Case Overview (International business) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case Overview (International business) - Essay Example To fight this inflationary fire, the central bank of Vietnam, the State bank of Vietnam has raised the key interest rates to 14%. This was the latest in a flurry of interest rate increases since February 2011. This interest rate increase is to be accompanied by usual anti-inflationary measures like tighter monetary policy and tighter control on credit. The government of Vietnam has also pledged to cut the burgeoning budget deficit and check the bleeding public sector enterprises of the country. The package introduced by the government to counter this inflation is known as Resolution 11. The Resolution 11 clearly states that the government seems determined to control inflation even at the cost of economic growth. At the meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Hanoi, Vietnam’s Minister for Planning and Investment conceded that because of the priority of the government to control inflation, the Vietnamese economy will fall short of its targeted growth rate of 7% to 7.5%. The private credit of Vietnam is a massive 120% of the GDP. This means that Vietnam is a sort of global record holder in credit creation. However, the saving grace is that bank deposits have kept pace with this record credit growth. Because of this high inflation, the dollarization and ‘goldisation’ of the economy have increased. Ordinary Vietnamese citizens are resorting to hedging against the inflation by keeping their reserves in dollars and gold instead of dong. What has helped this dollarization is the easy availability of dollars because of the large stock of it. In spite of the capital controls, the stock of dollars in Vietnam is high, because of the remittances sent by the large army of Vietnamese migrant workers working abroad .The banks of Vietnam also offer dollar deposits to the customers. To check the move to dollar deposits, the government has capped interests on dollar deposits to 3% against the very high interest rates of 14% on dong deposits. The country also has

Leading and Managing in Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Leading and Managing in Organisations - Essay Example iate it with something negative that brings ineffectiveness of the working or living conditions or the situation that promote inefficiency within the organization. However, conflict is not always a bad thing, in particular when it appears within organizations. Some types of conflict instead encourage new visions and solutions and increases creativity within the working team (Sims, 2002). Mullins (2007) proposes alternative philosophies of conflict. One of such concepts is a unitarist perspective, which is more traditional and views harmony and cooperation as natural state of human interactions. That is why it views conflict as negative effect of different misunderstandings and unwillingness to follow the common rules. While in the organizations the unitarist perspective is followed, it assumes that all organizational member should be in the same side, should be united by the leader and pursue the same goals. Whether some fail to follow the rest, they create conflict situation. The mo st vivid example of unitarist concept is the creation of team, a group of people that would follow certain rules and be led by the other person for the sake of reaching the same target. The pluralist perspective does not see conflict as an evil for the effectiveness of organization. Instead, it sees conflict as natural concept, however pluralists stay for handling conflict and set up certain policies and rules how to manage conflict. The radical perspective is derived from the Marxist idea about the constant struggle between owners and those who should work for owners. In organizations, a conflict is viewed as struggle between capital and labor, where managers are seen as the agents of owners and should not have their interest other than owners. Conflicts arise if managers fail to recognize these facts. The interactionist perspective views conflict as neither bad nor good thing, however, it is the integral part of each organization. However, the absence of conflict bears no ideas an d

Hobbes and Lock Views on Property Essay Example for Free

Hobbes and Lock Views on Property Essay Property, whether personal or private, is thought of and looked at differently with different point of views. John Locke (1632 – 1704) and Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) had very strong and also very diverse views of property and its importance in the human society. John Locke saw private property as the basis of freedom and liberty. Locke believed that people were born free, equal and were born with three rights that were natural and God-given; these rights were life, liberty, and property. Locke, who believed in liberal democracy, considered property not just possessions that we physically use and own, but rather that property is what  gwe mix with our labour, the labour of our body and the work of our hands h. (The Human Project; pg151). Property is something that you have put your labour into, the work, investment, energy or effort that you put into something makes it an extension of you, which you own. It is not only your land or personal possessions which are considered property, but this can be in regards with anything from a product, an idea, a service, a relationship, sex or religion. He decided liberal democracy was the best way to protect our property because with too much of a strong government, they could threaten our natural rights. Property was extremely important to Locke because he believed that it defines the boundaries of individual freedom. When you have earned and own your property, you are free to do whatever you wish in the limitations of your property without repercussions by the state or government. Locke believed that property was a primarily good and positive thing and therefore he believed that it was something that should be protected by the government because it is one of the three natural rights that we are given. Another idea of property was from Karl Marx whose