Posts from — September 2008

Dear Readers  

As you know, I have been writing about the new technology Dutchman Enterprises has developed for an enormous increase of gas mileage for trucks and SUV’s. In the past they had some issues around EPA approval and they were in a pickle to grow a network of dealers because the car manufacturers didn’t want to work with them. It must have taken the recent downturn and the almost total collapse of SUV and truck sales to get a little more open minded towards technologies available right now. Durchman Enterprises send me the latest update below today, and I feel anybody interested in ways to reduce gas mileage would want to stay up to date. I realize that adopting a new technology that hasn’t been approved by any large manufaturer is tough. This is a sign that times might change. I don’t believe the claim about the price, as mass production should actually lower it. I don’t think buyers will pay $3000 - $4000 more for a truck with the system installed. With larger production numbers prices typically go down. Durtchman probably wouldn’t want that, but if they can make a profit wiht the curent prices, they will make a killing when Ford and others put their efficency models into the production ramp up, even if the individual sytem price goes down by 50%, which it probably has to if the numbers of sales are to be increased significantly. We still have a credit and financial crisis, not just an environmental crises. So here is what the news from Durchman said:

This last weekend I received a very interesting article from one of the newsletters I am subscribing to. It revolved around the release of the first Airbus A380 Super Jumbo Airplane to Qantas Airline, the Australian carrier.

Most of the article was telling the story about the plane and that Quantas was one of the first organizations to order it when the concept was still unproven.

What was interesting from a customer point of view was the description about the special layout that the airline had requested for the interior. You would think that they ordered this huge plane simply to put more passengers in on the same route. That was probably part of the reason.

The version that was released to Quatans actually only has 415 seats, which is still a huge number, but much less that the normal 550 and way less that the up to 750 the most crowded configuration could offer.

Time will tell if the concept of such a large plane really pays off or will be adopted by more and more airlines. The leaders of the airline were not just proud to get the “keys” to the first one of these jumbos, but they also made a claim that I thought was very interesting in light of the frequent claims we hear about flying.

I don’t know about you, but I have seen numerous interviews and opinion pieces on TV the last few years accusing people of flying when it would be more environmentally friendly to drive or take the train. That is probably true if one person flies alone or a very small group.

So what about the A380 Superjumbo? During the ceremony it was noted that the version for Quanta only uses 3 liters of fuel for every 100 kilometers flown. Naturally that is assuming that the plane is full.

I thought about that number and went to the conversion tables. Actually, this figure is equal to 78.39 Miles/Gallon. In that sense it is much better than any regular car I am aware of, and the plane is moving much faster  than any car would. In that sense it is clearly very eco-friendly to use the Quantas A380.

You might say: ”well, but no plane is completely full all the time”, and that is true. On the other hand, even 80% occupancy would still give you better than 60 mpg, and if anybody flies with the version that has more seats, the mpg goes even higher.

Overall the surprising answer to the question is: At least with the A380 it is eco-friendly to fly.

Axel Meierhoefer

Today I was sitting at my desk wondering what would be the best way to write about something I have observed several times when working with clients. They are aware and know about shortcomings they have, can even pinpoint them to the T, but don’t seem to find the strength to take action or correct the behavior.

That’s one of the beauties of coaching – being the guide to achieving the dreams and goals of clients by changing a behavior into another that better supports what is desired.

Most coaching programs are of a finite nature, and that is true for the eco-conscious coaching I do as well. Whether it is for 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months, there comes a point when the guide is out of the picture. Yes, every coach hopes that the coachee will have been able to engrave the new behaviors so deeply in the conscious and subconscious mind that they will stick forever, but self motivation is still an issue.

As a service to my readers, but also to learn more about this issue myself, I looked around and found a lot of material that has excellent suggestions and reflections. The first one is from an organization called: “Ambitiondesire”.  Here is what they had to say about the issue of sustained self-motivation:

“Are you someone who lacks enthusiasm? Someone who always thinks “I’ll do it later” and ending up never doing what you set out to do? Do you lack confidence, motivation and drive to follow your dreams and pave your path to success? Do not worry; you are not alone!

But why be contented with your current situation just because many others are suffering from the same fate? Don’t you want to be different and better than others? Don’t you feel envious when you see your successful friend drive around town in his new Ferrari Monza? Well, you can start paving the path right NOW!

You can achieve all you want in life if you acquire Unlimited, Sustained Levels of Self-Motivation by drawing from your very own willpower! You will be able to face all challenges and conquer all fears without making excuses and procrastinating.

