvania school pension system (PSERS) is better funded ataround 75%, all real assets by the way. Some consider that low, but still a lot better than a lot of municipalities. Could be better. Now all propblems at the Port Authority are being laid at the feet of escalating pension costs. Sure must be that the Port Authority's pension system is in far worse shape than the city of PSERS right? Just must be. And like all common wisdom, it is far more common than wise. Here is the time series (page 25) up to the latest public info on the funding ratio for the Port Authority drivers pension system. Is this what you expected given what is in the headlines?
Seriously.. what number would you have guessed? It turns out a lot of pension math is misconstrued in public.
Note the latest data there is for January 1, 2010 which is still on the heels of some bad stock market losses for most funds. 2010 and then 2011 were both real good years for public pension systems in the US, so maybe they are even higher than the 87%. Think about that. The current funding ratio might be a slightly relevant number for the current public debate? The absolute numbers of relevance are that the calculated liability is $781 million and the assets available are $681 million. Compare to the City of Pittsburgh which is now over a $billion in calculated liability and an ever diminishing amount of liquid assets to cover it. I have never seen any reporting on how well funded the drivers pension plan is. In fact, I have seen no reporting of the hard data on the pension plans $$ assets at all. In fact.. I wonder a bit. That January 1, 2010 calculation for the liability value is a dynamic number as actuarial valuations too often are. The assumptions include some very steady wage increases for the Port Authority drivers.. all of them. What do we know? A lot of drivers are about to be laid off as routes are cut. Lots of that liability is about to be lopped off, maybe a lot of that liability has already been taken off the books given layoffs since that January 1, 2010 reference data now 2.5 years ago. I bet wage increases will come in a bit lower than the actuary assumes which would also lop off a big part of the liability calculation. A small change in that assumption will bring down the calculated liability a lot actually. Could it be that if there was a current actuarial valuation that the current asset values would make it fully funded? If not, it certainly may be the best funded large public pension system in Pennsylvania. You would never get that from the headlines though. Now.. the retort is that the the issue is health care costs, and in particular pension health care costs. True. But note that once you start talking about health care costs you are talking about something different from the pension discussion normally in the public debate for say the City of Pittsburgh. Lots of public institutions have a big health care liability that is completely unfunded and is basically a big train wreck going to happen. It is a nearly ubiquitous problem in both public and private sector. It just becomes an apples and oranges discussion when you talk about the pension problem at the Port Authority if there is any comparison to the pension debate for the city which mostly ignores the problem. In fact there is a really convoluted aspect to this. The Port Authority has some big pension cost problems when it comes to health care expenses now and in the future. The big reason is that the health care liability has no $$ put toward it. That is a very different problem than what I think most people assume that the pension fund itself is underfunded. Like most public institutions you can't say it was a big secret this health care bill was coming due.
Also was no secret that most public institutions were not putting money away for the expenses they knew were coming due. In fact I think the rule that nominally is forcing public institutions to address this big looming problem, something called GASB 45, was mentioned right here years ago.. 2006 actually if you poke at that link so yes I know what the issues are. That the Port Authority is ramping up payments to fund some of the that health care liability is actually commendable for the record. But if you are are lead to believe that the Port Authority is in worse shape than the city which also clearly has several hundred $million in unfunded health care liability but is just choosing to continue without such contributions is a meaningless comparison. Also a little issue with Allegheny County as well which has seen its pension funding ratio falling behind over the last 5-10 years. Few mention that much, or talk of shutting down a third of the county. Maybe we can lop off everything north of the Allegheny River?
So what do we know about the City of Pittsburgh's pension system? Officially it was funded at around 56%, but that really is an old number. It also is a number that is more than double what it would be if you took out the notional 'asset' that I still find hard to talk about seriously. No matter. Pretend it really is 60% for sake of argument. Only in Pittsburgh logic is that a 'success' when the rest of the world would call it abysmal. We also know that the Pennsylvania school pension system (PSERS) is better funded ataround 75%, all real assets by the way. Some consider that low, but still a lot better than a lot of municipalities. Could be better. Now all propblems at the Port Authority are being laid at the feet of escalating pension costs. Sure must be that the Port Authority's pension system is in far worse shape than the city of PSERS right? Just must be. And like all common wisdom, it is far more common than wise. Here is the time series (page 25) up to the latest public info on the funding ratio for the Port Authority drivers pension system. Is this what you expected given what is in the headlines?
Seriously.. what number would you have guessed? It turns out a lot of pension math is misconstrued in public.
Note the latest data there is for January 1, 2010 which is still on the heels of some bad stock market losses for most funds. 2010 and then 2011 were both real good years for public pension systems in the US, so maybe they are even higher than the 87%. Think about that. The current funding ratio might be a slightly relevant number for the current public debate? The absolute numbers of relevance are that the calculated liability is $781 million and the assets available are $681 million. Compare to the City of Pittsburgh which is now over a $billion in calculated liability and an ever diminishing amount of liquid assets to cover it. I have never seen any reporting on how well funded the drivers pension plan is. In fact, I have seen no reporting of the hard data on the pension plans $$ assets at all. In fact.. I wonder a bit. That January 1, 2010 calculation for the liability value is a dynamic number as actuarial valuations too often are. The assumptions include some very steady wage increases for the Port Authority drivers.. all of them. What do we know? A lot of drivers are about to be laid off as routes are cut. Lots of that liability is about to be lopped off, maybe a lot of that liability has already been taken off the books given layoffs since that January 1, 2010 reference data now 2.5 years ago. I bet wage increases will come in a bit lower than the actuary assumes which would also lop off a big part of the liability calculation. A small change in that assumption will bring down the calculated liability a lot actually. Could it be that if there was a current actuarial valuation that the current asset values would make it fully funded? If not, it certainly may be the best funded large public pension system in Pennsylvania. You would never get that from the headlines though. Now.. the retort is that the the issue is health care costs, and in particular pension health care costs. True. But note that once you start talking about health care costs you are talking about something different from the pension discussion normally in the public debate for say the City of Pittsburgh. Lots of public institutions have a big health care liability that is completely unfunded and is basically a big train wreck going to happen. It is a nearly ubiquitous problem in both public and private sector. It just becomes an apples and oranges discussion when you talk about the pension problem at the Port Authority if there is any comparison to the pension debate for the city which mostly ignores the problem. In fact there is a really convoluted aspect to this. The Port Authority has some big pension cost problems when it comes to health care expenses now and in the future. The big reason is that the health care liability has no $$ put toward it. That is a very different problem than what I think most people assume that the pension fund itself is underfunded. Like most public institutions you can't say it was a big secret this health care bill was coming due.
Also was no secret that most public institutions were not putting money away for the expenses they knew were coming due. In fact I think the rule that nominally is forcing public institutions to address this big looming problem, something called GASB 45, was mentioned right here years ago.. 2006 actually if you poke at that link so yes I know what the issues are. That the Port Authority is ramping up payments to fund some of the that health care liability is actually commendable for the record. But if you are are lead to believe that the Port Authority is in worse shape than the city which also clearly has several hundred $million in unfunded health care liability but is just choosing to continue without such contributions is a meaningless comparison. Also a little issue with Allegheny County as well which has seen its pension funding ratio falling behind over the last 5-10 years. Few mention that much, or talk of shutting down a third of the county. Maybe we can lop off everything north of the Allegheny River?
Revenge of the Insulbrick
To contact us Click HERE
So it made a bit of news, but really not what it deserved. I will say that there really is something weird (a technical term) going on in Pittsburgh's real estate market. By some recent data, the year over year price appreciation in the local real estate market is an insignificant smidge below +13%. That just isn't normal anywhere these days, and certainly not normal for Pittsburgh at anytime in recent memory. Remember that national real estate markets remain mostly in the dumpster and given relatively low inflation rates we are talking what may be truly unprecedented price jumps for the Pittsburgh region when measured in real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) terms.
