The price increases, from a company whose trendy footwear sometimes generates long lines of avid buyers, may test even the most dedicated Nike fans.
"Prices are getting crazy excessive and as long as we continue to buy sneakers, Nike is going to keep increasing the prices," said Donell Brown, 30, who owns a cleaning services company in Dearborn, Mich.
Mr. Brown said he and his friends have been posting messages on Twitter and YouTube, urging other longtime sneaker fans not to buy the pricier LeBron shoes and to forgo waiting in line for new sneaker releases.
Nike's price increases are also being felt at the lower end: The venerable Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneaker now costs $50 compared with $45 a year ago.
Nike isn't the only sneaker maker asking customers to pay more. Adidas's signature three-striped Superstar shoes now cost $70, nearly 8% more than a year ago. Overall basketball shoe prices were up 9.4% compared with a year before as of June, according to market researcher NPD Group Inc., while soccer cleats jumped 15.5% and running shoes climbed 5.5%.
Nike's basketball and soccer shoes make up about half its North American business, according to analysts.
Some families are already noting sticker shock as they start back-to-school shopping.
"Sneaker prices have definitely shot up this year," said Lucy Rangel, 37 years old, who was shopping for sneakers with her two teenage daughters at a Foot Locker store in Dallas.
Ms. Rangel said she paid $114 for a new pair of pink and purple Nike sneakers for her 12-year-old daughter, up from $69.99 she paid last year for a similar pair.
While many retailers try to attract budget-conscious consumers by touting price cuts, analysts say shoppers are willing to spend more on products with newer technology and fresher styles. Footwear companies are strategically testing price increases, typically raising them only when they come out with updated products.
Nike is known for some pricey shoes, going back to its first pair of Air Jordans. A new version of the Air Jordan is expected in December at $185, up from its original 1985 price of $64.99 (or $138.38 in today's dollars), a 33% increase when adjusted for inflation.
Nike is "not arbitrarily taking up prices," said spokeswoman Mary Remuzzi. "We are constantly looking at ways to enhance the product line with new innovation and product attributes."
The coming $315 LeBron X Nike Plus, due in the fall, is expected to come embedded with motion sensors that can measure how high players jump. The LeBron 9 PS Elite basketball shoes, which currently retail for $250, feature Nike's signature swoosh in metallic gold.
Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., says it is passing along price increases because many of key materials, such as cotton, have risen in price over the past 18 months. Prices did moderate somewhat in the past quarter.
Nike also faces rising labor costs in China, where it manufactures a third of its products.
The company's shares, which have soared since the recession as it continued to report solid growth, plunged 10% in June after it reported profit dropped nearly 8% from a year earlier to $549 million, or $1.17 a share. Shares closed at $95.77 on Monday and are now flat for the year after hitting an all-time high of $114.81 on May 3.
Adidas is struggling with similar pressures: It said last month it is closing its only company-owned apparel factory in China to "improve efficiency." Adidas's increased labor and materials costs drove gross profit margins down to 48.2% from 49.2%.
"We are trying to mitigate the costs by manufacturing our products more efficiently," said Katja Schreiber, an Adidas spokeswoman. "In some instances we look to increase price, usually in areas where we launch new, innovative products."
2012年8月20日星期一
2012年8月19日星期日
Meet the Man Behind Nike's Neon-Shoe Ambush
You probably don't know Martin Lotti. But if you watched the Olympics, you are definitely familiar with his handiwork.
He's the man behind those shoes -- the beautifully crafted, incandescent kicks that whizzed by on the feet of 400 Olympic athletes, including USA's Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee, Great Britain's Mo Farah and France's Renaud Lavillenie, enabling Nike to capture the Olympic gold in ambush marketing.
Mr. Lotti, 37, is Nike's global creative director for the Olympics -- an interesting title, since Nike wasn't an official London 2012 sponsor. An industrial designer by education, he has been at Nike for 15 years, adding the "Olympic" aspect to his title just two years ago, while the brand's preparations for the London games were already underway. His role is to focus on the Nike products that 3,000 Olympic athletes wear on and off the field, from design to deployment.
