The Sims Don't Face Energy Cost Issues

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Copyright © 2006-2008 Wesley Berry, AAF


Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in an entirely electronic world like the characters in the popular game The Sims do? That way we would never be faced with difficult financial challenges like the enormous rise in energy costs that we're all battling these days. Although most businesses face some additional challenges due to the rising cost of fuel, the floral industry is particularly hard hit because of the enormous impact prices have on greenhouses.

Greenhouses all over the country are watching their monthly energy bills take enormous leaps. Don Howell of Pajaro Valley Greenhouses in Watsonville, California said, "Natural gas prices have risen dramatically, with a very large spike after Hurricane Katrina. Last winter was tough for us, with gas prices in many cases twice [as high] as the year before."

Pajaro isn't the only one to experience such large increases. Mark Leider of Leider Horticultural Companies in Buffalo Grove, Illinois reports that the cost to heat his 600,000 square feet of greenhouses using natural gas has risen a whopping 350 percent over the last six years. He said, "Last January it cost $3,000 a day to heat the greenhouses. We just raised our prices and did not talk about it much-our best customers understood. They accepted the prices because they realized how much their home heating bills have increased."

Because of such enormous increases, greenhouses all over the world are looking for alternative, less expensive methods for heating. Dutch greenhouses are even looking into developing greenhouses that will produce energy that can be sold to the general public. Other growers are looking to alternatives like biomass boilers, which grow coal, beans, and waste products from other countries. Carroll Farms in Ontario has made the change from natural gas to a biomass boiler of which Russ Carroll says, "The cost of our heat has been reduced by two thirds with very little work. The cost of the boilers and plumbing has a return on investment of one to two years. There is a readily available source of fuel as more and more companies hear of a way of burning their waste products."

As great as alternative fuel sources are, the sad truth is that many businesses simply don't have the capital required to purchase the equipment necessary to make the transition. As a result, greenhouses are forced to make up the costs in other areas-and that means increased prices for flower buyers. That's just one more reason it would be nice to be an electronic character like one of The Sims-but then again, they can hardly stop and smell the beautiful fragrance of the roses with their electronic noses, can they? I guess I'll take those rising fuel costs after all.


About the Author:
Wesley Berry is member of the American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) and President of Wesley Berry Flowers, a successful multi-million dollar floral business that was established in 1946. His shops provide flower delivery worldwide through Flower Delivery Express. Visit Wesley Berry Flowers on the web at www.800wesleys.com