opinion on property was quite the opposite of Locke fs; it was based on communism, although Marx himself was not a communist. Marx fs attitude of property was that private property was the basis of exploitation and inhumanity. While Locke saw private property as something people should be proud of and gave people incentive to work, Marx believed that private property created an excruciating difference between the  ghaves h and the  ghave-nots h and therefore he wanted to abolish this conflicted difference and the only way he believed that was possible was to eliminate private property. Marx believed that there was a huge difference between the rich and the poor, which he also described as the  haves  and the  have-nots , the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, the powerful and the powerless, or to put simply, the owners and the workers. Marx divided property into two theories: personal property and private property. Personal property was defined as something that is used by the individual on a daily basis, such as their automobile, their home in which they live, their appliances and their clothes or personal possessions. Private property was defined as something that they own but do not use, such as an apartment they lease out to rent, their factory and factory workers, or a long-term investment. He believed to eliminate this barrier between the  haves  and the  have-nots  so that classes would be equal in society would have to abolish private property. Marx wanted to dispose of private property, not personal property. If private property was removed, Marx believed the separation and division of labour between the  haves  and the  have-nots  would be eliminated because it would bring an end to exploitation, alienation, means of production and opiates; in other words, we would no longer have to use our bodies to make profit for someone else and we would be able to put ourselves into our work and feel independent and proud of the work we accomplished. This would allow individuals to feel personal satisfaction from their work as well as eliminate the classes in society. Locke and Marx fs views on property were very different from one another. Locke saw fundamental values in property in which the government should protect while Marx saw private property as the reason to many problems in the human society because of the unequal distribution of wealth and therefore wanted the government to get rid of private property. I do not think that private property should be abolished as Marx recommends. This is because I believe in Locke fs theory that having property gives individuals the sense of independence and accomplishment and by people having possessions they feel like they have earned something by the work that they do. Without this feeling of owning something, society would not be as it is today as people need encouragement and incentive for what they are doing. In this sense, I feel that Marx  argument that private property should be abolished is flawed and that the government should do anything they can to protect our property as it is one of the three rights we are given. If we looked at private property not as property, but as something to work towards as a reward, it will give individuals the sense of accomplishment which is an opiate that is much needed. If everyone in society had equal amounts of wealth, there would be a lack of dedication: why would one work harder than another if in the end they are all getting the same reward? The society needs private property as motivation to work hard and gives a reward for it. This is why I believe and agree with Lockes theory on property.

Potential Of Renewable Energy Sources In Pakistan Environmental Sciences Essay

Potential Of Renewable Energy Sources In Pakistan Environmental Sciences Essay Energy is an essential ingredient of socio economic development and growth. Pakistan, despite of enormous potential of indigenous energy resources, is dependent on external resources for meeting their energy demand. Moreover, Pakistan is among those developing countries with low energy consumption. Only 55% and 20% Pakistans population has access to electricity and natural gas respectively. About 68% Population is living in rural areas and most of them have no access to electricity. At present, the people are facing severe electricity load shedding problems due to shortage of power supply. The country is facing huge economic losses due to the energy crises from the previous two years. Oil (30%) and gas (48.5%) are the major part of the current energy supply. The current oil reservoirs of the country are very low, which fulfill 15% of the oil demand while remaining 85% oil is imported from outside world. The indigenous recoverable reservoirs of oil and gas will exhaust in 13 and 21 y ears respectively. Pakistan has wide spectrum of high potential renewable energy sources, conventional and as well non-conventional, which have not been adequately explored, exploited and developed. The development of the renewable energy sources can play an important role to achieve stable energy supply. This paper discussed potential of different renewable energy resources, which are technically viable in Pakistan. The country can be benefited by harnessing these options of energy generation as substitute energy in areas where sources exist and consequently contributing in poverty alleviation and cleaner environment in Pakistan Key Words: Pakistan, renewable energy, hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, biogas, geothermal, emergy INTRODUCTION Energy is an essential ingredient of socio-economic development and economic growth. Without sufficient energy in useable and at affordable prices, there is a little prospects of developments of improving the economy of a country and the living conditions of people. It is well known fact that technological and industrial advancement is heavily dependent on the readily available energy especially in the form of fossil fuel. The larger proportion of the today energy supplies is still made of fossil fuels. The world is running on 60 % non renewable (Odum and Odum, 2001). It is estimated that global energy demand will