Painting Nike's Flyknit shoe Volt, as that vivid neon-green-meets-highlighter-yellow color is called, was Mr. Lotti's way to create a kind of "Team Nike." Before London 2012, the brand matched the color of the shoe to the color of the individual athlete's uniforms. It looked pretty, but it blended in. This year, hundreds of athletes across different national federations wore the same color, what Mr. Lotti called "the easiest way" to make a splash.
The result was a wave of attention that could well end up in marketing textbooks for its simplicity and effectiveness. "Nike's move was really clever. They used marketing assets that belonged to them alone, and those assets gave them a pretty unique opportunity to take advantage of the Olympic rules," said Kent Grayson, professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. "The best marketing usually plays with the rules without quite going too far -- striking the right balance between the two is really hard and often risky but Nike got it perfectly this time."
So how did Nike achieve that? It started well before the Olympics, when focus groups of amateur, college and professional athletes were shown different colors of the shoe. "Across the board, everybody loved [the Volt]," said Mr. Lotti.
There's a scientific reason for that. "It's the most-visible color to the human eye," said Mr. Lotti. Even so, Nike left nothing to chance, testing the color against the myriad environments that the shoes would appear in during the games: the red of the track, the blue and white of the fencing stage, and the black and blue of the boxing ring.
He's the man behind those shoes -- the beautifully crafted, incandescent kicks that whizzed by on the feet of 400 Olympic athletes, including USA's Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee, Great Britain's Mo Farah and France's Renaud Lavillenie, enabling Nike to capture the Olympic gold in ambush marketing.
Mr. Lotti, 37, is Nike's global creative director for the Olympics -- an interesting title, since Nike wasn't an official London 2012 sponsor. An industrial designer by education, he has been at Nike for 15 years, adding the "Olympic" aspect to his title just two years ago, while the brand's preparations for the London games were already underway. His role is to focus on the Nike products that 3,000 Olympic athletes wear on and off the field, from design to deployment.
Painting Nike's Flyknit shoe Volt, as that vivid neon-green-meets-highlighter-yellow color is called, was Mr. Lotti's way to create a kind of "Team Nike." Before London 2012, the brand matched the color of the shoe to the color of the individual athlete's uniforms. It looked pretty, but it blended in. This year, hundreds of athletes across different national federations wore the same color, what Mr. Lotti called "the easiest way" to make a splash.
The result was a wave of attention that could well end up in marketing textbooks for its simplicity and effectiveness. "Nike's move was really clever. They used marketing assets that belonged to them alone, and those assets gave them a pretty unique opportunity to take advantage of the Olympic rules," said Kent Grayson, professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. "The best marketing usually plays with the rules without quite going too far -- striking the right balance between the two is really hard and often risky but Nike got it perfectly this time."
So how did Nike achieve that? It started well before the Olympics, when focus groups of amateur, college and professional athletes were shown different colors of the shoe. "Across the board, everybody loved [the Volt]," said Mr. Lotti.
There's a scientific reason for that. "It's the most-visible color to the human eye," said Mr. Lotti. Even so, Nike left nothing to chance, testing the color against the myriad environments that the shoes would appear in during the games: the red of the track, the blue and white of the fencing stage, and the black and blue of the boxing ring.
2012年8月16日星期四
Counterfeit Christian Louboutin Shoes Confiscated
If you find a pair of those trendy red-bottom heels for a deal that sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confiscated 20,457 pairs of counterfeit Christian Louboutin shoes at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.
“They label the shipments as generic shoes when, in fact, they’re bringing over contraband,” said Jaime Ruiz, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
According to the CBP, the knock-off shoes that were transported in five different shipments on a cargo ship in large boxes from China had a domestic value of more than $57,000, meaning it cost just less than $3 per pair to make them.
Officials said there were enough of those red soles to add up to a suggested retail value of $18 million, an unbelievable profit.
“The original [Christian Louboutin] shoe is made in Italy,” said chief CBP officer Guillermina Escobar. “Once we saw it was coming in from China, we knew there was a problem with the shipment.”
Officials took pictures of the shoes and consulted with the trademark holder to authenticate the shoe. Once they learned they were counterfeit, the hot commodities were taken off the black market and placed into the border patrol’s possession.