Every step you take in this journey towards achieving your goal requires enormous drive, super amounts of willpower and constant motivation. Even in the very first baby step you take; which includes facing up to all sorts of challenges and obstacles; which requires a lot of psychological power to keep on going and to keep yourself from giving up.”
To this point I totally agree and like to interject two things:

1. You can help yourself by joining an individual or group coaching program to have a coach as a guide helping you maintain focus and motivation. At eco-conscious coaching we offer these kinds of services and find that the clients have a significantly increased chance to achieve what they desire because of the accountability coaching provides.
2. For the aspect of being organized, which sometimes can get in the way of actually doing what you want to do at the time it is most appropriate, we have developed a nice free report you can get when you contact me.

Here is more from “Abitiondesire”:

“First and foremost, it is important you realize that enormous amounts of motivation required for:

1. Having a goal, dream, aim, target or achievement (yes, you need motivation to even ‘HAVE a goal’ to begin with!)
2. Setting your realistic objectives in reaching your goal or dream
3. Taking action and executing the goal
4. Overcoming obstacles and challenges, regardless if they are man-made or by Act of God
5. Sustaining Your Endurance, having constant stamina and being able to recover and rejuvenate yourself to move on
6. Persistence and Consistence to carry onwards towards the goal and objectives till they are achieved

Having that dream or goal

1. Do you have any dreams or goals that you wish to fulfill?
2. Are you motivated to reach for your dreams and goals?
3. Are you ambitious enough to excel in whatever you do?
4. Or do you live purely to exist and find no apparent reason to set any real goals nor have any big dreams at all? 
5. Or are you too skeptical to believe that you are capable of achieving the dreams you hoped for? 

Maybe you are someone who has been fortunate in life, someone who has not encountered any major crises or situations to spur your personal enhancement. But you should not be complacent just because you are satisfied with your current situation; things might change anytime and they will hit you at the most unexpected times. The economy nowadays is extremely volatile and no one can predict what will happen next.

Thus you cannot sit back and rest on your laurels! Waste no more time being mediocre and being satisfied with something average; take advantage of the time now to motivate yourself to achieve your goals and dreams!

Now you might ask “What steps do I need to take to achieve my goals?” and “Where do I find the motivation to succeed”?” (2008)

These days, there are many resources you can apply to help yourself stay focused. Eco-conscious coaching is surely one of them, but you can supplement that by taking classes at your local community college, join groups with similar interests, either online or through clubs and organizations in your community.

We all have heard the saying: A picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a diagram Abitiondesire has developed to have a visual depiction of the process. I hope you will apply it to your life, and if you like some help and guidance, feel free to contact me. We are here to help.

Axel Meierhoefer,

Eco-Conscious Coaching

An AMC LLC Company

With our refined focus on eco-consciousness, I have been looking for ways to use the previous work developed to identify major performance attributes and put them into the new context. One of these attributes is motivation.

Bertil Hjert has spend some time on the subject of self motivation and how to maintain or sustain it. Here is what he has to say:

“Who needs motivation? All of us do. Motivation is a kind of driving force that encourages an individual to get going. It is a kind of boost to the self confidence, faith and inner conscience of a person. In this world of tough competition, stress and hectic lifestyle, one surely requires a driving force to get going. It is very important to keep up the good work. If you want the art of self motivation work for you, here are some foolproof techniques.

a) State your goals

First and foremost, you clearly require to state your goals with deadlines. It is a great idea to develop a strong desire to achieve these goals. Experts have always suggested to know what you want and then want it strongly in order to achieve it.

b) Think and act positively

Following optimism is extremely necessary to achieve success in life. It is important to think positively about your personality. This increases your chances of achieving success to a great extent. Put it this way; you cannot get positive results if you think negatively.

c) Create a plan

Nothing will work for you without a plan. Make sure that your plan is definite and you know exactly how to go about it. An action plan in itself is a great source of motivation or it will save you a lot of time in moving towards your destination. According to Steve Chandler, a great motivational speaker, “successfully planned work will definitely motivate you to do more and more until you become unstoppable.”

d) Face problems

Fearing problems or running away from them is no solution. This way, you are lowering yourself esteem. You should see the good in obstacles. It is likely to face some problems. However, this should not become a cause to give up. Every failure has something good and motivational in it to teach you.

e) Enjoy

You need to learn to make your work fun. The key is to find the chance to have fun. Don’t get discouraged. See the positive side of everything around you. The simple word is ‘Action’. Just get in to action and everything will be alright.

f) Create energy

If you don’t have the zest to carry out a task, you will fail in the beginning. Energy is the key to self-motivation. Try to exercise and sleep well to drive away any kind of stress that you feel.

g) Stimulate desire

Desire for something good and try to make it real.

h) Take a small step

Now, if you have designated a gigantic target for yourself such as shedding 25 kilos, then you need to reconsider your notion. It is not about the target being impossible to accomplish. It is about making it a bit realistic. Focus on shedding 1.5 kilos in a week and work towards it. Gradually, increase your target and voila. You are there. The key is to break your ultimate goal in to several small goals and try to achieve them.