Maybe not so weird actually. Sometimes that darn economics gives an insight. Let's stick just to supply and demand. We've gone over how net migration for the region has turned positive in recent years and I will lay a professional guess that it remains so strongly as I type. The change in net migration is in itself not a big flow, but remember prices are set at the margin. So the switch from net decline to net gain could at the margin be quite impactful in some parts of the real estate market.
But supply. The real estate professionals, and I concur, are saying there is a big local supply shortage of housing at this point.
Let's focus for a second on just the City of Pittsburgh. The main story is for the region, but I have personal observations that some really extraordinary things are going on in some city neighborhoods. What is the supply situation there? Here is a time series of note. This is the time series for the total number of residential housing units specifies in building permits within the City of Pittsburgh.
So note these are just the numbers in the building permits. Not all permits result in final construction so if anything these numbers are higher than reality. Yet they are pretty minimal numbers. Roughly 150K housing units exist within the city. So you would need to see maybe 1,500 new units a year if we were growing or replacing at a rate of 1% a year. We are not even close to that rate anyway.
That of course is not really the story for the city. We are an outlier in another big important way. Its not like the existing housing stock would be stable if there were no new building permits. The city of Pittsburgh has one of the oldest housing stocks in the nation. If there was a measure for 'real age' I am sure we would be off the chart. Unlike some other 'old' cities and regions (Boston for example), I will stake a large bet that our housing stock is at a whole different level of disinvestment.
To put a point on that and crib from some colleagues. Below is a map the average age of housing by city of Pittsburgh neighborhood. In itself it may not seem like it is that interesting, but suffice it to say that the range of ages depicted are not normal for a large swath of the nation. Let's put it another way. In a lot of places, any housing that remains from the 19th century is likely a tourist destination.
One likely result of such old housing almost has to be a rate of depreciation higher than most anywhere else at this point and the effective loss of housing every year. Likely that loss is more than the minimal building permits data so we are likely net negative. That situation is probably further compounded because even the housing that is habitable likely is not the type of housing marketable to your typical new resident moving into the region. Couple it all with historically low mortgage rates in a region which likely has a lot more folks with decent credit compared to elsewhere these days and it all makes a lot of sense.
I have an idea! Let's have a contest for the ugliest insulbrick anywhere in the region. I will think of a prize. Bonus points for pictures that show walls with multiple layers of different types of insulbrick.
Maybe not so weird actually. Sometimes that darn economics gives an insight. Let's stick just to supply and demand. We've gone over how net migration for the region has turned positive in recent years and I will lay a professional guess that it remains so strongly as I type. The change in net migration is in itself not a big flow, but remember prices are set at the margin. So the switch from net decline to net gain could at the margin be quite impactful in some parts of the real estate market.
But supply. The real estate professionals, and I concur, are saying there is a big local supply shortage of housing at this point.
Let's focus for a second on just the City of Pittsburgh. The main story is for the region, but I have personal observations that some really extraordinary things are going on in some city neighborhoods. What is the supply situation there? Here is a time series of note. This is the time series for the total number of residential housing units specifies in building permits within the City of Pittsburgh.
So note these are just the numbers in the building permits. Not all permits result in final construction so if anything these numbers are higher than reality. Yet they are pretty minimal numbers. Roughly 150K housing units exist within the city. So you would need to see maybe 1,500 new units a year if we were growing or replacing at a rate of 1% a year. We are not even close to that rate anyway.
That of course is not really the story for the city. We are an outlier in another big important way. Its not like the existing housing stock would be stable if there were no new building permits. The city of Pittsburgh has one of the oldest housing stocks in the nation. If there was a measure for 'real age' I am sure we would be off the chart. Unlike some other 'old' cities and regions (Boston for example), I will stake a large bet that our housing stock is at a whole different level of disinvestment.
To put a point on that and crib from some colleagues. Below is a map the average age of housing by city of Pittsburgh neighborhood. In itself it may not seem like it is that interesting, but suffice it to say that the range of ages depicted are not normal for a large swath of the nation. Let's put it another way. In a lot of places, any housing that remains from the 19th century is likely a tourist destination.
One likely result of such old housing almost has to be a rate of depreciation higher than most anywhere else at this point and the effective loss of housing every year. Likely that loss is more than the minimal building permits data so we are likely net negative. That situation is probably further compounded because even the housing that is habitable likely is not the type of housing marketable to your typical new resident moving into the region. Couple it all with historically low mortgage rates in a region which likely has a lot more folks with decent credit compared to elsewhere these days and it all makes a lot of sense.
I have an idea! Let's have a contest for the ugliest insulbrick anywhere in the region. I will think of a prize. Bonus points for pictures that show walls with multiple layers of different types of insulbrick.
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
5 Companies, 5 Different Takes on Employee Engagement
To contact us Click HERE
First Published by GreenBiz 2012-01-03. Covered by TriplePundit and TreeHugger Moki Tacub borrowed a Kill A Watt from his employer, The Fairmont Hotel Resorts Kea Lani, located on Maui. He planned to use the device at his home. The Kill A Watt meter is a simple tool that measures electricity consumed by devices such as appliances and electronics.
Tacub was surprised to learn that his electronics and appliances were huge energy hogs, even when they were not being used. With the data he collected, he made a few simple changes. He unplugged his washer and dryer when not in use and each night turned off the electrical strip for his computer, stereo, television and Blu-Ray player. He also replaced all of his light bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescents.
Although simple, these changes had a huge impact on his energy use. Comparing his home's usage to a baseline month, he cut his electricity consumption by a whopping 27 percent. Besides saving on his utility bill, Fairmont recognized his efforts. Tacub made the largest percentage improvement among employees participating in Fairmont's energy reduction challenge.
Tacub is like most employees (and most people, period), who waste a great deal of energy and other natural resources. Many companies provide tips on reducing one's personal environmental footprint, but some leaders are taking an active role in supporting employees.
These companies realize that despite good intentions, many employees are too busy to implement even simple changes. These leaders are finding creative ways to provide that extra nudge. While researching this topic, five approaches emerged.
1. Saatchi and Saatchi S: Encourage a Public Commitment
Saatchi's DOT program -- Do One Thing -- is a public pledge "to start a personal sustainability practice that is meaningful to the pledger," according to Kelly Petrich, Senior Strategist.
Saatchi works with organizations to help them establish DOT programs. They also set up a website where anyone can make a pledge. Some participants put their DOT on their business cards. That can be a smart move: Change management guru Robert Cialdini calls a public pledge as an ideal way to gain commitment.
Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), a non-profit dedicated to teaching high school students about climate change, has adopted DOT. Emily Adler, manager of strategic partnerships for ACE, reported that DOT is useful for newbies who are overwhelmed and enthusiasts who are plateaued.
ACE encourages high school students to use DOT. Even a small effort --- such as turning down the thermostat by one degree at home --- when multiplied can have huge impacts. In this case, if every high schooler were to dial-down, it would be equivalent to taking over a million cars off the road. The students are inspired to take action by seeing how their individual efforts connect to a larger impact.
No one will argue that DOT's alone will solve all issues. But DOT is a way to start to engage people in a small way so they can grow into bigger changes. "Commitment to a behavior," as Cialdini and Dr. Renee Bator observed, "can lead people to identify themselves as someone who behaves in that new way and lead to greater change."
Or as Saatchi & Saatchi S says, "Do Another Thing."
2. SAP AG: Define a Shared Vision
SAP, the business software giant, harnessed the power of a shared vision to affect employee commuting. In preparation for the scores of visitors that would arrive for the 2010 Olympics, Vancouver's transit authority asked for a commitment from businesses to reduce traffic by at least 30 percent.
"This was an excellent challenge for everyone to change their behavior slightly, and reap the rewards," Kirsten Sutton, vice president and managing director of SAP Labs explained. "We had a real opportunity to leave an Olympic legacy of eco-friendly commuting as a permanent change."
Sutton switched to public transportation and has continued to ride the bus. "You can teach an old dog new tricks," she confided. The results were outstanding; 66 percent use alternative commute methods, more than twice the Vancouver average.