Had the shoes slipped through the cracks, Escobar said, they would likely have been sold on illegitimate websites and underground outlets, some of which may fail to mention the shoes are counterfeits.
The CBP said it will destroy the more than 20,000 pairs of high-fashion shoes, likely by burning them.
Escobar said a total of three different importers shipped the counterfeits on July 27 and Aug. 14 of this year.
The incident is still under investigation but the importers will likely be charged with a trademark violation.
CBP officials said there were 24,792 seizures of counterfeit and pirated goods in the 2011 fiscal year.
One thousand twenty of those trade seizures had a domestic value exceeding $37 million and all took place in the greater Los Angeles area.
“This represents an 18 percent increase in the number of seizures from fiscal year 2010,” said Escobar.
The CBP said it knows what hot commodities are coming in to the United States and will make sure to keep an eye out for any more counterfeits.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confiscated 20,457 pairs of counterfeit Christian Louboutin shoes at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.
“They label the shipments as generic shoes when, in fact, they’re bringing over contraband,” said Jaime Ruiz, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
According to the CBP, the knock-off shoes that were transported in five different shipments on a cargo ship in large boxes from China had a domestic value of more than $57,000, meaning it cost just less than $3 per pair to make them.
Officials said there were enough of those red soles to add up to a suggested retail value of $18 million, an unbelievable profit.
“The original [Christian Louboutin] shoe is made in Italy,” said chief CBP officer Guillermina Escobar. “Once we saw it was coming in from China, we knew there was a problem with the shipment.”
Officials took pictures of the shoes and consulted with the trademark holder to authenticate the shoe. Once they learned they were counterfeit, the hot commodities were taken off the black market and placed into the border patrol’s possession.
Had the shoes slipped through the cracks, Escobar said, they would likely have been sold on illegitimate websites and underground outlets, some of which may fail to mention the shoes are counterfeits.
The CBP said it will destroy the more than 20,000 pairs of high-fashion shoes, likely by burning them.
Escobar said a total of three different importers shipped the counterfeits on July 27 and Aug. 14 of this year.
The incident is still under investigation but the importers will likely be charged with a trademark violation.
CBP officials said there were 24,792 seizures of counterfeit and pirated goods in the 2011 fiscal year.
One thousand twenty of those trade seizures had a domestic value exceeding $37 million and all took place in the greater Los Angeles area.
“This represents an 18 percent increase in the number of seizures from fiscal year 2010,” said Escobar.
The CBP said it knows what hot commodities are coming in to the United States and will make sure to keep an eye out for any more counterfeits.
2012年8月15日星期三
Take a walk in their shoes
Some she'll always remember. One she'd already like to forget.
Before Kayla only had to cross one street, her own, to get to the bus stop, but Kayla fell right on the dividing line of Dayton Public Schools new policy of not busing students within a mile and a half of schools.
So as 2 NEWS told you earlier this week, even though her classmates one and three houses down can still go to the bus stop, Kayla has to hit the streets before hitting the books.
"At least it's not completely dark yet," says Brandy Fisher, Kayla's mom, about the trip.
The sun was about the only thing up when we started out from Kayla's Lombard Avenue home around 7 a. m.
We decided to time our trip, which wound its way through intersections both big and small, but those intersections weren't the only places you had to watch your step.
On at least two sidewalks were shards of broken glass.
Other obstacles were dogs. At least two Kayla passed were not on leashes. Others barked at her from the porch.
About halfway through Kayla's backpack got too heavy for her to carry, and her mom took it for her, but eventually we made it to Wright Brothers Elementary.
The time from first step to final goodbye was just more than 40 minutes.
"I don't know how long she'll be able to keep it up," Brandy says. "This is just the first day."
Just for fun we wanted to see how long it would take to walk to Kayla's old bus stop, where her neighbors are still being picked up.
The time was one and a half minutes.
"I'm hoping they can find room for her because this is going to be difficult," Brandy says.
Before Kayla only had to cross one street, her own, to get to the bus stop, but Kayla fell right on the dividing line of Dayton Public Schools new policy of not busing students within a mile and a half of schools.
So as 2 NEWS told you earlier this week, even though her classmates one and three houses down can still go to the bus stop, Kayla has to hit the streets before hitting the books.
