Food can only contain as much energy as oil. There are better references for energy in food than this one, but we are using it in the context of value = money: we are giving the value Red 1 to 100 grams of Sunflower Oil. Many other food items have been related to this one and, voila, an 8-step index has been made. Convenient, because 100 gram Sunflower Oil = 810 kCal. If we divide that by 8, we have 1/8 red =~ 100 kCal.
Please take a look at the this table which has been derived from scientific data in Binas. Note that only the biological burning rate has been used, so we only know how much energy was stored in the food. But how much energy did the farmer use to grow the food?
This table – of which a long version exists in Dutch – may only be used as a rule-of-thumb. Don’t follow it just like that. Are you taking into account the power of the refrigerator? The fuels of the tractor? The fuels of the trucks used during transport? Or, have you only been using man and horse power? That will definitely come out cheaper!
While this table is of use when making prices, do not stare blind at the price of Red. Not the amount of color is important: it’s the choice of the color that is important! But us modern capitalists have been so fed up with that ‘being cheap, so study the amount’. In colourcash, you can tell cheap by the absence of Blue and a reasonable amount of Red.
With Red, it’s just like with Sun itself. Too much is not good, you burn. Too few is not good either: it’s too cold. We are looking for balance here, remember.
Some rules of thumb for the use of industry, mechanics, consumption of carnivores and other interesting things may be published in the future.