How many cows are needed to generate 50,000 tons of beef exports?

Source: EcoWarriorPrincess

Recently, I wrote a post on the import of butter into the United States in a given month.  According to the excerpt that I cited, the amount in a single month was significant (as an import).  Continuing along this path, the media/news outlet 'Politico' recently reported about the negotiations surrounding the export of beef to Europe.  As indicated in the excerpt below, European nations want to cap the amount of 'hormone-free' beef arriving from outside nations:

How the quota works: The policy stems from a long-running World Trade Organization dispute over the EU's refusal to import U.S. beef treated with hormones. In 2009, the U.S. and EU agreed to set an annual quota of 45,000 metric tonnes (nearly 50,000 in U.S. tons) for hormone-free-beef imports to Europe, which was open to the U.S. and other nations.

After reading the ceiling of 50,000 tons for the import limit from outside nations, I wondered how many cows are needed to generate that amount of beef.  Below is the analysis with the answer.

How much beef for a single cow?

To  begin the analysis, the first question is searchable by using a search engine such as Google with the following question: How much usable meat from a cow?  The answer is shown below:

Source: Google

Note: At first sight, the way that the question is stated might seem strange.  Although, as a user enters words, the Google algorithm starts to guess what the final question is.  Which I use to assemble the question.  That statement was put into the blog post to cover the readers who will read the question and wonder if I know how to ask questions.  Yes, the answer is in short.  I am not beyond the use of assembled questions though too.



The answer indicates that from a 750 pound carcass (remains of a single cow), there will be roughly 490 pounds of 'steak'.  This answer is the conversion factor which we will use to convert the total amount of meat (hormone-free beef) into cows.  The conversion factor is shown below:

The total amount of usage (edible) amount of beef from a single cow is shown above to be 490 pounds of meat.  Before that conversion factor can be useful in our analysis, another unit conversion must take place.  The statistic cited in the introduction of 50,000 tons is expressed in units of 'ton'.  In order to divide by the number above, a unit conversion needs to be accomplished from units of 'ton' to units of 'pound' as shown below:

Our unit conversion revealed that 50,000 tons of beef corresponds to 100 million pounds of beef.  How many cattle does that represent?  The question of interest can be answered by dividing the answer above by 490 pounds/cow as shown below:

100 million pounds of beef -- the total amount of 'hormone-free' beef allowed to be imported into Europe from outside nations requires 204,082 cows to be processed for beef!



How do 204,082 cattle as exports compare to the total amount of cattle processed for beef annually in the United States?



A quick search using Google will reveal a few answers.  One of which is from a website called "Beef2Live" with the following annual world beef production statistics shown below:

Source: Beef2Live.com

I restricted the image size only to include the top 5 beef producers in the world.  As you can see, the United States is the largest.  The annual production of beef in the United States is around 12 million tons of beef.  In comparison, 50,000 tons represents around 0.41% of Annual Beef production in the United States.

Conclusion

Wow!  That really shows the restriction of imported beef into nations under the European Union from outside nations.  At first sight the number might seem significant.  Although, after performing an analysis and casting the statistic into perspective of annual beef production in the United States, the statistic is rather small.  Further, the United States is the world's largest beef producer on an annual basis.  Analyses like the one above really help a reader understand the news in relation to other reported values.  The cited statistic is not really that significant as reported in the excerpt above.  Although, with the status of today's global trade negotiations, every cow counts.



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Boston Natural Gas Explosion Reveals Old Piping Needs Replacement - Enough To Travel To Colorado?

Source: Portland Press herald

Terrible tragedies occur daily in certain regions.  In other regions, the frequency may be less so.  For the case of an explosion due to a natural gas leak, the frequency is small at the moment.  That frequency could be changing over the course of a decade due to badly aging pipeline (infrastructure) in Boston.  Recently, there was an explosion which destroyed 39 homes in a fire which started as a leak from a natural gas source. In the blog post below, the terrible event is cast into light for the reader to understand the extent of possible future damage that lies beneath the ground.

Aging Pipeline?

According to a news article in 'USA Today' titled "Natural gas explosions: Boston-area gas pipes among oldest and leakiest in US" a natural gas explosion was caused by aging pipes which are abundant in various cities across the United States:

The Merrimack Valley, the area north of Boston that was shaken by dozens of natural gas explosions Thursday, is served by some of the nation's oldest and most leak-prone pipes.

Investigators have yet to determine what caused the gas explosions that burned at least 39 homes in the towns of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. But the gas utility that serves the area has more miles of old, cast-iron gas mains than all but 15 utilities in the nation, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal safety data.