"At least it's not completely dark yet," says Brandy Fisher, Kayla's mom, about the trip.
The sun was about the only thing up when we started out from Kayla's Lombard Avenue home around 7 a. m.
We decided to time our trip, which wound its way through intersections both big and small, but those intersections weren't the only places you had to watch your step.
On at least two sidewalks were shards of broken glass.
Other obstacles were dogs. At least two Kayla passed were not on leashes. Others barked at her from the porch.
About halfway through Kayla's backpack got too heavy for her to carry, and her mom took it for her, but eventually we made it to Wright Brothers Elementary.
The time from first step to final goodbye was just more than 40 minutes.
"I don't know how long she'll be able to keep it up," Brandy says. "This is just the first day."
Just for fun we wanted to see how long it would take to walk to Kayla's old bus stop, where her neighbors are still being picked up.
The time was one and a half minutes.
"I'm hoping they can find room for her because this is going to be difficult," Brandy says.
2012年8月14日星期二
Shoe auction aims to give YWCA a leg up
Piercing zebra print stiletto platforms, strappy red pumps, baby blue go-go boots and a pair of low cheetah print boots.
These are just some of the treasures tucked away in the basement of the YWCA office building in downtown Bremerton awaiting a public debut.
The shoes will be the centerpiece of the nonprofit organization's upcoming "Take a Walk in Her Shoes" auction fundraiser, which aims to raise awareness and funding for its domestic violence programs.
"We're a giving community but our challenge is how do you build more support?" YWCA executive director Linda Joyce said. "You do that by doing something new."
In the past year, the agency has focused on raising more awareness about its services. The nonprofit has been in the community since 1948, but it was time to remind the community about everything the YWCA does, Joyce said.
That included creating new ways to raise awareness that will translate to more financial donations. That's how the agency came up with the shoe auction.
"What woman doesn't like shoes?" Joyce said.
The event, planned for Saturday, Sept. 8, starts with a walk from the Amy Burnett Gallery at 408 Pacific Ave. to the Admiral Theatre at the corner of Fifth Street.
But the walk isn't just any walk. Participants are encouraged to have fun, create teams to raise money and go all out with costumes and a focus on the shoes that will adorn their feet. It's hoped that includes men in high heels or other creative footwear.
"We hope it's an evening just of fun," Tracy McConaughy of the YWCA said.
The fundraiser is a first for the YWCA and the hope is it will raise awareness about what survivors of domestic violence endure.
"We want to reach the folks that don't know so much about it," Joyce said. "The awareness piece is the really important piece."
Joyce hopes people will be able to empathize with domestic violence survivors and learn about the many programs the YWCA offers to help women and children escape abusive situations and become self-sufficient.
Event organizers also hope the walk and following auction will bring in more donations to the nonprofit that has seen its funding cut by roughly 20 percent in recent years. The decline is largely attributed to cuts in federal and state funding and a decrease in public donations as people tighten their budgets because of the poor economy.
The YWCA is accepting shoe donations that will be auctioned to raise money. Roughly 100 shoes have been donated already, but event organizers are hoping to have closer to 250. Any and all donations of new or barely worn shoes will be accepted through Sept. 4 at the YWCA office at 905 Pacific Ave. in Bremerton.
Some of the shoes ready for auction include labels like Dolce & Gabbana, Dana Buchman, Anne Klein, Bellini, Guess, Steve Madden, Sam Edelman, Carlos Santana, Liz Claiborne and Puma. A Seattle department store also has promised a donation of shoe samples for the auction, but asked its name not be mentioned before the auction to limit request from other nonprofits, McConaughy said.
"We need people to come out," Joyce said. "We've tried to make it an event that's affordable and festive and fun."
These are just some of the treasures tucked away in the basement of the YWCA office building in downtown Bremerton awaiting a public debut.
The shoes will be the centerpiece of the nonprofit organization's upcoming "Take a Walk in Her Shoes" auction fundraiser, which aims to raise awareness and funding for its domestic violence programs.
"We're a giving community but our challenge is how do you build more support?" YWCA executive director Linda Joyce said. "You do that by doing something new."
