July 29, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I currently have limited telecommutting ability, but used to be on a full Citrix virtual platform for all office apps. I must admit, allowing telecommuting could benefit almost every employer, but the employees that it works for depends on the person, how fast and stable their Internet connection is and their level of personal responsibility, and what their responsibilites are. For some employees it is very productive, and for some it is not. Those employees will likely get weeded though, so it is probably just like assigning any responsibility.
July 29, 2008 at 1:14 pm
jim.powers (7/29/2008)
icocks (7/29/2008)
In short, most of the easily & cheaply extractable oil has been used up. The remainder is either hard to extract and/or hard to process to a usable state.Not entirely true. There is plenty of oil that is easy to extract and readily available. We just have to get the government to let us get at it and get the idiot environmentalist groups to back down. The shallow OCS off of California has more than 10 billion barrels just waiting to be tapped. Maginudes more are waiting in ANWR in Alaska.
No, the problem is that the oil companies haven't been investing in drilling where they already have oil contracts. I just heard on TV last night that the various oil companies have the right to drill on millions of acres of Federal lands, where there are conservatively estimated to be several billion barrels of oil, but they haven't been spending their money on new drillings there.
July 29, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Wayne West (7/29/2008)
I would love to telecommute, and loved telecommuting ... there's too much of an "if you can't see 'em, they're not working" attitude here. I don't have to account for every minute of my working time, but I still don't think it'd fly.
I agree. I was able to do some telecommuting at my previous job (about 5-10% of the time), and I was able to allow one long-distance commuter to work at home up to two days a week, but upper management was always fretting about how much work was getting done. The best circumstances for telecommuting is when there is a tangible product you have after the work-at-home time, like a program, a document, or a report. Actually I have more days at work where I am less productive because I am interrupted so many times, or people want to chat about their social lives.
July 29, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Yeah, they deny it, but there is a lot of drilling where they just cap the wells. It's a carefully controlled supply and demand market, from the suppliers.
July 29, 2008 at 1:29 pm
jpowers (7/29/2008)
jim.powers (7/29/2008)
icocks (7/29/2008)
In short, most of the easily & cheaply extractable oil has been used up. The remainder is either hard to extract and/or hard to process to a usable state.Not entirely true. There is plenty of oil that is easy to extract and readily available. We just have to get the government to let us get at it and get the idiot environmentalist groups to back down. The shallow OCS off of California has more than 10 billion barrels just waiting to be tapped. Maginudes more are waiting in ANWR in Alaska.
No, the problem is that the oil companies haven't been investing in drilling where they already have oil contracts. I just heard on TV last night that the various oil companies have the right to drill on millions of acres of Federal lands, where there are conservatively estimated to be several billion barrels of oil, but they haven't been spending their money on new drillings there.
I think you missed the part above about environmental concerns. Just because they have a lease to drill on the land doesn't mean they can just go in and start drilling. There are impact studies, planning for pipes to be laid, impact studies on where and how the pipes will be laid, more studies about studies, etc. There is a lot of work that has to go in prior to when companies begin drilling, for environmental reasons, to see if it makes sense to actually drill there, etc. It's not just a matter of getting a lease and going. The current law that our Senate wants to pass to force companies to give up their lease may have some merit, but the timeframe is too short with all of the laws, regulations, studies, etc that come before anything can actually be produced.
Same thing as refining - we have limited refining capacity, but we haven't built a new refinery in decades, IIRC. We've added on to existing refineries, but have not built new ones. I don't have a major problem with being concerned about the environment, but I will also say that those concerns are at odds with increasing our energy independence. From what I remember, there are increased concerns and regulations in Europe that are driving the energy companies out of the area to regions that don't have so many restrictions. Result? Increased cost to Europe due to lower domestic supply.
July 29, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Bingo! You got it!
One of my greatest telecommuting implementation successes was for an international services company where I had five programmers and two analysts who had to overhaul (re-write and enhance) one of the company's flagship management systems.
We had six months to complete the project and got it done and delivered in 42 business days!
When one of my fellow executives asked one of that staff how they got it done so quickly he replied; "without the constant interruptions at the office, its amazing what you can get done!"
With the right people and right management, telecommuting can increase productivity dramatically.
After all, as Ken Cummings, a very successful business founder once said when asked how he attained such success...
"Hire the most talented people you can, facilitate them, and then stay the hell out of their way!"
July 29, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Peter Schott (7/29/2008)
I know that TX (and other states) are trying to push for lifting the requirement to use Ethanol just because it's bad for fuel efficiency.
I remember when Ethanol was added and watching my MPG go down. I live in Dallas, TX now and had not heard this but eagerly waiting for it now!
July 29, 2008 at 1:46 pm
jim.powers (7/29/2008)
Peter Schott (7/29/2008)
I know that TX (and other states) are trying to push for lifting the requirement to use Ethanol just because it's bad for fuel efficiency.I remember when Ethanol was added and watching my MPG go down. I live in Dallas, TX now and had not heard this but eagerly waiting for it now!