be increase by two thirds in 2001-2030 (IEA, 2002a). The reservoirs of fossil fuel are not unlimited and at the present rate of consumption they will not last very long. The world community today uses up in one minute what it took the earth a millennium to create. The oil reservoirs are decreasing and it is predicted that fossil fuels can only meet the worlds energy demand just for three decades more (IEA, 2002a). Moreover, it has been conclusively proved that climate change, which has been resulting in global warming, is mainly caused by greenhouse gas emissions from energy generating systems based on fossil fuels. Yet another aspect that has come into sharp focus is that the developing countries can ill afford to depend excessively upon petroleum imports marked by volatile price fluctuations Since the inception of Pakistan, the primary power supplies from the conventional energy sources were (and are still today) not enough to meet the countrys energy demand. Pakistan, despite the enormous potential of its indigenous energy, remains energy deficient and has to rely heavily on the imports of the petroleum products to satisfy its present day need. Efforts have been made to exploit the existing conventional energy resources to build a strong indigenous exploration and production base. In spite of all these efforts, Pakistan is not able to fully exploit its indigenous energy resources due to variety of reasons. Although, the thermal power generating capacity has increased rapidly during the last few years due to foreign investment, but at same time, it has caused increased air pollution and CHG emission with the result of degradation of health and ecosystem (Ziagham Nayyer, 2005). After the 1970s oil crises, the issues of security of energy supplies and sustainable use of energy sources have become very important policy issues. From then, there has been an increasing interest all over the world for alternative of conventional energy sources to ensure eco friendly sustainable development on the one hand and energy security on the other. This paper describe the potential of renewable energy sources in Pakistan WHY RENEWABLE ENERGY? After the oil crises of the 1970s, all the developed and non oil producing countries were faced with immense oil supply problems. There developed a wide spread economic recession all over the world due to the high oil prices. Moreover, with in rising green movement, the environmental problem became dominant in policy agenda The fossil fuel still continues to dominate the world energy supply. The fossil fuel consumption is more than the earth capacity to generate it. As a result, oil reservoir are draining out very fast and it is predicted that the remaining fossil fuels can only meet the worlds energy demand just three decades more (IEA, 2002a). Moreover, the environmental damage that is created by fossil fuels is also another crucial danger in the future. Along with environmental problems, climate change also created economic and social losses. If the current pace continues, the weather and climate losses will reach almost $ 150 billion by next decade (IEA, 2002a). Because of these reasons, Renewable energy has gained importune in the energy policy agenda Two important global environment initiatives have also stimulated greater interest in renewable in the world. The first was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Renewables featured in both Agenda 21 and the Climate Change Convention (United Nations, 1992). Because of the important role of fossil fuels in the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (it is estimated that the energy sector accounts for about half the global emissions of green-house gases) and concomitant climate change concerns, renewable are perceived to constitute an important option for mitigating and abating the emissions of greenhouse gases (Socolow, 1992). Renewable also featured high on the agenda of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. One of the targets proposed at WSSD was for every country to commit itself to meeting 10% of its national energy supply from renewable. Although the 10% target was not agreed to at the summit, there was general consensus that countries should commit themselves to promotion of renewable (WEHAB Working Group, 2002). The main advantage of renewable sources is that they are found in every part of the world depending on geographical and geological situations. In other words, they are indigenous energy sources. The countries does not need to import them, which means they can relieve the dependency problem on one hand and can save precious foreign exchange reserves on the other. Renewable energy has also economic and social benefits; such as jobs creation. In 2002, more than 14 millions jobs have created world wide in RE activities (IEA, 2002a). According to U.S. Department of energy, only in 2002, 25,000 new jobs were created in photovoltaic (PV) industry (Aitken, 2004). RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES IN PAKISTAN Pakistan has wide spectrum of high potential of renewable energy sources, conventional and non-conventional as well, which have not been adequately explored, exploited or developed. As a result, the primary energy supplies today are not enough to meet even the present demand. Moreover, a very large part of the rural areas does not have the electrification facilities because they are either too remote and/or too expensive to connect to the national grid. So, Pakistan, like other developing countries of the region, is facing a serious challenge of energy deficit. Only 55% and 20% of Pakistans population has access to electricity and natural gas respectively. Moreover, about 80% countrys population lives in rural areas and most of them have no access of to electricity. In Pakistan, per capita primary energy supply is only 0.33 million tons oil equivalent (MTOE) while per capita electricity supply is about 520 kWh compared to Worlds average 2,500 kWh At present people are facing severe l oad shedding (about 10 hours a day) due to shortage of 3 GW power supply. Pakistan has very low indigenous fossil fuel resource base and with present rate of production, the