We publish a few letters this week on our column explaining how a Cap-and-Trade system might work and its impact on supply chain, with a link to a new report by our TheGreenSupplyChain.com.
That includes some great thoughts from Tom Miralia, who has our Feedback of the Week, plus others, including one from a long-time engineer who questions the CO2 math.
We also print a few of the many letters we have received relative to the struggles at YRC Worldwide (several articles) – many of which we can actually print without worrying about our language standards. One shipper says she is hopefully optimistic that YRC will make it.
Feedback of the Week -
On Cap and Trade and the Supply Chain:
Wow... Where to start?
While being mindful that our consumer-geared, industrialized (free market) economy is based on seemingly prodigious consumption of relatively cheap fossil-fuel based energy, I see these new initiatives as simply barriers to productivity and new sources of revenue not unlike sin taxes for government.
We can choose to hamper our current productivity and prosperity in the name of conservation and the wobbly concept of man-made global warming, but I don't see any of this having an impact on the juggernaut of industrialization and growth of consumer markets in the developing economies.
Maybe I am way off, but I believe that, for the most part, they want what we have! Rising sea levels aside, at some point sooner or later, regardless of US leadership in carbon footprint 'management,' the cheap energy will become more costly.
Perhaps emerging technology will, in time, mitigate the effect of this, but likely, economies will experience a major shift away from consumerism --to what I don't know -- perhaps a more community-oriented and relationship-based society and less 'stuff' oriented.
Perhaps that is not so bad. I wouldn't look to hasten the US shift to that in the face of so much of the rest of the world's lack of desire to follow suit via tax policy though. Cap and Trade looks 'unadministratable.'
I remain largely nonplussed by the European approach to business, government and economy. I think that the freedom to pursue excellence is too greatly suppressed for them. And then there are those who are profiting from the 'global warming' business, and those who will gain power via administration of these programs... Surely the burgeoning interests of those participants need to be taken into account as well.
You asked!
Tom Miralia
Distribution Technology
More on
Cap and Trade and the Supply Chain:
I think you did extraordinary work on this.
Now, I do not have much knowledge about Cap & Trade, but I have some experience here in Canada when I used to work in a pulp mill.
What we have is a pollution permit and ceiling. Now, in this, for example, if I have 10 points and I used 9, then I can carry that 1 point forward and, similarly, if I use 11 points, then I get minus from my account for next year.
But, I cannot sell this to others and you can carry forward or minus up to a certain year and limit.
What benefit I see is that no one can make a windfall profit or loss; secondly, in case of cold weather, if they use more energy, they are not penalized or work towards efficiency for next year. I know this is different, but can we not apply some of them in Cap and Trade? It is just my thought.
Mehul S. Pandya
Buyer
Award Windows
Thank you for a simply fantastic overview of these issues, and even better full report. Never seen anything else like this on Cap and Trade.
I remain amazed at the quality of information SCDigest continues week after week to produce.
John Gomes
Dedham, MA
Awesome article on Cap & Trade in SCDigest! I was just explaining this to someone yesterday.
Sara Curtis
Supply Chain Strategist Product Manager
i2 Technologies, Inc.
Pardon me for my confusion, but all this talk about blaming CO² for global warming seems to be centered on increased temperatures. I served my apprenticeship in industrial chemistry 55-years ago. Part of my job was the analysis of the gas turbine products of combustion. Naturally, we had to take into account the amount of CO² existing in the atmosphere in calculating the combustion efficiency. In those day, the figure for CO² was 0.04%. A search of the Internet today reveals that the value has not changed to this present day.
Therefore, as I see it, CO² cannot be responsible for global warming, or is this reasoning too simplistic, or are we blaming the wrong thing?
Kevin Ward
On YRC Worldwide Struggles:
Many carriers have been quick to “be the town crier” that the sky is falling and YRC is hitting the ground hard.
I listen as any professional would; I have had service declines with this merger; I have shifted freight when it got “dicey” out there, but I am starting to see an improvement in service and hope that YRC can prevail.
Every company has to judge the risk, YRC is proving many people wrong with the union concessions they have gotten.
I believe the timing of the merger has made the situation that much worse than it would have been and the fact that everyone in the freight world is hungry for the opportunity that YRC would give them if they were to fail.
I haven’t counted YRC out yet and I am sure when things improve economically, there will be freight for everyone who rightfulyl has earned it.
Maureen Miller
Garlock There is plenty of LTL capacity in the market at much lower cost than YRC.
Michael Thacker
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