Wish I could quote the source directly, but I know that our governor has been lobbying for this. I'm sure that he hasn't been too successful, but it was in the news a little while back.
July 29, 2008 at 1:51 pm
blandry (7/29/2008)
I am curious however as to how many of you have any telecommuting options with your company? I have advocated for a telecommuting policy in every company I have worked for over the last 20 (almost 30!) years. As a former developer I am all too well aware that we can be a strange breed and some of the best code crunched in the history of programming was no doubt done by someone in their gym shorts and tee shirt, comfortably plunked at their own home desk. Sure, not a great vision maybe, but I have had some great programmers deliver great work via telecommute..
.
But that said, in many circumstances I had to convince my employers of the value of the plan. Too many worried that if I let my staff, especially programmers, work from home they would sit around eating bon-bons watching old Arnold Schwarzenegger flicks! Not so – in every case I instituted a telecommuting plan, productivity increased. As well, there has been only one time in two decades that I had to remove a person from the list of acceptable telecommuters for lack of productivity.
We have briefly discussed the possibility of telecommuting as well as going to 10x4 work weeks. We might get a combination so we would only be physically in the office for 2-3 days a week. I can only hope...
Do you have a copy of your telecommuting plan you could make available to us? I would certainly like to see what you have done to present to my boss for consideration.
July 29, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Peter Schott (7/29/2008)
jim.powers (7/29/2008)
Peter Schott (7/29/2008)
I know that TX (and other states) are trying to push for lifting the requirement to use Ethanol just because it's bad for fuel efficiency.I remember when Ethanol was added and watching my MPG go down. I live in Dallas, TX now and had not heard this but eagerly waiting for it now!
Wish I could quote the source directly, but I know that our governor has been lobbying for this. I'm sure that he hasn't been too successful, but it was in the news a little while back.
One of the main presidential candidates is a huge ethanol recipient and promoter, so I would not be surprised to see more in the way of national ethanol requirements to promote "green energy".
July 29, 2008 at 2:14 pm
No, that wouldn't surprise me either. Sadden, yes, but surprise, no. 🙁 It wouldn't bother me so much if it was a worthwhile return on investment, but so far all I see is increased taxes, lower fuel efficiency, and possible impact on food supply. I'm all for alternative energy sources, but ones that make good sense, not ones that only sound good. Of course, I'd also like to see us move more towards energy independence, which means lifting some of the bans we have in place now. At least we're talking about that now. 🙂
July 29, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Trader Sam (7/29/2008)
Timothy (7/29/2008)
...showed a graph of automobile fuel economy in different countries; the U.S. was dead last by a long shot.Yes, but where else in the world can you get a car that has 400 horsepower and goes 0 to 60 in 4 seconds?
Italy and Germany and the Nissan GTR I believe. And they go round corners too! 😀
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July 29, 2008 at 4:30 pm
My company lets me work from home whenever I need/want to. At the moment I work from home at least one day a week. My commute isn't too far so a full tank will last me 10-14 days (60 litre tank). Prices here in Sydney, Australia for unleaded fuel (no ethanol) are about $1.60 per litre at the moment. The crazy thing is public transport would cost about $5-6 per day, I would need to walk for approximately 20 minutes to the bus stop and then walk about 15 minutes from the bus stop to work, and the bus takes anywhere from 35 minutes to an hour and a half. That would be a total commute trip per day of at least 2 hours (by car is 45 minutes). I also need my car to pick my daughter up from day care on some days.
We are being encouraged to use public transport but it is all geared to getting people into the city. The government is now trying to get companies to move out of the city and decentralise but there is little to no public transport to support this, so it forces more people into their cars. Like others have said, public transport really needs to improve/expand before people will use it.
I love driving my husband's V6 Holden ute to work! It is bright red, has an extra large steel tray, no one messes with you and it goes like the clappers! My car is the family Volvo S40; 2 litre engine but comfortable and not too bad on fuel. My previous car, before I had my baby, was a Mitsubishi Lancer with a 1.5 litre engine. It was excellent on fuel economy and extremely reliable. It cost very little to maintain too. I really miss it!
As regards hybrid cars, they are too expensive here. I think the Prius is about $37,000 new and $32,000 second hand. The Honda Civic is $32,000 new. The equivalent petrol engine cars are $10,000-15,000 cheaper. I refuse to spend the equivalent of a deposit on a house, on a car!
Nicole Bowman
Nothing is forever.
July 29, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Oh, I forgot to say that my husband's ute is dual fuel - LPG gas and petrol. Gas is about $0.60 per litre at the moment so it is cheaper than my car to run.
Nicole Bowman
Nothing is forever.
July 29, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Dear Steve,
it is a shame that the first country in the world to get rid of an imperial form of government still sticks rigidly to the imperial system of measurement. Miles and gallons, you might as well be talking stiagestics and gloogelspins (both nonsense words btw). How about getting into kilometres, litres and other metric measurements and so we can all (ie the world) understand what is being said.
BTW an american gallon is smaller than the British gallon, I wonder why that is?
Tim
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