The civic pride produced by the Olympic event was a boost to SAP's green commute program. Even without the Olympics, leaders can define a "big, hairy audacious goal" as coined by Porras and Collins in Built To Last, to motivate change.
3. Fairmont Hotels and Resorts: Provide Personalized Data
Fairmont's contest was a fun way to recruit employees -- and had some notable successes, as Moki Tacub's example shows -- but the distinguishing feature was helping employees understand their individual opportunities.
With personalized data, electricity consumption was reduced 10-15 percent on average for those colleagues who participated. Typically these types of efforts yield much smaller reductions, where 5 percent is considered huge.
Personalized data proved superior to general tips. This is analogous to reading an article about improving your golf swing and receiving one-on-one coaching. In this case, the Kill A Watt meter is that coach that can provide hands-on guidance.
4. Applied Materials: Expand a Corporate Initiative
Applied Materials contracted with SunPower to install a 2-megawatt solar power system for its headquarters. Subsequently, the two companies partnered to educate and offer solar to employees of Applied Materials. SunPower also extended its discount to employees.
Justin Hough, an engineer at Applied, took advantage of the program. He had been interested in solar for some time, but having access to the employee program provided that extra push. He went to the intro meeting and was excited to learn that he would likely save money day one, reassured by the long history of SunPower and its installers and appreciated the aesthetics of the low profile, clean-looking solar panel.
Hough said after the installation, "The system was right on-target to saving energy and money." Since then he found another reason that solar was a good upgrade. A recent house appraisal took into account the new solar system which increased his home's value.
5. Google: Nurture a New Method
Electric Vehicles (EV's) offer the opportunity to slash energy consumption and carbon emissions. To become more widely adopted, making it easy to refuel EV's is critical. At its Silicon Valley campus, Google deployed 120 ChargePoint charging stations by Coulomb Technologies, with a goal to provide 5 percent of its parking with charging. Employees and visitors now easily charge-up to extend their EV's range.
"With that many stations, I thought it would take time to get to high utilization," said Rolf Schreiber, Google's technical program manager for electric transportation initiative. "I was surprised that the charging stations are already used extensively." Many Googlers have told Schreiber that access to workplace charging sealed the deal to purchase an EV.
Seeing EVs in the parking lot also provides "social proof" that EV is viable. This can start a virtuous cycle of more employees mimicking the early adopters.
Start a Spark
Start by asking employees to pledge and create a community to share experiences. Or provide personalized and actionable data. Stay on the lookout for tie-ins to corporate initiatives and opportunities to share your buying power to help employees acquire green products more easily and cheaply. Making a larger commitment to support green modes that are in their infancy may fit your green strategy.
"The daily changes took some time to get used to, but the results were incredible," said Moki Tacub, Fairmont's energy reduction winner. Tacub continues to maintain his low energy lifestyle. And the contest raised his energy awareness. Tacub concluded, "My wife and I are now looking into solar panels to save even more electricity."
Imagine Your Employees Engaged in SustainabilityContact me to understand how to use IT to provide coaching and measure results claudia@g3biz.com
To learn more about other IT Green services >>
Tacub was surprised to learn that his electronics and appliances were huge energy hogs, even when they were not being used. With the data he collected, he made a few simple changes. He unplugged his washer and dryer when not in use and each night turned off the electrical strip for his computer, stereo, television and Blu-Ray player. He also replaced all of his light bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescents.Although simple, these changes had a huge impact on his energy use. Comparing his home's usage to a baseline month, he cut his electricity consumption by a whopping 27 percent. Besides saving on his utility bill, Fairmont recognized his efforts. Tacub made the largest percentage improvement among employees participating in Fairmont's energy reduction challenge.
Tacub is like most employees (and most people, period), who waste a great deal of energy and other natural resources. Many companies provide tips on reducing one's personal environmental footprint, but some leaders are taking an active role in supporting employees.
These companies realize that despite good intentions, many employees are too busy to implement even simple changes. These leaders are finding creative ways to provide that extra nudge. While researching this topic, five approaches emerged.
1. Saatchi and Saatchi S: Encourage a Public Commitment
Saatchi's DOT program -- Do One Thing -- is a public pledge "to start a personal sustainability practice that is meaningful to the pledger," according to Kelly Petrich, Senior Strategist.
Saatchi works with organizations to help them establish DOT programs. They also set up a website where anyone can make a pledge. Some participants put their DOT on their business cards. That can be a smart move: Change management guru Robert Cialdini calls a public pledge as an ideal way to gain commitment.
Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), a non-profit dedicated to teaching high school students about climate change, has adopted DOT. Emily Adler, manager of strategic partnerships for ACE, reported that DOT is useful for newbies who are overwhelmed and enthusiasts who are plateaued.
ACE encourages high school students to use DOT. Even a small effort --- such as turning down the thermostat by one degree at home --- when multiplied can have huge impacts. In this case, if every high schooler were to dial-down, it would be equivalent to taking over a million cars off the road. The students are inspired to take action by seeing how their individual efforts connect to a larger impact.No one will argue that DOT's alone will solve all issues. But DOT is a way to start to engage people in a small way so they can grow into bigger changes. "Commitment to a behavior," as Cialdini and Dr. Renee Bator observed, "can lead people to identify themselves as someone who behaves in that new way and lead to greater change."
Or as Saatchi & Saatchi S says, "Do Another Thing."
2. SAP AG: Define a Shared Vision
SAP, the business software giant, harnessed the power of a shared vision to affect employee commuting. In preparation for the scores of visitors that would arrive for the 2010 Olympics, Vancouver's transit authority asked for a commitment from businesses to reduce traffic by at least 30 percent.
"This was an excellent challenge for everyone to change their behavior slightly, and reap the rewards," Kirsten Sutton, vice president and managing director of SAP Labs explained. "We had a real opportunity to leave an Olympic legacy of eco-friendly commuting as a permanent change."
Sutton switched to public transportation and has continued to ride the bus. "You can teach an old dog new tricks," she confided. The results were outstanding; 66 percent use alternative commute methods, more than twice the Vancouver average.The civic pride produced by the Olympic event was a boost to SAP's green commute program. Even without the Olympics, leaders can define a "big, hairy audacious goal" as coined by Porras and Collins in Built To Last, to motivate change.
3. Fairmont Hotels and Resorts: Provide Personalized Data
Fairmont's contest was a fun way to recruit employees -- and had some notable successes, as Moki Tacub's example shows -- but the distinguishing feature was helping employees understand their individual opportunities.
With personalized data, electricity consumption was reduced 10-15 percent on average for those colleagues who participated. Typically these types of efforts yield much smaller reductions, where 5 percent is considered huge.
Personalized data proved superior to general tips. This is analogous to reading an article about improving your golf swing and receiving one-on-one coaching. In this case, the Kill A Watt meter is that coach that can provide hands-on guidance.
4. Applied Materials: Expand a Corporate Initiative
Applied Materials contracted with SunPower to install a 2-megawatt solar power system for its headquarters. Subsequently, the two companies partnered to educate and offer solar to employees of Applied Materials. SunPower also extended its discount to employees.
Justin Hough, an engineer at Applied, took advantage of the program. He had been interested in solar for some time, but having access to the employee program provided that extra push. He went to the intro meeting and was excited to learn that he would likely save money day one, reassured by the long history of SunPower and its installers and appreciated the aesthetics of the low profile, clean-looking solar panel.Hough said after the installation, "The system was right on-target to saving energy and money." Since then he found another reason that solar was a good upgrade. A recent house appraisal took into account the new solar system which increased his home's value.
5. Google: Nurture a New Method
Electric Vehicles (EV's) offer the opportunity to slash energy consumption and carbon emissions. To become more widely adopted, making it easy to refuel EV's is critical. At its Silicon Valley campus, Google deployed 120 ChargePoint charging stations by Coulomb Technologies, with a goal to provide 5 percent of its parking with charging. Employees and visitors now easily charge-up to extend their EV's range.
