Dear Mr. Corbett:

You are much more than a "lesser-known petroleum geologist," you are a pompous ass!

The above post is wonderfully entertaining, even if it is in fact satire.

Here's a tip about making one's point skillfully: Closing your communique with the sentiment "I'm better than you" does not a cogent argument make.

PS. I read the AMQUA letter. In my opinion it is entirely reasonable. And if AMQUA is guilty of acting politically, how would one characterize the AAPG giving Mr. Crichton a journalism award for a work of fiction that is based on (as even a climate change skeptic must concede) false and/or dishonest presentations of climate science?

Of course, having left academia with only a Masters from MIT, I suppose that I am scientifically illerate as well.

Here are two good books about Toyota and related concepts:

The Machine That Changed the World : The Story of Lean Production by a bunch of people (James Womack is the lead author)

and

Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation

by James Womack

Amazon will sell you both for $31.

A few years ago, I worked with a former Toyota guy implementing lean principles in warehouse environments. When we first explained what we were trying to do, and why, the warehouse folks generally looked at us like we had three heads, because the Toyota approach (and yes, you can trace it back to Deming) is so fundamentally different than what they were used to. It was often even worse in Europe. But eventually (in most cases), the lightbulb goes on, they 'get it', and then you just need to get the hell out of the way.

There are many principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS), but the one that I find most interesting, and the hardest to get people to understand, is the identification and optimization of root causes. Like the 60 minute die change that another reader mentioned. The power of this achievement isn't the labor saved during the die change (though that's nice), it's the sudden ability to build car A today and car B tomorrow, without losing a whole day in the middle. That lets you build small lots, which means you end up building less vehicles of the wrong type, etc. In short, rather than optimizing around obstables (like running many days of production b/c a die change takes so long), Toyota identifies the obstacles and optimizes them.

GM has actually implemented lean principles in their parts warehouses, with generally good results, although they are achieving productivity numbers that Toyota passed over ten years ago.

My wife is biased against CFLs because when I first tried some, I was too aggressive on the wattage and the resulting lights were too dim.

Since them, I've been opportunistically replacing bulbs with CFLs. She never notices until I point it out. Even in rooms that are 7/9 CFLs (recessed lighting); I keep the 2 incandescents because of the minor warm-up issue with CFLs. I'm going to phase out the incandescents now that I've found some faster-warming CFLs.

In my experience, the quality, color, longevity, and size of CFLs is all over the map, but is generally improving. You kind of have to experiment to find the right bulb for the job; resources like the Environmental Defense site should help. The ones I don't like go to places like the basement.

I'll go all-LED when the time is right, but for now, CFLs are where it is at, mercury and all.

As for Devon's paradox- there's a grain of truth there, but I will also use my electricity savings for: funding a PV installation, buying lingerie for the wife, paying off my mortgage, paying for college, etc. I'm quite sure that all of these are less carbon- and energy-intensive, per dollar, than incandescent lighting.

Hey! My wife is friends with Peter's mom. I just met Cat Laine at a fundraiser for AIDG a few weeks ago in Weston, MA.

AIDG is a seriously awesome group; I call on all readers to open your wallets (we already have)!

I went to college with Gen. Great guy.

I also am very, very leery of the Microsoft monoculture; I am both heartened and saddened to see that things could be worse than what I experience in the U.S. At least I can do online banking from OS X, Linux, Firefox, Safari, whatever (at least at my bank).

As a consultant, though, I am pretty much tied to Windows/Office, b/c I need seamless compatibility with my clients for all those awesome slides, spreadsheets, etc. But I have a spare laptop on which I am going to install Ubuntu and CrossOver Office, so I can at least break part of the equation (by running Office on Linux). If only the Feds had broken apart MS into 3 businesses when they had the chance (OS, applications, and other) we'd all be better off.

I'd just like to plug switchgrass and other crops for use as a solid fuel to replace oil for heating applications (and possibly cogeneration).

Here's a link: http://www.reap-canada.com/bio_and_climate_3_2.htm

The energy balance for pelletized fuels is much better than liquid fuels, as it skips the inefficient part of the process (conversion to ethanol).

Of course, pelletized grass is limited to stationary applications, but there's still a lot of oil being burned for such purposes.

Unfortunately, pelletizing grass doesn't get the producer a nice fat subsidy like ethanol conversion does...