indigenous recoverable reserves of oil and gas will exhausted in 14 and 21 respectively. Though there is enormous coal reservoir (185 billion tons) in the country but has not utilized so far due to variety of reasons. The prospect of nuclear energy is bright in Pakistan but high cost, technology barriers and international embargoes are the big hurdles in its course. This shows that conventional non renewable resources are grossly inadequate for meeting the future energy needs of the country. Therefore, development of the renewable energy sources can play an important role in meeting this challenge (Harijan et al., 2008). Pakistan stretches from 24 °N to 37 °N latitudes and from 61 °E to 76 °E longitudes. The total land area of Pakistan is about 800,000 km ². The landscape varies from lofty Karakoram and Himalaya mountains, with the K-2 peak (second highest in the world: 8,613 meters) to the famous desert of Thar and includes fertile plains of the river Indus and its tributaries. The offshore covers over 231,674 km ² in the Arabian Sea. In Pakistan, cropped and forest lands cover an area of about 23 million hectares and 4 million hectares respectively (AEDB website: www.aedb.org) There are quite a number of renewable energy sources, but the resources that are technologically viable and have bright prospects to be exploited commercially in Pakistan include, Solar (PV, thermal), Water (mega local macro-micro-hydel) Wind. Wastes (City solid waste, animal waste) geothermal. Pakistan can get benefit and use these as substitute energy in areas where sources exist. Water Energy Potential Hydropower is one of the oldest forms of energy mankind has used on a mass scale. Mechanical use of hydropower began thousands of years ago by the Egyptians and Greeks for irrigation and milling of grain. Its use for production of electricity dates back to the 19th century in 1882 electricity was produced for the first time by the use of hydropower (Asif, 2008). It is the most versatile source of energy being used in the world. It is renewable, abundant, environmentally friendly and technically mature. It is also regarded as the most economical form of energy. Hydropower is regarded as one of the most important sources of energy Pakistan can count on. Despite the presence of a strong base for Table-1: Proposed sites and their discharge, fall and power potential S# Name of Channel Location Discharge in fee/second Fall in Feet Power Potential in MW 1 Baloki-Sulamanki Link-1 RD106250 12500 10.64 10.00 2 Baloki-Sulamanki Link-2 RD33430 9000 17.86 10.72 3 Chanab-Jhelum Link (Tail) RD316622 13527 41.70 40.00 4 Upper Chanab RD0 16500 8.83 9.70 5 TP Link Canal (DG Khan) RD183000 12000 3.00 12.28 (Source: Hassan, 2002) this form of energy, not enough has been done to tap the precious resource. The hydro potential was estimated at about 50,000 MW out of which about 4,800 MW has been developed over the past 50 years through mega-hydel plants and the remaining has yet to be exploited (Kazi, 1999). The northern areas of the country are rich with hydropower resources. Hydrological survey also revealed that there is a great potential for 300 MW power generations through construction of micro hydropower plants in northern areas of Pakistan (Hassan, 2002). Besides, there is an immense potential for exploiting water falls in the canal network particularly in Punjab, where low head high discharge exists on many canals. Irrigation system of Pakistan is one the largest in the world having extensive network of canal of 160,000 km length. The canal system has a huge hydropower potential at numerous sites/locations on these irrigation canals, ranging from 1MW to more than 10MW, which can be utilized for developi ng small hydro-power stations (Hussan, 2002) Wind Energy Harnessing wind power to produce electricity on a commercial scale has become the fastest growing energy technology. Economic, political and technological forces are now emerging to make wind power a viable source of energy. Data shows that worldwide installed wind power capacity during the period 1996-2008. The total wind power capacity was only 6,100 MW which has increased tremendously and reached to 120791 MW in 2008. Pakistan has a considerable potential of wind energy in the coastal belt of Sindh, Baluchistan and as well as in the desert areas of Punjab and Sindh. This renewable source of energy has however, not so far been utilized significantly. The coastal belt of Pakistan is blessed with a God gifted wind corridor that is 60 km wide (Gharo ~ Kati Bandar) and 180 km long .This corridor has the exploitable potential of 50,000 MW of electricity generation through wind energy (AEDB website: www.aedb.org) Fig.1. Worldwide installed wind power capacity 1996-2008 (Source: http://www.ewea.org/) Fig. 2. Pakistan Meteorological Departments wind mapping stations Source: www.aedb.org Pakistan is a late starter in this field. It is estimated that more than 5000 villages can be electrified through wind energy in Sindh, Balochistan and Northern areas Country first ever commercial 50 MW wind farm has been inaugurated in April 2009 with cooperation of Zorlu Enerji Group of Turkey at Jhimpir, District Thatta, Sindh. Moreover, Projects for generation of 1200MW of electricity from wind are in different stages of development (AEDB website: www.aedb.org) Solar Energy Direct solar energy can broadly be categorized into solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, which convert the suns energy into electrical energy; and solar thermal technologies, which use the suns energy directly for heating, cooking and drying (Karekezi and Ranja, 1997). Solar energy has for a long time been used for drying animal skins and clothes, preserving meat, drying crops and evaporating seawater to extract salt. Substantial research has been done over the years on exploiting the huge solar energy resource. Today, solar energy is utilized at various levels. On a small scale, it is used at the household level for lighting, cooking, water heaters and solar architecture houses; medium scale appliances include water heating in hotels and irrigation. At the community level, solar energy is used for vaccine