"With that many stations, I thought it would take time to get to high utilization," said Rolf Schreiber, Google's technical program manager for electric transportation initiative. "I was surprised that the charging stations are already used extensively." Many Googlers have told Schreiber that access to workplace charging sealed the deal to purchase an EV.Seeing EVs in the parking lot also provides "social proof" that EV is viable. This can start a virtuous cycle of more employees mimicking the early adopters.
Start a Spark
Start by asking employees to pledge and create a community to share experiences. Or provide personalized and actionable data. Stay on the lookout for tie-ins to corporate initiatives and opportunities to share your buying power to help employees acquire green products more easily and cheaply. Making a larger commitment to support green modes that are in their infancy may fit your green strategy.
"The daily changes took some time to get used to, but the results were incredible," said Moki Tacub, Fairmont's energy reduction winner. Tacub continues to maintain his low energy lifestyle. And the contest raised his energy awareness. Tacub concluded, "My wife and I are now looking into solar panels to save even more electricity."
Imagine Your Employees Engaged in SustainabilityContact me to understand how to use IT to provide coaching and measure results claudia@g3biz.comTo learn more about other IT Green services >>
How SAP's Software Benefits Poor Rural Women In Ghana
To contact us Click HERE
First published by GreenBiz 2012-01-20
Fatima Abdulai is a wife, mother and the first link in the shea supply chain. The fruit she gathers in the northern Ghana bush is the source of shea butter -- the luxurious ingredient in cosmetics and chocolates.
Fatima Abdulai is one of millions of poor rural women who scrape out a living where they find opportunity. In Ghana, the opportunity is the shea nut. In other places, it may be cocoa, cashews, coffee, or hand-made goods. A small loan, efficient technology, and practical advice are the support these women need to help them maximize those opportunities.
Shea trees are also valuable to the global environment. They store carbon and reduce erosion that puts dust in the air. Increasing shea's worth will ensure that the shea trees are not displaced by other cash crops which use more natural resources and create GHG emissions.
Shea has been an important rural food and medicinal for centuries. Gathering and processing shea was always considered "women's work." In the last few years, exporters started selling nuts and butter to manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. But shea pays poorly for women like Mrs. Abdulai because middlemen take advantage of individual producers.
Opportunities for women are limited in northern Ghana. For her widowed daughter-in-law, shea is her primary source of income. If Mrs. Abdulai earns enough with shea and her other ventures, she is able to continue her children's secondary education. The U.N. reports that secondary school enrollment is about half the national average in northern Ghana where Mrs. Abdulai resides.
After learning about women like Mrs. Abdulai, SAP -- the business software giant -- sought to help as part of its corporate social responsibility program. But SAP wanted to make more than a financial contribution. SAP believed that its business management technology "that helps companies run better" could be applied to the shea trade.
Improved agricultural trade could benefit more than a billion people who live in poverty in rural areas. "Agriculture is an engine for growth and poverty reduction..." states a World Bank report [PDF], "Research has shown that every dollar of growth from agricultural products sold outside the local area in poor African countries leads to a second dollar of local rural growth."
SAP partnered with PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit that specializes in microfinance and technical assistance. PlaNet welcomed SAP's hands-on approach.
"We find that companies that put sweat equity into their social projects", said Ivana Damjanov, deputy director of operations, PlaNet Finance, "are more engaged and stay with it for the long-term."
Both partners found the basics were in-place in rural Ghana for the project to succeed; political stability, growing mobile communications infrastructure, and a product with demand on the global market.
SAP recruited a few of its top employees for 6-month fellowships on the Ghana project. During field visits, they learned from Mrs. Abdulai and other women that providing solutions would require more than technology to succeed.
Mrs. Abdulai typically gathers at dawn so she can help her husband on his small farm and manage the household. It is a 15 minute walk to the shea trees where she collects 30 to 35 pounds of fruit before she heaves her basket to her head and trudges back to the village. In the course of the season, she collects almost a ton of fruit.
Vipers, mambas and scorpions lurk in the elephant grass where Mrs. Abdulai collects shea. 1,040 snakebite cases were recorded last year by Northern Regional Ghana Health Service, but incidents are believed to be underreported. Mrs. Abdulai is lucky; she has avoided a snake bite, so far. Unlike her daughter, who was bitten and others who perished.
When she returns home, the next step is to remove the skin and fruit pulp to expose the shea nut, which resembles a spherical avocado pit. Mrs. Abldulai saves some of the fruit, which sustains the family in the "hungry season" when crops have just been planted.
It takes up to two months of drying before the nuts are ready to be transformed into butter. Rushing the drying may also reduce quality. During bad years, Mrs. Abdulai was forced to sell the shea nuts prematurely. She was desperate for cash to buy food, school supplies and other essentials.
The value of shea nuts are diminished considerably with an early sale: A Stanford University study found that the price differential is as much as 82 percent [PDF] for premium nuts that are dried properly.
Because of poor record keeping, Mrs. Abdulai worried that not all of the nuts would be accounted for and she would be short-changed. She has good reason to worry, it turns out: "Some three-quarters of all adults in the north are illiterate," reports the U.N. -- including Mrs. Abdulai and the women in her village who do shea work.
Brokers come to the villages since it is difficult to get to the market. The brokers buy the small batches of butter and nuts and then sell at a large mark-up to the exporters or other manufacturers. Mrs. Abdulai's cache of nuts in past seasons was only enough to partly pay for one child's tuition. She heard that manufacturers pay much more than what the brokers offer the small producers, but what could she do.
Working with SAP and PlaNet Finance colleagues around the globe, the project team developed a holistic solution to resolve the core issues.
The program also cultivated Mrs. Abdulai's leadership skills. She said, "I used to be very shy, but now I educate my colleagues, organize the association leaders and assist them in carrying out their roles."
Imagine Building an App to Connect With Your Customers and StakeholdersContact me to understand how to develop a simple app that compliments your brand strategyclaudia@g3biz.com
To learn more about other IT Green services >>
Fatima Abdulai is a wife, mother and the first link in the shea supply chain. The fruit she gathers in the northern Ghana bush is the source of shea butter -- the luxurious ingredient in cosmetics and chocolates.
Fatima Abdulai is one of millions of poor rural women who scrape out a living where they find opportunity. In Ghana, the opportunity is the shea nut. In other places, it may be cocoa, cashews, coffee, or hand-made goods. A small loan, efficient technology, and practical advice are the support these women need to help them maximize those opportunities.
Shea trees are also valuable to the global environment. They store carbon and reduce erosion that puts dust in the air. Increasing shea's worth will ensure that the shea trees are not displaced by other cash crops which use more natural resources and create GHG emissions.Shea has been an important rural food and medicinal for centuries. Gathering and processing shea was always considered "women's work." In the last few years, exporters started selling nuts and butter to manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. But shea pays poorly for women like Mrs. Abdulai because middlemen take advantage of individual producers.
Opportunities for women are limited in northern Ghana. For her widowed daughter-in-law, shea is her primary source of income. If Mrs. Abdulai earns enough with shea and her other ventures, she is able to continue her children's secondary education. The U.N. reports that secondary school enrollment is about half the national average in northern Ghana where Mrs. Abdulai resides.
After learning about women like Mrs. Abdulai, SAP -- the business software giant -- sought to help as part of its corporate social responsibility program. But SAP wanted to make more than a financial contribution. SAP believed that its business management technology "that helps companies run better" could be applied to the shea trade.
Improved agricultural trade could benefit more than a billion people who live in poverty in rural areas. "Agriculture is an engine for growth and poverty reduction..." states a World Bank report [PDF], "Research has shown that every dollar of growth from agricultural products sold outside the local area in poor African countries leads to a second dollar of local rural growth."
SAP partnered with PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit that specializes in microfinance and technical assistance. PlaNet welcomed SAP's hands-on approach.