In the past year, the agency has focused on raising more awareness about its services. The nonprofit has been in the community since 1948, but it was time to remind the community about everything the YWCA does, Joyce said.
That included creating new ways to raise awareness that will translate to more financial donations. That's how the agency came up with the shoe auction.
"What woman doesn't like shoes?" Joyce said.
The event, planned for Saturday, Sept. 8, starts with a walk from the Amy Burnett Gallery at 408 Pacific Ave. to the Admiral Theatre at the corner of Fifth Street.
But the walk isn't just any walk. Participants are encouraged to have fun, create teams to raise money and go all out with costumes and a focus on the shoes that will adorn their feet. It's hoped that includes men in high heels or other creative footwear.
"We hope it's an evening just of fun," Tracy McConaughy of the YWCA said.
The fundraiser is a first for the YWCA and the hope is it will raise awareness about what survivors of domestic violence endure.
"We want to reach the folks that don't know so much about it," Joyce said. "The awareness piece is the really important piece."
Joyce hopes people will be able to empathize with domestic violence survivors and learn about the many programs the YWCA offers to help women and children escape abusive situations and become self-sufficient.
Event organizers also hope the walk and following auction will bring in more donations to the nonprofit that has seen its funding cut by roughly 20 percent in recent years. The decline is largely attributed to cuts in federal and state funding and a decrease in public donations as people tighten their budgets because of the poor economy.
The YWCA is accepting shoe donations that will be auctioned to raise money. Roughly 100 shoes have been donated already, but event organizers are hoping to have closer to 250. Any and all donations of new or barely worn shoes will be accepted through Sept. 4 at the YWCA office at 905 Pacific Ave. in Bremerton.
Some of the shoes ready for auction include labels like Dolce & Gabbana, Dana Buchman, Anne Klein, Bellini, Guess, Steve Madden, Sam Edelman, Carlos Santana, Liz Claiborne and Puma. A Seattle department store also has promised a donation of shoe samples for the auction, but asked its name not be mentioned before the auction to limit request from other nonprofits, McConaughy said.
"We need people to come out," Joyce said. "We've tried to make it an event that's affordable and festive and fun."
2012年8月13日星期一
Back-to-school shopping like Christmas in August
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. After twelve months of saving, planning and anticipating this special day, it’s finally time to pay off those lay-a-ways and cash out those savings to bring big smiles to bright little faces.
In your family, this probably sounds a lot like Christmas, in mine, this is how we do back-to-school.
I’m sure it goes back to our childhoods -- my husband’s and mine. We didn’t have much growing up. Both from single-parent households, we made due with a lot of hand-me-downs and thrift-store items. Two pairs of shoes and a handful of pants had better get you through the year, because money was too tight for growth spurts and grass stains.
I remember joining the basketball team in high school just because everyone on the team got a new pair of sneakers and I always felt guilty asking my mom to buy me stuff -- she was working two jobs and going to grad school, it just didn’t feel right.
So I’m sure that because of our humble beginnings, our daughter’s appearance on the first day of school means a lot more to us than it does to her.
For my husband it’s all about the shoes: Three pairs of sneakers, two or three pairs of “girly girl” shoes and a true dress shoe. For me it’s more about the basics. Being able to dress in layers when it’s cold (this wasn’t always an option for me), having more than just two sets of uniforms, having hair accessories that match.
It’s important that she always has a fresh pair of socks, that her underwear isn’t worn and that if she gets a horrible stain on her uniform shirt, there are more to turn to.
After a lifetime of not having the little things that everyone else had, there’s a certain level of comfort in our daughter not having to sweat the small stuff.
She doesn’t have to worry about taking her shoes off for some crazy activity -- her socks are clean and hole free! She won’t cry when she spills paint all over her white tennis shoes. And she won’t feel the need to avoid eye contact when she accidentally loses her sweater on a field trip. These are just things, and while money is tight, Collette knows that we love her more than the money we have to spend on her.
For now, back-to-school shopping is the most meaningful shopping event of the year. Collette gets the latest fashions and we get to be the proud parents who can afford to get them for her.
In your family, this probably sounds a lot like Christmas, in mine, this is how we do back-to-school.