refrigeration, water pumping, purification and rural electrification. On the industrial scale, solar energy is used for pre-heating boiler water for industrial use and power gener ation, detoxification, municipal water heating, telecommunications, and, more recently, transportation (solar cars) (Karekezi and Ranja, 1997; Ecosystems, 2002). Solar energy has excellent potential in areas of Pakistan that receive high levels of solar radiation throughout the year. Every day, country receives an average of about 19 Mega Joules per square meter of solar energy (AEDB website: www.aedb.org). During last twenty years Pakistan has shown quite encouraging developments in photovoltaic (PV). Currently, solar technology is being used in Pakistan for rural telephone exchanges, repeater stations, highway emergency telephones, cathodic protection, refrigeration for vaccine and medicines in the hospitals etc. The Public Health Department has installed many solar water pumps for drinking purposes in different parts of the country. Both the private and public sectors are playing their roles in the Popularization and up grading of photovoltaic activities in the country. A number of companies are not only involved in trading photovoltaic products and appliances but also manufacturing different components of PV systems. They are selling PV modules, batteries, regulators, invertors, as well as Source: www.aedb.org Fig. 3. Annual average mean daily Solar Radiation in Pakistan KWH/sq.m practical low power gadgets for load shedding such as photovoltaic lamps, battery chargers, garden lights System (SHS) project in 2005 and basic facilities of lighting, cooking and water disinfection were provided to 11 villages in remote areas of Pakistan. Based on success of this program, the government had approved replication of this project in 400 villages in Baluchistan Sindh (Source: www.aedb.org Energy from Waste For more than twenty years, Waste to Energy has been recognized as a clean, reliable, renewable source of energy. In America today 2,500 MW are solely generated by the waste-to-energy plants. Many other countries including Sweden and Japan have applied this technology since the last 20 years. In the subcontinent, India installed three projects to produce electricity from waste with a total capacity of 17.6 MW ( Shahid 2009) It is estimated that the urban areas of Pakistan generate over 55,000 tones of solid wastes daily ( Ziagham Nayyer, 2005) Unfortunately in Pakistan this source of energy has not been utilized for power generation in the past. The growing urbanization and changes in the pattern of life has given rise to generation of increasing quantities of wastes and its now becoming another threat to our environment. Energy generation from the Animal Waste Pakistan is an agricultural country. About 70% of the population resides in rural areas who meet 95% of their domestic fuel needs by burning bio-fuels Biogas is a potential renewable energy source in Pakistan. An estimate indicates that Pakistan has potential of generating 8.58 ÃÆ'- 1010 cubic meter of biogas 1287 million tones of cattle dung annually produced. The heat value of this gas amounts to 1.8ÃÆ'-112 MJ. In addition, 350 millions tons of manure would also produce with biogas (Illyas, 2006). More than 0.024 millions domestic biogas plans have been installed in Pakistan. These plants are of small size (1-10 m ) capacity and mainly used for cooking and other domestic applications. AEDB has facilitated the Landhi Cattle Colony Biogas project, which upon its completion will be one of the largest wastes to energy projects in the world, generating up to 50 MW of electricity. The pilot phase of 250 kW has been successfully initiated. This project is being implemented by Empower Company of New Zealand and will utilize waste of 400,000 cattle in the area to produce electricity (Source: www.aedb.org) Geothermal Geothermal energy is the energy derived from the heat of the earths core. It is clean, abundant and reliable. If properly developed, it can offer a renewable and sustainable energy source. At an international level, approximately 8,100 MW of geothermal power is generated, out of a global potential of 60,000MW (Marietta, 2002; Bronicki, 2001). Most of the high enthalpy geothermal resources of the world are within seismic belts associated with zones of crustal weakness such as plate margins and centers or volcanic activity. A global seismic belt passes through Pakistan and the country has a long geological history of geotectonic events: Permo-carboniferous volcanism (Panjal traps in Kashmir) as a result of rifting of Iran-Afghanistan micropiates, Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous rifting of the Indo-Pakistan Plate, widespread volcanism during Late Cretaceous (Deccan traps) attributed to the appearance of a hot spot in the region, emergence of a chain of volcanic islands along the margins of the Indo-Pakistan Plate, collision of India and Asia (Cretaceous-Paleocene) and the consequent Himalayan upheaval, and Neogene-Quaternary volcanism in the Chagai District (Kazmi Jan, 1999; Raza Bander, 1995). This Geotectonic framework indicates that Pakistan should not be lacking in commercially exploitable sources of geothermal energy. Potential geothermal energy sites are identified at Sehwan in Sindh and Koh-e-Sultan in Baluchistan province Fig 4. Geothermal Springs of Pakistan Source: www.aedb.org Emergy, Net energy evaluations and environmental loading of Renewable Energy Sources There is a great potential of renewable energy sources in Pakistan. However, there are some key questions to be address before exploiting these resources. What will be the net energy and emergy from these energy systems? What will be new environmental load they create? Are these energy systems sustainable or not? Explaining these questions is beyond the scope of this paper but I will present a general view of above mentioned concepts. Net Energy Analysis Net energy refers to the ratio of the amount of energy produced to the amount of energy expended to produce it Net energy determines the usefulness of energy system to society. The usefulness of an energy system is determined