"We find that companies that put sweat equity into their social projects", said Ivana Damjanov, deputy director of operations, PlaNet Finance, "are more engaged and stay with it for the long-term."
Both partners found the basics were in-place in rural Ghana for the project to succeed; political stability, growing mobile communications infrastructure, and a product with demand on the global market.
SAP recruited a few of its top employees for 6-month fellowships on the Ghana project. During field visits, they learned from Mrs. Abdulai and other women that providing solutions would require more than technology to succeed.
Mrs. Abdulai typically gathers at dawn so she can help her husband on his small farm and manage the household. It is a 15 minute walk to the shea trees where she collects 30 to 35 pounds of fruit before she heaves her basket to her head and trudges back to the village. In the course of the season, she collects almost a ton of fruit.
Vipers, mambas and scorpions lurk in the elephant grass where Mrs. Abdulai collects shea. 1,040 snakebite cases were recorded last year by Northern Regional Ghana Health Service, but incidents are believed to be underreported. Mrs. Abdulai is lucky; she has avoided a snake bite, so far. Unlike her daughter, who was bitten and others who perished.
When she returns home, the next step is to remove the skin and fruit pulp to expose the shea nut, which resembles a spherical avocado pit. Mrs. Abldulai saves some of the fruit, which sustains the family in the "hungry season" when crops have just been planted.
It takes up to two months of drying before the nuts are ready to be transformed into butter. Rushing the drying may also reduce quality. During bad years, Mrs. Abdulai was forced to sell the shea nuts prematurely. She was desperate for cash to buy food, school supplies and other essentials.The value of shea nuts are diminished considerably with an early sale: A Stanford University study found that the price differential is as much as 82 percent [PDF] for premium nuts that are dried properly.
Because of poor record keeping, Mrs. Abdulai worried that not all of the nuts would be accounted for and she would be short-changed. She has good reason to worry, it turns out: "Some three-quarters of all adults in the north are illiterate," reports the U.N. -- including Mrs. Abdulai and the women in her village who do shea work.
Brokers come to the villages since it is difficult to get to the market. The brokers buy the small batches of butter and nuts and then sell at a large mark-up to the exporters or other manufacturers. Mrs. Abdulai's cache of nuts in past seasons was only enough to partly pay for one child's tuition. She heard that manufacturers pay much more than what the brokers offer the small producers, but what could she do.
Working with SAP and PlaNet Finance colleagues around the globe, the project team developed a holistic solution to resolve the core issues.
• Dangerous working conditions: Provide boots, gloves and coats to protect women gathering shea fruit.
• Uneven cash flow: Make microloans to support families until nuts are sold at full market value.
• No data: Build an order management tool --- Rural Sourcing Management (RSM) --- to capture and share key data about the product and market prices. The tool uses mobile technology, cloud computing and SAP software. The RSM tool is used by field officers, who are literate and able to use the technology after training.
• Product quality: Educate women on how to improve quality to satisfy the standards set by highest paying customers.
• Weak position as sellers: Set up an association, Star Shea Network, among small shea producers to eliminate the brokers. Recruit a more educated person in the community to record notes from meetings and assist with bookkeeping. Negotiate a long-term contract with a manufacturer seeking organic, fair trade and high-quality shea nuts and butter. The detailed product data provided by the new system and consistent quality were key factors in closing the deal.Under the new program, Mrs. Abdulai joined the association. She qualified for loans to purchase additional tailoring machines for her small business and protective gear for picking. She has repaid these loans. With the additional income she earned, Mrs. Abdulai paid school fees for her three children. Mrs. Abdulai is grateful that the program "opened up her shea business to the world."
The program also cultivated Mrs. Abdulai's leadership skills. She said, "I used to be very shy, but now I educate my colleagues, organize the association leaders and assist them in carrying out their roles."
Imagine Building an App to Connect With Your Customers and StakeholdersContact me to understand how to develop a simple app that compliments your brand strategyclaudia@g3biz.com
To learn more about other IT Green services >>
How Autodesk Cut its Data Center Energy Use by 62 %
To contact us Click HERE
First published by GreenBiz 2012-02-22 and covered by Dallas Morning News online edition
Many companies are busy using IT to enable greener practices yet don't get around to making IT green. Recently Autodesk -- the leader of 3D design software used by manufacturers, architects and engineers to enhance a product's sustainability -- completed a major data center retrofit.
The project cut its power consumption by 62 percent. The project also reaped $7 million in annual savings from reduced energy and IT infrastructure costs, which represents 15 percent of the IT budget.
Jeff Brzycki, Autodesk's CIO, reviewed the program's strategy and results.
1. Virtualization
"Virtualization," said Brzycki, was core to the new design. Virtualization is a process of creating multiple virtual servers on a single physical server. Once virtualized, three to five physical servers may be retired. Given that an average server uses as much electricity annually as the average American household, reducing physical servers has a huge impact on power.
Utilization of its hardware was abysmally low prior to utilization. Brzycki winced when he confided that utilization was only 5 percent, which is typical of many data centers, and proud to report that utilization is now at 86 percent. Autodesk retired 450 servers or 75 percent of its fleet.
2. Greener Infrastructure
Much of the original fleet was old and not well suited for virtualization. The project team took the opportunity to acquire greener products and services. The retired hardware was responsibly handled by a certified green recycler.
3. Not Just Greener, Better Service
The primary reason for low utilization of data center assets is that multiple copies of systems are needed to support development and testing. Access to test servers is critical for Autodesk since it uses IT for product development. Lack of test servers could slow product delivery or resolution of customer issues.
To make virtualization work, IT needed to improve its responsiveness when receiving requests for a server. The project team developed an automated provisioning process that creates a virtual server in just 7 minutes, down from the original service level of 12 days for a physical server.
This provisioning process was also used to support unexpected customer demand. When Autodesk first offered students some of its software at no cost, the response was overwhelming. The automated provisioning process allowed IT to ramp up quickly to the student demand, such as back-to-school, and then reclaim the assets when demand leveled off. Before the process was in-place, the servers would have been used at peak for a few weeks and then left running with minimal utilization.
4. "Big Bang" Deployment
With technical design complete, processes developed and greener products procured, the last step was deployment. One option was to do an incremental deployment -- moving a few servers and systems at a time, but Brzycki was concerned that IT's business partners would be inconvenienced for months. Instead the team decided on a "big bang" approach where all systems are cut-over at once.
It was stressful for Brzycki and the team, but with careful planning and thorough testing, they built out a parallel data center and then successfully cut-over all the systems simultaneously. They have been live for three months without major issues.
Autodesk's data center project benefited from support from CEO Carl Bass, well known for his green passion. Those organizations with less green awareness will find this sort of data center project is attractive purely on financial terms. Autodesk realized a pay-back of less than a year.
Imagine Your Data Center SavingsContact me to understand your potential savings claudia@g3biz.com
To learn more about other IT Green services >>
Technical Details for Green Geeks
Beyond the top-line findings, here are some of the technical details of Autodesk's data center revamp project, including the hardware and software providers for some aspects of the project.
1. Virtualization Products
a. Application and web Servers: VMWare
b. Systems management: Nimsoft replaced two other tools
c. Network: Xsigo enabled virtualization of production and non-production networks. Xsigo supplements standard routers
d. Database servers: Did not virtualize
2. Greener infrastructure
Autodesk shifted from a single vendor to multiple partners creating competition and allowing Autodesk to select best of breed. This provided an economic and sustainability advantage, since sustainability requirements were built into the RFP process. Separate RFP's were released for hosting, managed service and equipment.
a. Hosting:
• Equinix, located in California and Sungard located in New Jersey
• Sungard serves on the Green Grid technical committee, and was named a Global Green 100 Honoree in 2009 by the uptime institute.
• Equinix participates in the Energy Star initiative to help define the standard for data centers. Also a member of the Green Grid Tech committee. The data center where Autodesk is located is also LEED certified
b. Managed service: HCL
c. Equipment:
• Replaced older and power hunger equipment with a variety of systems, but many of the servers are HP models.
