I’m just thinking out loud here so don’t  mind me…….

What are the chances of every individual on the planet having a carbon quota?

When is that likely to happen?

How will it be administered and by whom?

Economists, at least the ones that I have read to date, appear to discount or ignore the possibility that someday demand for natural resources will outstrip supply. This scenario is becoming increasingly probable because;

a. the global population is growing exponentially, some say to 9 billion by the end of the century and that’s lots of mouths to feed

b. western society is consuming resources at the rate of three planets worth currently, last I heard we still only have one

c. developing countries consumption rates are ramping up fast

d. and we don’t appear to have a Plan B for growing food anywhere else, see b. above for more details

So when models for how economies should operate were designed did anyone ever consider that the well would eventually run dry? Maybe they did, but then western consumerism came along and threw out all the rules.

With a future scenario of, let’s be polite and just say tighter resources, then it’s probably likely that we will have some sort of rationing. One way this might be realised is through say an individual carbon quota. The economists out there are already screaming at this point, quotas, rationing, carbon…never!

As resources become more scarce the likelihood is that some sort of carbon quota and tax on consumables might be introduced. This will go hand in hand with global initiatives to carbon label products. As this happens we’ll probably start to see retail loyalty cards being used to track consumer behaviour in terms of carbon consumption. This information will give policy makers a better understanding of how to tax efficiently those goods and as a result those consumers that are seen as carbon intensive.

As some futurists might suggest, when monies become electronic and systems become integrated, the store card, credit card, bank card, loyalty card and …..carbon card might become one. A carbon card will be interesting indeed if it helps people to consume more carbon efficiently.

We can build allotments, and drive the most fuel efficient cars, and recycle our paper, but until there is a true cost on consumption and carbon our efforts although worthy, are like plugging the hole in a sinking ship with say recycled paper. As for timelines we might see carbon rationining by 2020 or beyond. As the planet heats up the need to address global warming impacts will become more urgent.

Look, I don’t have any of this fully figured out as yet, but you can be sure that some smart people are thinking of ways to make an industry out of this. Afterall it took us one hundred years to put a name on the industrial revolution, so it won’t be long before someone figures out that we are in the early stages of the eco-revolution and that’s when it all kicks off. Carbon impacts climate therefore carbon will be regulated, priced, commoditised and taxed. Science fiction you say! Over forty years ago some people said the very same thing about humans landing on the surface of the moon!

The revolution is here! Viva la eco revolucion!

Moores Law states that the number of transistors on a microprocessor will double about every two years. The law has held up pretty much since Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, first published his paper on the subject in 1965. With the increase in chip capacity came a rise in speed and therefore processing power. We have powerful computers today because of the technology and innovation that drives chip design and production. When the first men landed on the moon it sometimes said that there was less computing power on the spacecraft than there is on a modern mobile phone. So we’ve come a long way in 40 years or so.

For the stand alone home or office computer or laptop the amount of energy consumed is large in itself. Now consider taking an individual computer with all it’s associated processor technology and less the peripherals, such as the screen and mouse, and multiplying that by hundreds, maybe thousands of similar devices in the same room. These rooms are eupehmistically termed a ’server farm’,  where lines upon lines of individual servers get stacked together to process information. This scenario presents processor designers at the front end and building services engineers at the back end, with the same problem, how to dissipate heat and minimise power requirements. The reason server farms exist in the first place is because our world is becoming more data driven. And in the world of 24/7 data requirements then the server farm is indeed a practical solution.

Grouped servers or server farms generate huge amounts of heat and because the servers must be kept cool relative to their operating limits then a huge amount of energy must be expended on ventilation and air conditioning. As the energy demand goes up, so too does the cost. And because more and more companies are using these server farms to process and warehouse data, then the demand for both the faster technology and energy is rising in parallel. As the world is increasingly becoming more speed and data driven, increasing data requirements are driving demand for more server capacity and therefore larger and more complex storage locations. This is both a problem and an opportunity.

The problem ofcourse as we’ve already mentioned, is that, as the server farms get bigger and more complex, they require more energy, distributed in it’s many different forms. Likewise, the folks that build processors are continuing to pack more processing power onto smaller boards, leading to even greater heat production and as a result, greater demand for cooling to keep the server within it’s operating parameters.

The solutions to these enormous challenges are not green, per se, but are hopefully moving us towards a situation where less energy will be consumed by more complex technology. There are still the issues around the raw materials that go into microprocessor production ofcourse, the use of toxic substances and precious metals for instance, but where less energy consumption is the end goal in this increasingly carbon constrained world, then technology innovation will be the key.

Companies are currently working on increasing server consolidation and virtualisation whilst at the same time reducing the amount of real estate needed to house the servers. Fewer, more efficient and more densely populated servers which are more efficiently utilised are becoming a ‘hot topic’. Air distribution technology that distributes more air around a server core, to keep the server cooler, is also becoming more advanced.

