The Bay Leaf and A One Sauce

Bay leaves and A One Steak Sauce are respectively a spice and a sauce that make bland food taste special. The Bay Leaf is from the Laurel tree. There is a California Bay Leaf that is the leaf of the California Bay Tree (Umbellulatia Californica) and has a stronger flavor the Mediterranean Bay Leaf. Californians have taken to spicing soups, stews, and biryanis with our home grown Bay Leaves. Californians also lead the nation is eco gullibility. Californians in relation to the state’s population size purchased the highest number of Nissan Leaf plug in cars. Northern Californians living around the San Francisco Bay are even more gullible than the rest of Californians as they purchased even more Nissan Leaves in proportion to their population than anywhere else. Ok now we know that my neighbors have been green-washed and that the Nissan Leaf should be renamed the Bay Leaf, so what does this have to do with a blog by the Green Machine?

Well quite simply Bay Leaves and A One Steak Sauce are great for spicing up foods, but have had no tangible effect on greening America. The Nissan Leaf is for all intents and purposes a minor model that Nissan has subsidized to establish goodwill for their global petroleum fueled brand. Some 8,000 Leaves have been sold in the USA for the 2011 Model Year. Some 16,000 were sold worldwide. Nissan has now determined they are losing money on each Leaf they sell in the USA, hence they have upped the price on the 2012 Leaf by some 8% over the 2011 model year. Were we not told that “economies of scale” will reduce the cost of the electric car? I opined that there were minimal economies of scale to be expected in lithium ion battery manufacture and provided such sage advice to the US Senate in my outside witness testimony of a year and a half ago.

A One the highly subsidized and highly touted US manufacturer of lithium ion batteries has proved that economies of scale in their battery manufacturing cannot be gained. They reported their third quarter of 2011 results the past week. They produced 67.7 million watt hours of batteries in the 3rd quarter of 2011 with an average cost of goods sold of $1.15 per watt hour. Back in the second quarter of 2009 they produced 17.0 million watt hours of batteries with an average cost of goods sold of $1.15 per watt hour. Since the second quarter of 2009 they have invested more than $100 million in manufacturing plant and have increased their scale of operations four fold but yet are to reduce their unit manufacturing costs by even a cent. A One is not alone in this regard they actually are a “stellar” performer compared with Ener 1 and Valence who simply have not done as much manufacturing as A One. Of course the department of entropy provided loan guarantees to both A One and Ener 1 on the promise of these magical economies of scale. Governor Perry was dumbfounded in the GOP debate last week when asked by the moderator which three cabinet departments he would eliminate if he was elected president? Had I been in the debate I would have ranked the department of entropy as the first branch of the bay leaf tree to be pruned. Interestingly when bay leaves are green they do not have flavor and are mild. They develop their full flavor several weeks after picking when they have dried and turned brown. Perhaps the Green Bay Leaves that the gullible nincompoops in the San Francisco Bay Area bought from Nissan will also turn brown and gain some flavor with time? Talking about Brown, governor moonbeam is still dreaming that California is first in the new green economy. He should realize that an aged brown bay leaf has the flavor and should use his wisdom accordingly. I did meet him when he was mayor of Oakland and he is a very intelligent guy. Compared with Arne he is a welcome relief or perhaps releaf.