by a complex combination of physical, technical, economic and social attributes. This includes energy density, power density, emissions, cost and efficiency of conversion, financial risk amenability to storage, risk to human health, and ease of transport. These attributes combine to determine energy quality. Energy returns for investment (EROI) is an important tool uses for net energy analysis. EROI is used to compare the amount of energy delivered to society by a technology to the total energy required to find, extract, process, deliver, and otherwise upgrade that energy to a socially useful form. Hydropower has the highest EROI among the renewable energy resources. Wind energy system has very favorable EROI in the right condition while solar thermal have low E ROI compared to hydropower. They key issue is the size of the surplus that can realistically be delivered by renewable energy system (Cleveland, C.J. 2008) Source: (Odum, H.T. 1998) Fig. 4 Energy transformation, storage, and feedback reinforcement found in units self organized for maximum performance Emergy Synthesis Emergy refers to Available energy of one kind previously required directly and indirectly to make a product or service (Odum, H.T. 1998). Emergy synthesis serves as an alternative method to evaluate the energy flows of a system. It provides a way to account for differences in energy quality, for environmental services provided to a system, as well as a means to measure a systems level of Emergy sustainability. To derive the solar emergy of a resource or commodity, it is necessary to trace back through all the resource and energy flows that are used to produce it and express these input flows in the amount of solar energy that went into their production. This has been done for a wide variety of resources and commodities as well as for the renewable energies driving the biogeochemical process of the earth (Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. 2002) Emergy and energy accounting require systems diagrams to organize evaluations and account for all inputs to, and outflows from, processes. The structures and storages that operate our world of humanity and environment are sustained against the depreciation of the second law by productive inputs for replacement and maintenance. Maximizing the products and services for growth and support appears to be a design principle of self organization as given by Alfred Lotka as the maximum power principle. Pathways in Figure 4 illustrate the flows and conservation of energy. The storage is represented with a tank symbol. The heat sink symbol represents the dispersal of available energy from processes and storages according to the second law. The feedback from right to left interacts as a multiplier increasing energy intake. This autocatalytic loop is one of the designs that prevail because they reinforce power intake and efficient use (Odum, H.T. 1998) Source: (Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. 2002) Fig 5 Aggregated energy systems diagram of an electric power plant, with main inputs and outputs shown and used to calculate performance emergy based indicators. Legends: R1=renewable inputs directly falling on the plant site (sun, wind, rain); R2=renewable inputs supplied by the local ecosystem and used by the plant in the production of electricity (cooling water and air, oxygen for combustion); R=locally renewable input to the process=max(R1; R2) as these inputs are driven by the same (solar) source; N=nonrenewable inputs (such as coal, oil, nd natural gas or groundwater that is used faster than it is recharged); F=goods and services from the economy (F) that are used to construct, operate, and maintain the power plant (construction materials, machinery, general supplies, human services, etc.); Y=Output of a process. Here, the electricity yielded by the plant. By definition, the output is assigned an emergy Y=R+N+F; =chemicals released by the power plant to the atmosphere (from combustion); H = Heat released by the power plant to the atmosphere and the cooling water Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. (2002) evaluated six electricity production systems by using energy and emergy accounting system, in order to rank their relative thermodynamics and environmental efficiencies. They explored out/input energy ratio, emergy yield ratio (EYR) and environmental load ratio (ELR). Generation of CO2  has also been accounted for in order to compare renewable and nonrenewable energy sources Emergy yield ratio, EYR=Y/F=(F+R+N)/F Environmental loading ratio, ELR= (F+N)/R Emergy index of sustainability, IS = EYR/ELR The emergy yield ratio (EYR) provides insight into the net benefit of the various production processes to society. In fact, the higher the fraction of locally available energy sources (R+N) that are exploited by means of the investment  F  from outside, the higher the value of this indicator. Environmental loading ratio expresses the use of environmental service by the system. Environmental service is measured as the emergy of that portion  R  of the environment that is used. When EYR is high due to a high value of local renewable resources, then ELR is small, thus indicating a small environmental stress. On the contrary, when a high value of local nonrenewable sources contributes to EYR, then ELR increases, thus suggesting a larger environmental stress. Therefore, a simultaneous increase of both EYR and ELR, indicates that a larger stress is being placed on the environment; on the contrary, when EYR increases and ELR decreases, the process is less of a load on the surroundin g environment. Brown, M.T. and Ulgiate, S. (2002) concluded that wind generation and hydroelectric power plants have the highest EYR, while the oil fired power plant was the lowest. They also found that electricity generated using wind, geothermal, and hydro power plants had the lowest environmental impact, while fossil fired plants the highest. Further more they also found that the wind and hydroelectric plants had the highest-over-all aggregated (economic and ecological) sustainability, followed by geothermal electricity. CONCLUSION: Pakistan is facing severe energy crises. It