I’m sure it goes back to our childhoods -- my husband’s and mine. We didn’t have much growing up. Both from single-parent households, we made due with a lot of hand-me-downs and thrift-store items. Two pairs of shoes and a handful of pants had better get you through the year, because money was too tight for growth spurts and grass stains.
I remember joining the basketball team in high school just because everyone on the team got a new pair of sneakers and I always felt guilty asking my mom to buy me stuff -- she was working two jobs and going to grad school, it just didn’t feel right.
So I’m sure that because of our humble beginnings, our daughter’s appearance on the first day of school means a lot more to us than it does to her.
For my husband it’s all about the shoes: Three pairs of sneakers, two or three pairs of “girly girl” shoes and a true dress shoe. For me it’s more about the basics. Being able to dress in layers when it’s cold (this wasn’t always an option for me), having more than just two sets of uniforms, having hair accessories that match.
It’s important that she always has a fresh pair of socks, that her underwear isn’t worn and that if she gets a horrible stain on her uniform shirt, there are more to turn to.
After a lifetime of not having the little things that everyone else had, there’s a certain level of comfort in our daughter not having to sweat the small stuff.
She doesn’t have to worry about taking her shoes off for some crazy activity -- her socks are clean and hole free! She won’t cry when she spills paint all over her white tennis shoes. And she won’t feel the need to avoid eye contact when she accidentally loses her sweater on a field trip. These are just things, and while money is tight, Collette knows that we love her more than the money we have to spend on her.
For now, back-to-school shopping is the most meaningful shopping event of the year. Collette gets the latest fashions and we get to be the proud parents who can afford to get them for her.
2012年8月12日星期日
Cows drop a solution to Punjab's gas woes
Having only read on the subject, I do not know what to expect to see. Hamza, a recent graduate from the University of London and my guide on this assignment, briefs me about the Orange Processing Factory and the farm we are to visit. He himself has only visited Kot Momin once or twice, and is unsure of our exact destination. Jamal, our driver, a humble man of northern descent, has only a faint inkling.
We are headed for Pakistan’s largest citrus producing areas in the Sargodha District. Having never visited a farming community, I am eager. These are exciting times for farmers, I am told; their cows are quite literally keeping their stoves burning!
As we turn for the Kot Momin interchange, I wonder if these docile beasts ‘hold’ the answer to our gas problems. The Pipal trees grow thick, and a faint tang of citrus scents the air. The locals are obliging, and we are soon pointed in the right direction. A narrow road leads us to The Orange Processing Plant. An attendant greets us and invites us in. “Here, we process and package oranges and mandarins for export,” he explains as he ushers us to the main building. Inside, lofty conveyer belts and heavy machinery slumber away in a corner.
“If it wasn’t for the factory’s bio-gas plant, these machines wouldn’t be able to operate,” Hamza explains. “Methane produced by the plant is used in the generators that power the factory.”
Curious to see learn more I ask to be shown the plant. “It’s all faecal matter,” says the attendant casually, as he points towards the main gas tank. “Cow dung is scooped into the inlet tank and mixed with water.”
‘Sounds lovely,’ I think to myself. In a concrete tank, dung and water are mixed to a slurry; using what looks like a massive egg beater. The muck flows to an airtight underground tank, where, in the absence of oxygen, chemicals in the dung react – creating gas. The gas obviously has to be pumped, purified and pressurised before it can be used, but it’s a fairly simple process which requires minimal human interference. Once the purified methane is extracted, it can be used as a renewable substitute for CNG. In hindsight, this factory, like many others, is rationing a cow’s intestinal gases and turning them into free energy.
Impressed by this stroke of genius, we bid the attendant farewell and head out to another location: Sarfaraz Ranjha’s farm.
Once there, Khuram Shehzad, a young worker, gives us a walkthrough. “My job is the shovel manure from the cow shed into the inlet tank.” With a cringed nose, he adds: “We have 30 animals – you can imagine the workload.”
His might not be the most enriching of careers, but Khuram is nevertheless a part of a farming revolution in the country. Farms using similar systems are not only producing their own methane, they also end up with 100% natural, chemical free fertiliser that’s great for crops.