 Unfortunately, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the replace of the corroded/damaged iron pipes is not required by law.  This is after years of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has spent years trying to convince utility companies to replace (i.e. invest) iron piping across the United States.



Currently, Boston has enough pipe which needs to be replaced to cover the ground needed to travel between Boston and Colorado.  Wow! According to the article cited above:

In the Boston area, Boston Gas in the metro area and Columbia Gas in the Merrimack Valley combine to use more than 2,200 miles of old iron mains. That's more iron gas pipe than is still in use in 45 other states combined. 

Of course, in the same article the limiting step (main obstacle) for the utility companies is cost.  The cost to replace the aging pipe with plastic roughly is around $1 million dollars per mile.  Wow! I can see how the utility companies would be resistant toward change at such a cost.  In order to get a more clearer understanding of the cost of $1 million dollars per mile, lets perform a brief dimensional analysis on that figure -- 2,200 miles worth of aging piping.



If GoogleMaps is consulted by typing into the search bar "Colorado" then hitting enter, the answer is shown below:

Which shows a map of Colorado.  Now, if we zoom in onto the search function within GoogleMaps on the upper left hand corner of the screen, the picture appears as follows - shown below:

The picture is difficult to resolve the box in the upper left hand corner.  Although, the point is that there is a space to enter the 'starting point' (starting destination) and the ending destination is already filled with 'Colorado'.  Upon entering the entry 'Boston MA' and pressing enter, the map is shown below with different routes between the two points:

If the route is 'zoomed in on' the image below is shown with the route information - i.e. time, distance - as shown below:

The total distance between Boston (MA) and Colorado is 2,086 miles.  Traveling by car would take an estimated 31 hours.



What does one make of this analysis?


Especially in relation to the article above regarding old iron gas pipes which need to be replaced?



The cost of replacing a mile of old iron pipe cited above was around $1 million - does that make sense?  Possibly with all of the digging and reapplication of asphalt to cover the new pipe (not to mention the cost of plastic piping).  The construction costs can certainly add up over the course of any analysis.  What is important here is the following:



Replacing 2,200 miles of piping is equivalent to replacing a pipe extending from Boston (MA) to Colorado.  



Wow!  Looking at the distance in this respect casts the project into a much different light.

What Contributes to Pipe Degradation?

Last but not least, a brief exploration (and I mean brief) into the various causes (parameters) which contribute to the degradation of iron pipes (or steel in other cities) might be useful the reader.  Especially, since a few images were provided in the article cited above with text.  I have taken the images and pasted them below to give a brief tour of parameters which contribute to the degradation of pipes (underground) over time.

Source: USA Today

In the image above, the points are made regarding the aging of iron pipes simply due to shifting earth -- whether caused by weather or local construction is of concern to the residents around the city.  Additionally, city officials should consider the projects and weather patterns when thinking about aging pipes and a timeline to replace such pipes.



Speaking of weather, the 'joints' in between two sections of pipes used to be made out of a material which absorbed moisture since the natural gas running through the aging pipe contained moisture.  Recently, the moisture has been removed.  With the removal has left the interior 'joint' material to dry out and potentially form a leak as shown below:

Source: USA Today

New or replaced piping should not contain such material. Over time, steel piping came into fashion to be used over iron piping.  The issue surrounding steel is that inevitably, the metal surface (exterior) will be subjected to the local elements in the underground.  Such elements will promote oxidation reactions which will cause rust or corrosion and weaken pipes or form leaks as shown below:

Source: USA Today

In order to mitigate (reduce) such corrosion or rust reactions from occurring, a 'coating' was applied to the steel pipes before installation.  Of course, sitting under ground which might be shifting or exposed to varying weather patterns, the 'coating' is inevitably going to react and disappear over time.  Further, the older steel was not coated. Which could have other problems listed above:

Source: USA Today

Conclusion...

The terrible tragedy of last weeks explosion due to a leak in the pipes running underneath a city carrying natural gas is devastating to say the least.  In fact, the only observation that is worst than the tragedy is the fact that there exists still 2,200 miles worth of remaining 'aging piping' which could give way at any time and cause another explosion.  In the blog post above, I cast the large number of remaining miles of iron piping still underneath the residents of Boston in terms of a single 'one way' trip from Boston to Colorado.



One has to really stop and pause to comprehend the danger which lies beneath them -- when staring at the map in the blog post above.  Just think of the time and energy costs of replacing the pipe.  The replacement will not happen over night to be sure.  But if nothing happens, then what remains is the potential danger of another tragedy.  Hopefully, the mayor of Boston steps up and implements guidelines to replace the piping in a swift timeline.  The safety of the residents (of the US) is of paramount importance to us all.