In order to make the motivation work for you, you need to follow the techniques mentioned above. Think positive, get motivated and you have all that you want.” (2008)

As we move forward and develop teh full spectrum of eco-conscious self imprvement, we will look deeper into teh attributes previously discussed on this bog, develop a few new ones, and create comprehensive moels to help you apply what you learn from reading.

Please feel free to comment and offer your suggestions so I can bring you even better content in the future. The more I know about what you, my readers, are looking for, the more I can focus and deliver on those wishes.

Axel Meierheofer, AMC LLC

A passion has finally succeeded. I always wanted to include ecological aspects into my business dealings. Years ago I had a chance to be involved in an amazing system innovation that would revolutionize the way waste would be treated, but it died on the vine for lack of funding.

Then, throughout the last few years, I had a chance to work in projects including the development of new wind parks, as many of my regular readers already know.

Last week I was the invited guest speaker for a Citrix webinar with the title “Unleash your Green Potential”. That was the final drop in the bucket to wash away any doubt that I might have had regarding my desire to combine issues of life improvement and professional improvement with ecology and sustainability.

I will create a whole new set of products and services revolving around eco-conscious coaching and consulting. Since we are in the middle of a weekend and the summer is still in full swing, I thought I start with a topic many of you will be interested in.

An important aspect of any eco-conscious consideration in life or at work is the impact on your known processes and comforts. When it comes to living eco-conscious, many people seem to think that things they really like would no longer be available to them.

One of those really cherished things is the ability to have a nice barbeque with friends and family members. That leads to the question: “Should I use gas or charcoal for my grill?”

Paul Kilduff in a special article to “The Chronicle” looked into this issue and came up with the following findings:

“Recently, the Home & Garden section reported  that grilling outdoors using propane released less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and thus possibly contributed less to global warming, than grilling with charcoal.

But, like all things relating to your carbon footprint, the gas versus charcoal debate is not as straightforward as it may seem.

The Sierra Club came to its pro-gas conclusion with the help of calculations made by carbon-cycle expert Tristram West, a researcher with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Sciences Division in Oak Ridge, Tenn. West assumed that each type of grill - gas, charcoal, electric - would put out 35,000 British Thermal Units per hour, the amount of Btu most manufacturers say their grills will produce when all burners are turned on for one hour.

A Btu is the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit. Any fuel burned for heat has a per-pound Btu rating - propane is about 15,000 Btu per pound while charcoal is about 9,700 Btu.
West based his calculations on the use of common charcoal that contains coal and other additives, not pure wood lump charcoal that has a Btu rating of about 13,000.

Using this equation, West did the math on the carbon emissions for each type of fuel and determined that gas spews 5.6 pounds of carbon dioxide per hour, while a charcoal grill puts out 11 pounds. West pegged electric grills as the worst carbon offenders - even though they do not emit any carbon on-site - after taking into account the emissions created in the generation (mostly by the burning of coal and gas) and transmission of electricity - a whopping 15 pounds.
Case closed, gas wins. Right? Well, not exactly.

West concludes that burning charcoal made from wood completes the carbon cycle begun when the tree it came from sprouted, thus making it “carbon neutral.” Advantage, charcoal. But why?

Gas, on the other hand, comes from nonrenewable fossil fuels. They can’t be replaced. When gas is burned, although it produces less carbon dioxide than charcoal, its emissions do contribute to the ever-escalating carbon imbalance just like your, say, Cadillac Escalade.

“When a tree grows it takes up carbon dioxide. When we burn that wood it’s releasing that same CO2″ and another tree takes it up, West said. He also points out that charcoal, being 90 percent waste wood, would be burned anyway. “Nobody’s going to cut down trees to make charcoal because that wood’s too valuable,” he said. (6/2007)

With this info under our belt, I looked around to see what is available in the marketplace. What I found was a number of choices for carbon-neutral charcoal that is actually made from real wood, not from sawdust and other particles. The one I liked the most was made from cuttings of eucalyptus trees. These are relatively fast growing trees, but even more important, they seed out a lot every year.

To maintain a healthy forest of these trees, extensive cutting and clearing is needed annually. These cuttings provide the foundation of the charcoal mentioned above. The trees are among the top performers when it comes to absorption of carbon-dioxide. Burning the charcoal from this wood is definitely carbon neutral and allows the gourmet to enjoy the unique taste of charcoal grilled meat, fish, or poultry without having a guilty eco-conscience.

Living a greener life doesn’t mean living a life with less joy, comfort, or less fun. All it means is making better, more informed choices and taking the extra step of reading the label of products we purchase, to make sure we don’t contribute negatively to our environment. It’s a chacne in our behavior. Many more of those are applicable at home and in our work life to live, work and lead eco-conscious.

If you have suggestions, comments, or like to hear more about eco-conscious topics for life and work, please let me know.

Axel Meierhoefer, AMC LLC