is projected that energy demand-indigenous supply gap is increases from 27% in 2005 to 57% in 2030. It is planned that demand indigenous supply gape would be bridge by imported oil and gas. Consequently, import of energy would increase the energy import bill as well as energy security issues. The consumption of fuel will also degrade the environment. Renewable resources in the form of hydropower, wind. Solar PV, Biogas, geothermal etc. are suitable renewable technologies for Pakistan There is substantial potential of these Renewable Energy resources and should be developed for managing the current energy crises and meeting the future energy demand for Pakistan. However there is need of a thorough analysis of net energy and emergy gains from using renewable energy sources. There is also need of investigating the new environmental these alternative sources will create. They key issue is the size of the surplus that can realistically be deliv ered by renewable energy system

gatdream Corruption of the Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Corruption of the Dream in The Great Gatsby  Ã‚   The American Dream describes an attitude of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires. What these wishes are, were expressed in Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence of 1776, where it was stated: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This search for freedom and happiness actually goes back to the very beginning of American civilization, to the time of the first settlers. The first settlers were all religious refugees who were driven to the New World by persecution. To these people, America represented a new life of freedom, holding a promise of spiritual and material happiness. For those settlers who were not so religiously inclined, America was still a fairyland, a land of great possibilities. And so the first thirteen colonies came into being, amidst the religious and materialistic hopes of the first settlers. Material prosperity and progress kept pace with religious and spiritual goals because the Puritans and the Quakers alike approved of industry and material advancement. For, whereas physical pleasures were evil, hard work and achievements were regarded as indications of inner goodness. When the Eastern Seaboard, comprising the thirteen colonies, became overcrowded, the settlers began to move west. The opening of the Middle and Western States increased the sense of hope and faith. And this looking forward beyond the immediate present, this belief in the future, has become a national characteristic that may partly explain the speed of American advancement in so many areas of activities. The democratic system, first voiced in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence in 1776, may be traced to this basic attitude of hope and confidence. The American Dream, however, originally relates to a desire for spiritual and material improvement. What happened was that, from one point of few, the material aspect of the dream was too easily and too quickly achieved, with the result that it soon outpaced and even obliterated the early spiritual ideals. So there emerged a state of material well being but lacking in spiritual life or purpose. So that when Fitzgerald produced Gatsby, modeled no doubt on the writer's own faith in life, he seemed to have created a character who represented an early American in whom the Dream was still very much alive.

Somali Pirates and the Response of The United States Essay -- Piracy

To begin, pirates have been prowling the seas as far back as ancient times, such as the â€Å"Phoenicians and Greeks in the Mediterranean.† As well Muslim piracy as Jihad has existed since the 17th Century along the Barbary Coast of North Africa.2 These pirates were known as Barbary corsairs, and they would attack ships from Christian countries, seizing their ships and, and selling the sailors into slavery. Today, Somali pirates are seizing ships and taking hostages for ransom along the waters off the coast of Somali and the Gulf of Aden. The root of the Somali pirates was established then put into motion after the Somali Civil War and the fall of the Barre regime in 1991, the last functioning government.4 Along with the government, also went the countries one time functional coastguard, and thus the Somali waters became the site of a global "free for all," foreign fishing fleets illegally looted Somali fishing stocks and would keep the rudimentarily-equipped Somali fishermen from fishing their own waters, in addition Somali fishermen has accused Europeans of dumping toxic and nuclear waste off Somalia's shore. For these reasons the first pirate gangs materialize in the early 90’s to defend against foreign trawlers.4 Since 2005 these pirate gangs have grown and have been seizing ships holding them and their crews hostage for ransoms that range in the millions of dollars. The pirate assemblage is said to be made up of three different groups of people first, ex-fishermen who are the brains of the group, they kno w the sea, and how to operate the boats.5 Second, the ex-militiamen the muscle of the group, they have fought for the different clan warlords, and know how to use their weapons.5 Finally, the technical expert the computer g... ...PARTMENT OF THE NAVY - NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND. September 28, 2009. http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/piracy_hornafrica.htm (accessed April 19, 2012). Samatar, Abdi Ismail. "Will the London conference change Somalia's future?" Al Jazeera. Febuary 07, 2012. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/20122395853170145.html (accessed April 19, 2012). Tharoor, Ishaan. "How Somalia's Fishermen Became Pirates." TIME WORLD. April 18, 2009. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892376,00.html (accessed April 19, 2012). "U.S. Jury Convicts 5 Somali Men in Pirate Attack on Navy Ship." FOX News Network. November 24, 2010. FOX News Network (accessed April 19, 2012). Zijlma, Anouk. "Somali Pirates A Guide to Somalia's Modern Day Pirates." About.com Africa Travel. http://goafrica.about.com/od/africanews/a/pirates.htm (accessed April 19, 2012).