The sector is still faced with a huge problem and it’s one that the industry is beginning to address in a number of different ways. But demand for faster and more complex computing is still driving sales and as a result pressures are increasing to get more complex products to market, sooner, and as more competitors vie for a share of this burgeoning consumer market, the race to get smaller, better, faster get only get more intense. Likewise, although efficiencies are usually a good thing we can also be more efficient at using more of a resource, take the destruction of the natural environment in the Amazon rain forest as an example. This race to maximise efficiencies could therefore be a double edged sword in terms of environmental impact.

Going ‘green’ with IT (Information Technology) will require greater industry collaboration to drive innovation towards a less energy intensive scenario. It will also involve transformation along every aspect of the value chain. It’s not just the technology world that will be impacted.

So as we getter faster and faster data streams, can we get greener technologies to support them? It’s one of the great challenges of the 21st Century for all industry sectors, but in the end it’s a combination of humans, technology and the natural world that will need to come up with the solution before the heat gets too much for everyone .

Yes the Boomtown Rats sang about it. And you could be excused for thinking that we have been living in one for at least the last ten years, but that’s not the subject for this blog. In fact, it’s the connection between bananas and how they get to this republic that I am more interested in.

The history of the banana and it’s import in bulk quantities into Ireland can be dated back to the beginning of the twentieth century, 1906 actually, when a firm named Charles McCann of Dundalk became the first company to import bananas on the large scale into the country. The likelihood is that the large swathe cut by a colonial Britain had in fact introduced the banana much earlier, probably the seventeeth century, but irregularity of supply and their high price would have made them a very scarce commodity. According to the book, ‘The International Banana Trade’, McCann’s import was the first recorded bulk import into Ireland.

If you trace the history of the banana, it does indeed seem to parallel the history of colonialism. Because the banana can only be grown in semi-tropical conditions, high tech greenhouses being an exception, the usual source for the fruit is Third-World countries. As it happens most of these countries have been colonised at one stage or another in history. With that colonisation came unfair and unethical labour practices, monopolies and in recent times modern agricultural methods, pesticides and such.

It is this method of production and supply, the use of pesticides and low paid labour, that makes the banana an interesting subject for consumers to be aware of, especially since bananas take a lot of energy and water to get here; fossil fuel energy for the pesticides, water to grow, wash and then transport them. They are shipped in a modified atmosphere to avoid ripening, treated with pesticides and wrapped in tonnes of plastic and cardboard before they finally make it to the shelves of the local supermarket.

Long distance usually equals a bigger carbon and water footprint . And since carbon footprints are increasingly becoming part of the lexicon of the language of food, just as water will in the near future, then we as consumers should become more conscious about where our food, the banana in this case, comes from.

With the introduction of fair trade, organic and more sustainable methods of agriculture and consumption we have an opportunity to change this trade for the better. Given predictions on climate change however, we might just be growing them in the back garden ourselves and then we truly would be a banana republic….

The Emergency years in Ireland, 1939-1945 were a time of significant shortages across the country. We were of course ‘neutral’ but we endured the same rationing as England. You probably had grandparents who endured that time. They would probably have told you about the lack of petrol for cars, the lack of wheat, oats and barley. They might also have told you about the lack of meat, oranges and bananas. Truth be told most Irish families of the time could not have afforded some of these items anyway but the same people who went through those times could teach us some interesting lessons.

For instance people sourced their food more locally, the idea of the supermarket didn’t come into Ireland until much later. The scraps/offal bucket usually went to the hens or ducks if such animals were kept, thereby reducing landfill waste. In the event that there wasn’t any domestic animals then a local would usually go from door to door with a horse and cart to collect scraps for pigs and such. The end destination would eventually complete the cycle of cradle-grave.

Electricity was another source of rationing with intermittent or zero supply. Arts and culture thrived as there were no televisions. People remained healthy by walking to work, if they could get the work in the first place and it is generally thought that the health of the population in certain respects was much better than it is today, even when taking into account advances in medicines. Because we were mostly an agrarian nation our connection to the land was so much greater than it is today and most people grew their own vegetables in their backyards. There’s lot’s more stuff like repairing worn out shoes and clothes, making your own bread, telling a story, playing or inventing games to occupy the time, supporting the local team that all come under the umbrella of a more sustainable society. Yes times were tough and people were less efficient in the way things got done, but the people who came through it appreciated even the smallest things in life. As for efficiency, well we’ve become a lot more efficient at using resources that are finite, so perhaps that’s an efficiency indicator that we should pay close attention to.

So if you want to really learn about living more sustainably perhaps you could ask the experts….

Rumblings in the world of bees.

Firstly, the bumble bee, who most people are familiar with, appears to dislike our new warmer climate. Seemingly, the bumble bee with it’s furry coating, finds it a little hot at the moment and that, amongst other factors, could be contributing to it’s declining numbers. The bumble bee is extremely important in pollination, having a special status in the bee world because of the methods it employs.

Another recent study has identified that the way a honey bees dances when it returns to the hive is an indicator of the distance to sources of food. The more the bee shakes it’s tail, the further away the source of food. The study also indicated that bees are having to travel further because the sources of food are becoming more scarce, which means that the bees are dancing more, but for all the wrong reasons.

It is estimated that in some areas of the UK honey bee numbers have dropped by as much as 80 per cent, while bumblebees across the country have declined by 60 per cent since 1970.