Initially, the manure needs to sit for eight days before methane is released, Khuram explains. “Any longer than eight days and the methane explodes!” he jests.
“Life’s easier, now that we don’t have to pay for our gas needs. Where the rest of the country suffers from gas shortages, our farm enjoys a surplus,” says Ranjha, our host. Our host’s voice has the authority, and his waist the measurement, of several men.
Ranjha invites us in for a demonstration of his home-brewed bio-gas. He explains that after an initial investment of around Rs400,000, his house and farm has enjoyed free gas (with adequate pressure) for a year without fail.
Ranjha even shows us his cooking utensils: “Bio-gas is environmentally friendly,” he explains as he points our attention to the spotless bottoms of his pots. They have no carbon deposits.
Over plates of succulent mangos and tart jamuns, the conversation steers towards the potentials of bio-gas as replacement for CNG.
“Bio-gas has the potential to completely replace CNG,” Hamza informs the gathering. “And many clients come to the Alternative Energy Development Board, seeking advice on the matter. It is definitely a great business opportunity.”
We are headed for Pakistan’s largest citrus producing areas in the Sargodha District. Having never visited a farming community, I am eager. These are exciting times for farmers, I am told; their cows are quite literally keeping their stoves burning!
As we turn for the Kot Momin interchange, I wonder if these docile beasts ‘hold’ the answer to our gas problems. The Pipal trees grow thick, and a faint tang of citrus scents the air. The locals are obliging, and we are soon pointed in the right direction. A narrow road leads us to The Orange Processing Plant. An attendant greets us and invites us in. “Here, we process and package oranges and mandarins for export,” he explains as he ushers us to the main building. Inside, lofty conveyer belts and heavy machinery slumber away in a corner.
“If it wasn’t for the factory’s bio-gas plant, these machines wouldn’t be able to operate,” Hamza explains. “Methane produced by the plant is used in the generators that power the factory.”
Curious to see learn more I ask to be shown the plant. “It’s all faecal matter,” says the attendant casually, as he points towards the main gas tank. “Cow dung is scooped into the inlet tank and mixed with water.”
‘Sounds lovely,’ I think to myself. In a concrete tank, dung and water are mixed to a slurry; using what looks like a massive egg beater. The muck flows to an airtight underground tank, where, in the absence of oxygen, chemicals in the dung react – creating gas. The gas obviously has to be pumped, purified and pressurised before it can be used, but it’s a fairly simple process which requires minimal human interference. Once the purified methane is extracted, it can be used as a renewable substitute for CNG. In hindsight, this factory, like many others, is rationing a cow’s intestinal gases and turning them into free energy.
Impressed by this stroke of genius, we bid the attendant farewell and head out to another location: Sarfaraz Ranjha’s farm.
Once there, Khuram Shehzad, a young worker, gives us a walkthrough. “My job is the shovel manure from the cow shed into the inlet tank.” With a cringed nose, he adds: “We have 30 animals – you can imagine the workload.”
His might not be the most enriching of careers, but Khuram is nevertheless a part of a farming revolution in the country. Farms using similar systems are not only producing their own methane, they also end up with 100% natural, chemical free fertiliser that’s great for crops.
Initially, the manure needs to sit for eight days before methane is released, Khuram explains. “Any longer than eight days and the methane explodes!” he jests.
“Life’s easier, now that we don’t have to pay for our gas needs. Where the rest of the country suffers from gas shortages, our farm enjoys a surplus,” says Ranjha, our host. Our host’s voice has the authority, and his waist the measurement, of several men.
Ranjha invites us in for a demonstration of his home-brewed bio-gas. He explains that after an initial investment of around Rs400,000, his house and farm has enjoyed free gas (with adequate pressure) for a year without fail.
Ranjha even shows us his cooking utensils: “Bio-gas is environmentally friendly,” he explains as he points our attention to the spotless bottoms of his pots. They have no carbon deposits.
Over plates of succulent mangos and tart jamuns, the conversation steers towards the potentials of bio-gas as replacement for CNG.
“Bio-gas has the potential to completely replace CNG,” Hamza informs the gathering. “And many clients come to the Alternative Energy Development Board, seeking advice on the matter. It is definitely a great business opportunity.”
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