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How many trash carts can be filled with 80 billion pounds of trash?

Source: Saumya Khandelwal -- The New York Times

Each of us generates trash throughout each day.  The usual routine is to make sure that the trash that each of us generate ends up in 'the trash can' in each room.  From there, we know that the trash that is deposited will then get shipped to either a dump or a boat to another country.  Did you know that?  What if other countries cannot except anymore trash?  Why do I ask this question?  Read onto find out.



Recently, in an article in The New York Times titled "‘The Dump Killed My Son’: Mountains of Garbage Engulf India’s Capital" the author reported two stunning statistics regarding gigantic trash piles which were looming close to neighborhoods and carrying the possibility of transmitting disease.   Here is an excerpt which caught my eye regarding total amount of waste:

In the metropolitan area of Delhi, which includes the capital New Delhi, trash heaps are towering monuments to India’s growing waste crisis. About 80 billion pounds of trash have accumulated at four official dumping sites, on the fringes of a capital already besieged by polluted air and toxic water, according to the supervisors of the dumps.

Some of these dumps are simply open aired rooms which span up to 17 stories in height.  Yes, that is equivalent to around 170 feet in height.  WOW.  The weight in trash was another mind blowing statistic which was too much to comprehend.  Therefore, I decided to carry out a little dimensional analysis in order to better understand this mind blowing number -- 80 billion pounds of trash.  I asked the following question:



How many trash carts could be filled with 80 billion pounds of trash?

How many pounds of trash in a trash cart?

In order to start the analysis, the metric which will be used to cast this enormous number needs to be known.  The trash cart of interest is shown below:

This trash cart is commonly used in the United States by various waste management corporations.  The average amount of trash in pounds which each can hold might be tricky to figure out -- since not all trash weighs the same or takes up the same volume -- not all trash has the same density!



To get an answer, Google can be consulted by inserting the following question: "how many pounds of trash does a 96 gallon trash cart hold?"  The answer is shown below:

According to text in image, a 96 gallon trash can is able to hold up to 250 lbs of trash.  As I just mentioned, the exact amount of trash (weight) is difficult to calculate for a given volume.  Trash might weigh different amounts depending on the composition of the trash.  At this point, you might be a little disappointed.  No worries.



A common theme in this blog site is to "approximate" an answer.  Which is what is being done by us when we consult Google.  With an answer obtained, the analysis may be carried out to obtain a final answer.  With this in mind, lets move on to calculate the total amount of trash cans which may be filled with 80 billion pounds of trash.

How Many Trash Bins Hold 80 Billion Pounds Of Trash?

In the last section, the amount of trash was determined (in weight) which each trash bin (or can) could hold.  Given now the enormous statistic of 80 billion pounds -- the amount of trash in four different sites within the city Delhi, how many trash bins would be required to hold all of that trash?



The calculation can be done in a single step once the values (or numbers) and units of measurement have been inspected to ensure uniformity.  By uniformity of units, we mean that if a number such as the total amount of trash is reported in 'units of pounds', then our conversion factor must also be expressed in 'units of pounds' -- which is the case.



In the paragraphs above, the conversion factor for the 'density' of trash was determined by asking the search engine Google.  The density of trash was determined to be (approximated to be) around 250 pounds/96 gallons.  Density traditionally is expressed in units of 'grams/milliliters or kilograms/cubic meter.  For the sake of the current analysis, we can choose the units - we wish - as long as the answer is expressed in units typical for density.



Since a single 96 gallon trash can (or bin) holds around 250 pounds of trash, the density can be expressed as follows:

We drop the 96 gallons and substitute 'per trash can' -- meaning 1 trash can = 96 gallons.  Yes, volume is expressed as a single trash can -- strange.  This is acceptable as long as we state our assumption explicitly for the reader.  Therefore, the total amount of trash cans needed to hold 80 billion pounds of trash is calculated by dividing the total amount of trash by the density of trash as shown below:

The answer indicates that a total of 320,000,000 trash cans or 320 million trash cans.  Wow!  Not a small amount.  Naturally, when I read a startling statistic like this, I wonder why such an enormous amount of trash has been allowed to accumulate over time?  What about the propagation of disease?  Is there a possibility of disease propagation with such a staggering amount?



In another section of the same article, the description of a single pile was 17 stories high?  That is over 170 feet tall (an approximate value) as mentioned above.  Wow.  Now that the following analysis has been performed, you (the reader) have been liberated to carry out similar analyses using the same method.  In addition, analyses such as the one above shed a greater amount of light on the magnitude of the problem at hand -- the accumulation of trash.



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