• Recycled old equipment and no e-waste. Autodesk received $100,000 for the old equipment.
• In order to eliminate tape backup, Autodesk deployed a multi-tier storage infrastructure; HP's 3Par is its top-tier storage and the backups are migrated to progressively less expensive storage platforms.
3. Automate processes to provide dramatically better service
a. In-house developed
b. Self-service app that allows users to provision their own virtual server
c. Provisioning service level: 7 minutes
4. Deployment
a. 10 month build-out in parallel data center
b. Big bang cutover
c. Live since late 2011
Many companies are busy using IT to enable greener practices yet don't get around to making IT green. Recently Autodesk -- the leader of 3D design software used by manufacturers, architects and engineers to enhance a product's sustainability -- completed a major data center retrofit.The project cut its power consumption by 62 percent. The project also reaped $7 million in annual savings from reduced energy and IT infrastructure costs, which represents 15 percent of the IT budget.
Jeff Brzycki, Autodesk's CIO, reviewed the program's strategy and results.
1. Virtualization
"Virtualization," said Brzycki, was core to the new design. Virtualization is a process of creating multiple virtual servers on a single physical server. Once virtualized, three to five physical servers may be retired. Given that an average server uses as much electricity annually as the average American household, reducing physical servers has a huge impact on power.
Utilization of its hardware was abysmally low prior to utilization. Brzycki winced when he confided that utilization was only 5 percent, which is typical of many data centers, and proud to report that utilization is now at 86 percent. Autodesk retired 450 servers or 75 percent of its fleet.
2. Greener Infrastructure
Much of the original fleet was old and not well suited for virtualization. The project team took the opportunity to acquire greener products and services. The retired hardware was responsibly handled by a certified green recycler.
3. Not Just Greener, Better Service
The primary reason for low utilization of data center assets is that multiple copies of systems are needed to support development and testing. Access to test servers is critical for Autodesk since it uses IT for product development. Lack of test servers could slow product delivery or resolution of customer issues.
To make virtualization work, IT needed to improve its responsiveness when receiving requests for a server. The project team developed an automated provisioning process that creates a virtual server in just 7 minutes, down from the original service level of 12 days for a physical server.
This provisioning process was also used to support unexpected customer demand. When Autodesk first offered students some of its software at no cost, the response was overwhelming. The automated provisioning process allowed IT to ramp up quickly to the student demand, such as back-to-school, and then reclaim the assets when demand leveled off. Before the process was in-place, the servers would have been used at peak for a few weeks and then left running with minimal utilization.
4. "Big Bang" Deployment
With technical design complete, processes developed and greener products procured, the last step was deployment. One option was to do an incremental deployment -- moving a few servers and systems at a time, but Brzycki was concerned that IT's business partners would be inconvenienced for months. Instead the team decided on a "big bang" approach where all systems are cut-over at once.
It was stressful for Brzycki and the team, but with careful planning and thorough testing, they built out a parallel data center and then successfully cut-over all the systems simultaneously. They have been live for three months without major issues.
Autodesk's data center project benefited from support from CEO Carl Bass, well known for his green passion. Those organizations with less green awareness will find this sort of data center project is attractive purely on financial terms. Autodesk realized a pay-back of less than a year.
Imagine Your Data Center SavingsContact me to understand your potential savings claudia@g3biz.com
To learn more about other IT Green services >>
Technical Details for Green Geeks
Beyond the top-line findings, here are some of the technical details of Autodesk's data center revamp project, including the hardware and software providers for some aspects of the project.
1. Virtualization Products
a. Application and web Servers: VMWare
b. Systems management: Nimsoft replaced two other tools
c. Network: Xsigo enabled virtualization of production and non-production networks. Xsigo supplements standard routers
d. Database servers: Did not virtualize
2. Greener infrastructure
Autodesk shifted from a single vendor to multiple partners creating competition and allowing Autodesk to select best of breed. This provided an economic and sustainability advantage, since sustainability requirements were built into the RFP process. Separate RFP's were released for hosting, managed service and equipment.
a. Hosting:
• Equinix, located in California and Sungard located in New Jersey
• Sungard serves on the Green Grid technical committee, and was named a Global Green 100 Honoree in 2009 by the uptime institute.
• Equinix participates in the Energy Star initiative to help define the standard for data centers. Also a member of the Green Grid Tech committee. The data center where Autodesk is located is also LEED certified
b. Managed service: HCL
c. Equipment:
• Replaced older and power hunger equipment with a variety of systems, but many of the servers are HP models.
• Recycled old equipment and no e-waste. Autodesk received $100,000 for the old equipment.
• In order to eliminate tape backup, Autodesk deployed a multi-tier storage infrastructure; HP's 3Par is its top-tier storage and the backups are migrated to progressively less expensive storage platforms.
3. Automate processes to provide dramatically better service
a. In-house developed
b. Self-service app that allows users to provision their own virtual server
c. Provisioning service level: 7 minutes
4. Deployment
a. 10 month build-out in parallel data center
b. Big bang cutover
c. Live since late 2011
3 Ways IT Can Support Greener Behaviors
To contact us Click HERE
Published by GreenBiz on 2012-03-20 
How do we change people's behavior to reduce GHG emissions?
A group of us sat around an oak rectory table in a former monastery which now serves as the headquarters for Garrison Institute, our host for the "Climate Mind and Behavior" symposium. A monastery reverberated as the right setting for contemplating more righteous behavior.
The purpose of the symposium was to share academic research and real-world projects on how to best shift behavior using social and behavioral sciences. As the lone IT professional, my goal was to contribute on ways that technology could support behavioral programs.
Why Is Changing Behavior Critical
"Behavioral approaches," explained Dr. Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, director of Climate Mind and Behavior at Garrison Institute, "offer the promise of large, rapid and relatively inexpensive means of reducing carbon emissions."
There are case studies where people achieved incredible results just through their personal efforts.
Research on building performance uncovered two to three times variation in performance. The least energy efficient buildings with the most energy smart occupants outperformed better buildings with less savvy occupants. If we could learn from positive behaviors and craft programs to duplicate them, the returns would be fabulous.
Top 3 Areas Where IT May Contribute
Along with the happy anecdotes of change, presenters also reviewed those efforts that had complications such as maintaining the change over long periods or scaling the change effort to large groups.
IT may complement behavioral strategies by doing what IT does best; automating repetitive activities, finding meaning in large amounts of data and providing instrumentation to help us optimize.
1. At Your Service: Automate desired behavior shifts whenever possible
When looking to reduce energy use in its many research labs, the change management team at the University of Toronto uncovered that the fume hoods required to remove toxins are huge energy consumers. Although critical for health and safety when researchers are present, fume hoods that are running at maximum speed are a waste of energy when the lab is empty.
This appeared to be an ideal candidate for a behavior campaign, since the only task was for each researcher to pull down his/her fume hood before leaving the lab. What could be simpler?
The program failed over time, although it was well defined, exceptionally executed and supported by management.
Focusing on behavior is a popular tool among budget strapped change managers, since a behavior program is often a smaller investment compared to more systemic changes. "We did not have a budget", explained Zannah Matson, research assistant at the Centre for Environment, "affecting people's behavior was our only option."
One idea, based on my research, is to use automation, since occupancy sensors to manage fume hoods provide a payback of less than a year. Other good candidates for automation are repetitive activities such as hibernating a computer, turning off devices when not in use, and lowering building temperatures.
Costs of technology continue to decline, so opportunities to use are increasing. Partnering with a green finance manager and applying behavioral insights to convince management to invest wisely is equally important in the quest to reduce energy use.
2. Have It Your Way: Use IT business intelligence to present appropriate messages
Several speakers highlighted research by change management guru Robert Cialdini. "A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason," states Cialdini in his book "Influence."
"People simply like to have reasons for what they do," he wrote.