How this all relates to sustainability is that as we continue to disrupt the natural system we are impacting even the smallest of creatures. Sustainability is about managing natural resources such that we have enough resources to go around for everyone, not just today but years into the future. Unsustainable practices such as the destruction of forests and natural hedgerows, pesticide and monoculture practices are driving important species to the edge of extinction.

As I have mentioned before bees are a vital connection in our food supply chain and without them we are faced with the daunting prospect of more mechanical methods of pollination. It is reported that Einstein once commented upon the parallels between the demise of the bees and the demise of the human race, estimating that the human population will go into decline four years after the demise of the bee. Are we reaching that point?

In the mean time, bumble bees are heading north to escape the effects of global warming, and the honey bee is dancing a lot more. Isn’t it time we started joining the dots?

What if we built restorative companies?

What would happen if a company put back more natural resources into the natural environment than it takes from it in the first place?

What if the water coming out of a factory was of better quality than the water going in?

What if companies treated waste streams as food for the industrial process?

What if companies were not only financially successful but ecologically successful into the bargain?

What if industrial processes copied natural processes as is the case in biomimicry?

Not possible you say! Well it’s all possible. Think of the idea of the restorative company as one which gives back more good than it takes. Think of the idea of waste as food for example, essentially using the waste from one industrial process as the raw material for another industrial process. An example of this in nature is decaying matter which has reached the end of its useful life and is used as food by say, worms for example, and the worms in turn are used to aerate the soil or feed another organism. A cycle like this could be referred to as closed-loop and the net impact to the natural world is zero. Why? Because the relationship is symbiotic rather than parasitic.

There’s also a real opportunity to explore the idea of clustering of symbiotic companies which use raw materials from one process as raw material for the next and where the end consumer also has an opportunity to be involve in the the closed-loop cycle, perhaps recycling the material back to the original manufacturer as a means of closing the loop. This would produce restorative systems and companies with the ultimate goal of having a net zero impact or net contributors of global good.

What would happen if we could only design industrial systems that produced clean or zero emissions? What would happen if the water coming out of the industrial pipe was clean rather than bound for wastewater treatment?

What would happen if we built restorative companies and adhered to sustainable principles? It mightn’t be all that bad…

We need water for everything from washing, food production, meat processing and everything in between. In a lot of cases we don’t see the water that we consume. This is sometimes referred to as virtual water.

Virtual water, a term attributed to Professor John Allan (2008 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate), is the embedded water of production and trade of food and consumer products. This is the combined water that is needed to process raw materials into finished products and then deliver those products to the end consumer.

For instance the virtual water content of a cup of coffee is calculated at up to 140 litres of water and 1kg of rice can take up to 3,000 litres to deliver to end consumers, but we don’t see that water use in the end product. If this water is virtual or transparent to the end consumer then it is difficult for the consumer to understand the burden that a product puts on the global water supply.

So how do we solve the problem?

Well the first step is to realise that each product comes at a cost, not only in terms of the quantities of materials and carbon emissions but also in terms of the vast amounts of water that is used to get it to us, the end consumer. Perhaps the solution is to buy local produce versus sourcing the same type of product abroad. This would cut down on the virtual water footprint and help support local producers into the bargain. Virtual water is a real issue and getting more real by the day…..

Recent reports in many eminent newspapers and journals indicate a sharp decline in bee populations worldwide. The causes cited for the demise of world bee populations are varied and include environmental pressures, such as depletion of habitats, global warming, technology invasiveness, stress, pesticides and a mite called Varroa destructor.

Strangely bees are also failing to return to their hives. This, among other factors has led to a scenario called Colony Collapse Disorder. As we face an economic recession worldwide, bee populations also appear to be in recession. The two systems failing simultaneously and in a strange way the demise of both closely linked. Housing expansion has forced the bee from it’s natural habitat in large swathes of the countryside whilst the property bubble has contributed to the current financial crisis, but more on that at a later date.
- What has the decline in bee population got to do with business?
- Are bees the new canary in the mine shaft?
- Could this be a warning of a failing global ecosystem?
- What’s the connection to Sustainability?

Well the answers to these questions pose interesting challenges for the future of humans. Since bees are an integral part of the human food supply, helping in the pollination of an estimated 25% of food producing plants that humans consume, then bees have a lot to do with business. No pollination, no food. No food, no industry.

The ecosystem is indeed a complex one and currently under huge pressure from everywhere. The solution needs to be system based, that is an holistic solution to an holistic issue. Remember that before we had global food supply chains, farmers, monks and everyone in between were more closely connected to the nurturing of bee hives, the production of honey and food in general. 

What is happening to the bees should be a wake up call to all and is symptomatic of collapses in other ecosystems, fish populations as one example. With a recession in our economy perhaps we have an opportunity to spend more time preserving our natural resources rather than simply expecting resources to always be available. We could begin by thinking about more sustainable business practices as a means to helping bee populations recover. Perhaps reducing our use of pesticides would be a good start, or buying local as a means to supporting local agricultural production and land preservation and recovery.

Perhaps it’s time for Business, Bees and Sustainability to get together.

More on this subject at a later date…..