Ehrhardt-Martinez cautioned us that the wrong reason could turn people off. She encouraged us to work within people's current value system and focus on developing an appealing message based on those values: "We don't need to change beliefs, we need to change behavior."
Since the smart energy target group is broad, a single reason will not appeal to everyone. For greens, the reason could be global warming. For mothers, the motivation could be clean air to reduce asthma. For some, energy independence is appealing. For the small business owner, reduced costs are often compelling.
Yet a long list of potentially conflicting benefits may be ignored. My recommendation is to use IT to understand more about the energy consumer and then present each with the appropriate benefit.
The methods of high tech masters should be studied and exploited to sell energy smart behaviors. The retailer Target uses sophisticated data mining to find and then engage customers, as reported recently by the New York Times. Other companies use website traffic to determine values and interests.
3. You are a Winner: Use IT to provide frequent, simple and personalized feedback
Just sharing information periodically has proven to change energy use. The next level in providing information and feedback is making the process into a game. The game approach combines the best change management practices -- define the rules, provide a clear goal, make the score visible -- that hooks the player.
An early adopter of games is Cool Choices, a NGO that is using a gaming platform to make reducing one's carbon footprint fun. Kathy Kuntz, executive director at Cool Choices, explained that when done well, a game will motivate the players to put in extra effort to win more points.
Cool Choices worked with Miron Construction, a firm whose business strategy was based on sustainability with its focus in LEED building. To encourage participation, the founders were deeply involved and reinforced the message that energy conservation was part of the firm's core beliefs.
Top management support is critical to get people to try the game, but it is difficult to maintain enthusiasm for long periods unless the game is easy, fun and pays dividends.
The player selects from a variety of actions and depending on the impact, points are rewarded. There were bonus opportunities for sharing activities and influencing others to help build a community.
Kuntz emphasized that points were used rather than dollars, kilowatt hours or carbon savings to maintain the gaming culture. When describing activities and benefits, Kuntz's team ensured there was "no geek speak."
The results are promising. Seventy-five percent signed up and 67 percent played. Prior to the game, less than 20 percent of the participants made a significant effort to save energy. After the game, more than 70 percent were making a significant effort.
As a frustrated captive forced to watch poorly acted videos, the failed HR attempts to make other types of training "fun," my advice is to remember that the investment and skill required to produce green games that are as engaging as commercial games should not be underestimated.
Conclusion: It's the System, Not the People
The environmental missionary, Paul Hawken pointed out that "ninety percent can do little. Our choices are very constrained." Hawken asked us to consider "A thousand who care deeply about climate change and a thousand who think it is hogwash. Compare footprints."
Hawken's analogy reminded me of the "85/15" rule first posited by Total Quality Manager guru W. Edwards Deming. Deming's research found that 85 percent of the participant's effectiveness is determined by the system and 15 percent by the participant. Likewise when there are inefficiencies or failures, 85 percent of the time it is due to the system.
The good news, IT has the potential to reduce the system challenges that Hawken and Deming reference as we undertake greener behaviors.
Imagine How IT Can Help Your Stakeholders Switch to Greener Behaviors
Contact me to learn how technology can: * Act as our servant and take care of repetitive behaviors * Guide us to information that resonates based on personal values and interests.* Be our coach with tailored feedback to keep us engaged.
claudia@g3biz.comTo learn more about other IT Green services >>
To review the presentations referenced in this article and others from the recent symposium, visit Garrison Institute.
How do we change people's behavior to reduce GHG emissions?A group of us sat around an oak rectory table in a former monastery which now serves as the headquarters for Garrison Institute, our host for the "Climate Mind and Behavior" symposium. A monastery reverberated as the right setting for contemplating more righteous behavior.
The purpose of the symposium was to share academic research and real-world projects on how to best shift behavior using social and behavioral sciences. As the lone IT professional, my goal was to contribute on ways that technology could support behavioral programs.
Why Is Changing Behavior Critical
"Behavioral approaches," explained Dr. Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, director of Climate Mind and Behavior at Garrison Institute, "offer the promise of large, rapid and relatively inexpensive means of reducing carbon emissions."
There are case studies where people achieved incredible results just through their personal efforts.
Research on building performance uncovered two to three times variation in performance. The least energy efficient buildings with the most energy smart occupants outperformed better buildings with less savvy occupants. If we could learn from positive behaviors and craft programs to duplicate them, the returns would be fabulous.
Top 3 Areas Where IT May Contribute
Along with the happy anecdotes of change, presenters also reviewed those efforts that had complications such as maintaining the change over long periods or scaling the change effort to large groups.
IT may complement behavioral strategies by doing what IT does best; automating repetitive activities, finding meaning in large amounts of data and providing instrumentation to help us optimize.
1. At Your Service: Automate desired behavior shifts whenever possible
When looking to reduce energy use in its many research labs, the change management team at the University of Toronto uncovered that the fume hoods required to remove toxins are huge energy consumers. Although critical for health and safety when researchers are present, fume hoods that are running at maximum speed are a waste of energy when the lab is empty.
This appeared to be an ideal candidate for a behavior campaign, since the only task was for each researcher to pull down his/her fume hood before leaving the lab. What could be simpler?
The program failed over time, although it was well defined, exceptionally executed and supported by management.
Focusing on behavior is a popular tool among budget strapped change managers, since a behavior program is often a smaller investment compared to more systemic changes. "We did not have a budget", explained Zannah Matson, research assistant at the Centre for Environment, "affecting people's behavior was our only option."
One idea, based on my research, is to use automation, since occupancy sensors to manage fume hoods provide a payback of less than a year. Other good candidates for automation are repetitive activities such as hibernating a computer, turning off devices when not in use, and lowering building temperatures.
Costs of technology continue to decline, so opportunities to use are increasing. Partnering with a green finance manager and applying behavioral insights to convince management to invest wisely is equally important in the quest to reduce energy use.
2. Have It Your Way: Use IT business intelligence to present appropriate messages
Several speakers highlighted research by change management guru Robert Cialdini. "A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason," states Cialdini in his book "Influence."
"People simply like to have reasons for what they do," he wrote.
Ehrhardt-Martinez cautioned us that the wrong reason could turn people off. She encouraged us to work within people's current value system and focus on developing an appealing message based on those values: "We don't need to change beliefs, we need to change behavior."
Since the smart energy target group is broad, a single reason will not appeal to everyone. For greens, the reason could be global warming. For mothers, the motivation could be clean air to reduce asthma. For some, energy independence is appealing. For the small business owner, reduced costs are often compelling.
Yet a long list of potentially conflicting benefits may be ignored. My recommendation is to use IT to understand more about the energy consumer and then present each with the appropriate benefit.
The methods of high tech masters should be studied and exploited to sell energy smart behaviors. The retailer Target uses sophisticated data mining to find and then engage customers, as reported recently by the New York Times. Other companies use website traffic to determine values and interests.
3. You are a Winner: Use IT to provide frequent, simple and personalized feedback
Just sharing information periodically has proven to change energy use. The next level in providing information and feedback is making the process into a game. The game approach combines the best change management practices -- define the rules, provide a clear goal, make the score visible -- that hooks the player.
An early adopter of games is Cool Choices, a NGO that is using a gaming platform to make reducing one's carbon footprint fun. Kathy Kuntz, executive director at Cool Choices, explained that when done well, a game will motivate the players to put in extra effort to win more points.
Cool Choices worked with Miron Construction, a firm whose business strategy was based on sustainability with its focus in LEED building. To encourage participation, the founders were deeply involved and reinforced the message that energy conservation was part of the firm's core beliefs.
Top management support is critical to get people to try the game, but it is difficult to maintain enthusiasm for long periods unless the game is easy, fun and pays dividends.
The player selects from a variety of actions and depending on the impact, points are rewarded. There were bonus opportunities for sharing activities and influencing others to help build a community.
Kuntz emphasized that points were used rather than dollars, kilowatt hours or carbon savings to maintain the gaming culture. When describing activities and benefits, Kuntz's team ensured there was "no geek speak."
The results are promising. Seventy-five percent signed up and 67 percent played. Prior to the game, less than 20 percent of the participants made a significant effort to save energy. After the game, more than 70 percent were making a significant effort.
As a frustrated captive forced to watch poorly acted videos, the failed HR attempts to make other types of training "fun," my advice is to remember that the investment and skill required to produce green games that are as engaging as commercial games should not be underestimated.
Conclusion: It's the System, Not the People
The environmental missionary, Paul Hawken pointed out that "ninety percent can do little. Our choices are very constrained." Hawken asked us to consider "A thousand who care deeply about climate change and a thousand who think it is hogwash. Compare footprints."
Hawken's analogy reminded me of the "85/15" rule first posited by Total Quality Manager guru W. Edwards Deming. Deming's research found that 85 percent of the participant's effectiveness is determined by the system and 15 percent by the participant. Likewise when there are inefficiencies or failures, 85 percent of the time it is due to the system.
The good news, IT has the potential to reduce the system challenges that Hawken and Deming reference as we undertake greener behaviors.
Imagine How IT Can Help Your Stakeholders Switch to Greener Behaviors
Contact me to learn how technology can: * Act as our servant and take care of repetitive behaviors * Guide us to information that resonates based on personal values and interests.* Be our coach with tailored feedback to keep us engaged.claudia@g3biz.comTo learn more about other IT Green services >>
To review the presentations referenced in this article and others from the recent symposium, visit Garrison Institute.
4 IT trends that can amp up your sustainability programs
To contact us Click HERE
Published by GreenBiz on 2012-03-21
Computing is found everywhere across the globe and cheap enough to be in the hands of a subsistence farmer. Let's review four emerging trends that harness the power, popularity, and economics of IT to boost sustainability programs.
The foundation making the trends possible
Consider the following examples as a refresher on how technology continues to advance:
Imagine How IT Can Amplify Your Green ProgramsContact me to learn how to:
* Deploy apps in the cloud to prototype and provide new services.
* Use sensors to help you manage your most challenging environments.
* Consider the human link to get critical data not found in systems.
* Exploit data outside your organization to provide new insights.claudia@g3biz.comTo learn more about other IT Green services >>
Computing is found everywhere across the globe and cheap enough to be in the hands of a subsistence farmer. Let's review four emerging trends that harness the power, popularity, and economics of IT to boost sustainability programs.The foundation making the trends possible
Consider the following examples as a refresher on how technology continues to advance:The 4 IT trends
- A smart phone is more powerful than all the NASA computers used in 1969 to send 2 astronauts to the moon, reports Michio Kaku in his book "Physics of the Future." A Sony PlayStation eclipses the power of a military super computer used in 1997.
- While power increased, computing costs plummeted. The computing power used by the military in 1997 and the PlayStation today, cost millions of dollars in 1997 while the PlayStation will only set you back $300.
- With declining costs, powerful technology is now widespread. There are 4.6 billion cell phones in use, more than half the population owns one. Twenty-seven percent of those phones are "smart" with the greatest penetration in developed markets. They are 1 billion broadband subscribers allowing for the quick transfer of data needed to make applications useful.
1. Shifting to cloud computing to provide new apps quicklyJust like the Zipcar, cloud computing is based on sharing. An organization uses computing power owned by a third party when needed, rather than acquiring its own data center and equipment with the all the capital costs and on-going overhead.
This allows an organization to focus on its core competency, those activities that differentiate it from its competitors. Given that most data centers continue to be alarmingly underutilized at 10 to 20 percent on average, shifting management of computer equipment will likely provide big benefits for your organization and the environment.
But more exciting than optimization is the opportunity to provide new applications quickly, even if the organization is small. All of the apps reviewed in the next sections are available in the cloud.
2. Deploying sensors to enable new types of automation
Each year, poor driving contributes to 93 percent of all car accidents, or 4.9 million last year. We spend an extra 11 minutes per day on average stuck in traffic and much more in highly congested areas. Poor driving practices and congestion waste 3.9 billion gallons of gas, about 4 percent of total U.S. oil production. Google hopes to resolve these issues with its self-driving car.
In 2005, the best self-driving car completed a closed course in seven hours at an average speed of 19 mph. In just five years, Google developed a fleet of self-driving prototypes that have since driven 190,000 miles in street traffic, busy freeways and the open road.
How did Google achieve the breakthrough? Taking a whole systems approach, Google developed the brain, memory and eyes for its self-driving system.
The car uses an impressive algorithm and enormous processing power as its brain. Feeding the brain are the "eyes," made up of multiple sensors including a laser guidance system on its roof, radar mounted on the bumpers, a GPS system and various cameras. The sensors are used to capture data real-time but just as importantly, road data prior to any trips. That road data is stored as memory.
Live streaming of data from sensors and historical road data are combined to recognize static objects such as traffic lights from dynamic objects such as pedestrians. The Google car crunches more data, does it quicker and more reliably than human drivers.
Although the Google car is still a few years away from commercialization, a variety of niche apps is being introduced to manage specialized processes. These new apps read hundreds of smart sensors every few minutes to manage changing conditions. PureSense reduces water use by farmers while increasing yields and reducing disease. Panoramic Power deploys sensors at the circuit level to provide more granular management of devices in buildings to stop wasting energy and money.
These sensors also detect dangerous conditions such as flooding, equipment overheating or no longer functioning to enhance safety, providing an added value.
3. Recruiting people to input data for alerts
Tap water in India is often only available a few hours per day and at different times each day. When water is available, the taps are turned on to fill bathtubs and other containers to store water for later drinking, cooking and bathing. Women and children are on "water alert" not knowing when the next delivery will occur, keeping someone at home at all times.
NextDrop saw an opportunity to help consumers dealing with this limited and erratic water delivery. NextDrop recruited utility personnel who open the valves that allow water to flow. The utility rep enters the valve number in a simple mobile phone app when the valve is opened. NextDrop then sends an alert to subscribers of that valve so they can return home while the water is available.
Valero Energy uses SAP software to manage its enterprise. But some important data was still unavailable to solve issues early and prevent accidents. Traditional incident reports were available to report issues, but usage by Valero employees was low.
Working with SAP, a new interface was deployed. Valero employees who notice something amiss are now encouraged to take a photo with a cell phone which has amplified reporting of issues.
Many companies are concerned about labor practices by suppliers and may even do periodic factory inspections to ensure compliance with their "Vendor Code of Conduct." LaborVoices is a new tool that captures worker input via cell phones to provide alerts about problem situations that warrant deeper investigation.
4. Using and combining other organizations' data for new insightsGlobal Forest Watch 2.0 turns that old adage on its head, "See the forest, for the trees" to "See the trees in the forest." The goal is to spot any illegal logging or other activity before it is too late. Using NASA satellite data taken on separate occasions and sophisticated software to peer through the clouds, Global Forest Watch is now able to pinpoint areas where illegal activity is occurring by comparing changes over time. They have stopped violators by providing compelling evidence to government officials quickly.
Coca-Cola worked with WRI (World Resources Institute) to develop Aqueduct. Aqueduct helps manufacturers and others who rely on water to understand water risk where they operate by using data maintained by governments and other groups across the globe.
Walmart, IBM, Kraft Foods and many others are encouraging their respective industries to use a common language to unlock the data within individual organizations. For example, the Carbon Disclosure Project provides a hub for suppliers to enter data once such that their many partners in the supply chain may access.Computing power is abundant, cheap and ubiquitous. For us sustainability folk, the challenge is to think creatively on how to unleash IT.
Imagine How IT Can Amplify Your Green ProgramsContact me to learn how to:
* Deploy apps in the cloud to prototype and provide new services.
* Use sensors to help you manage your most challenging environments.
* Consider the human link to get critical data not found in systems.
* Exploit data outside your organization to provide new insights.claudia@g3biz.comTo learn more about other IT Green services >>
Kaydol:
Kayıtlar (Atom)