Monroe Doctrine Essay

Ever since its inception as a nation, the United States of America followed a foreign policy of isolationism right up to president Jefferson. This was become the European nations, which were at the helm of American affairs, were involved in several conflicts and turmoil, and American presidents realized the folly of involving such a young nation in war. Thus in 1793, when France declared war on Britain, Americans had divided opinions on the course of action. The federalists wanted to support Britain, and Hamilton, the secretary of treasury, rallied their cause. Secretary of state, who like many other Americans wanted to support France against Britain. However George Washington stuck by his policy of isolationism and avoided conflict. John Adams, and his successor Thomas Jefferson also adapted this policy. When this conflict between Britain and France increased, Jefferson placed an embargo on trade with both nations. While this action highlighted American neutrality, it was also harmful for the American economy, which led to the removal of the embargo. This step highlighted the folly of the policy of isolationism; making it obvious that United States had to make a stand, while continuing its policy of neutrality, not simply isolate itself from world affairs. Hence was a predecessor to the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine was the fruition of early American foreign policy. It was delivered by president James Monroe, in his seventh annual address to the Congress on the 2nd of December 1823. It stated that United states would not tolerate any attempt by the European powers to colonize or interfere in the functioning of the western hemisphere, whilst the western hemisphere would in no way interfere in the European sphere of influence. It was meant to protect the newly independent Latin American states from European control. It was a defining moment in the separation of the old and new world, and became a long-standing American policy with minor variations, to be invoked by several American presidents. The Monroe doctrine, was delivered, and not read out in the congress unlike the other addresses. In this address Monroe gave the background for such a policy and the existing state of foreign relations, in which he mentioned negotiations with France, and dialogue with Russia on their commercial interests in the United States. He also talked about the Treaty of Ghent and the difference between US and Britain on the boundaries between the US and Canada. The president also announced to Congress a new round of negotiations with the British toward establishing a treaty that would define the exclusive and shared commercial interests of the United States and Great Britain as regarded states and territories bordering on lakes and rivers emptying into the St. Lawrence River. Thus he justified the need for such a policy and in his address included military strategies and provisions to safeguard it, like authorizing additional naval force for safeguarding their commercial interests in the Mediterranean Sea, Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic coast. The key paragraph of the address, which summed up the foreign policy stated â€Å"We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere, but with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any inter- position for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States†. The Monroe doctrine had its backgrounds in the foreign policy of earlier four presidents, as well as in the experiences of Monroe and Adams as diplomats. James Madison, during his presidency, continued to follow Jeffersonian foreign policy of prohibition of trade with both nations. In 1810, however, the Congress reversed itself, realizing its ill effects on the country’s economy authorizing the president to pursue trade with both countries, provided each accepted America’s policy of neutrality, or trade with only one, if that one accepted America’s view of neutral rights. Of the two, only France complied, hence Madison declared a state of â€Å"non-intercourse† with Great Britain. This led to the war of 1812 between America and Great Britain. The war, which initially proved to be disastrous for America, ended with the treaty of Ghent in 1814, and thus paved way for Monroe’s foreign policy to avoid future war, while protecting American rights. Monroe, who was inspired by Jefferson, and loyal to Jeffersonian policy, saw the need to avoid war, at the same time asserting America’s independence. John Quincy Adams, unlike his father deflected from the Federalist Party, and supported Jefferson in his placement of the embargo on trade with both nations. Thus both Adams and Monroe were inspired by Jeffersonian ideas, and saw the crucial need of making a stand as a newly independent nation, while avoiding the calamity of war. Monroe and Adams were faced with several problems regarding foreign policy, the foremost of which included renegotiating terms with Great Britain, on the treaty of Ghent and establishing new boundaries, reasserting rights that had been previously challenged. Later there arose a problem of Spanish claim over Florida, and Britain, it was suspected, was providing them help. This led to serious and long negotiations between America and Spain for the purchase of Florida, which ultimately led to the Adams- Onis treaty, Onis being the Spanish minister to America. This was considered one of Adams greatest successes as secretary of state, until he drafted the Monroe Doctrine, which influenced American foreign policy for generations to come. The doctrine grew out of several diplomatic problems. The first was the minor clash with Russia concerning the northwest coast of North America. In this quarrel, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams expressed the principle that the American continents were no longer to be considered as a field for colonization by European powers. That principle was incorporated verbatim in the presidential message. The other and more important part of the doctrine grew out of the fear that the group of European governments commonly called the Holy Alliance would seek to reduce the Latin American states that had recently gained independence from Spain to a colonial status once again. When France crossed the Pyrenees to help put down a rebellion against the Spanish monarch, Britain worried that this might lead to a joint French-Spanish expedition to retake the Latin American colonies for Spain, which would harm British economic interests in the area. The British foreign minister George Canning communicated with the American minister in London, Richard Rush, and suggested that a joint declaration opposing such a development would serve both their interests. Thus in 1823, the British foreign secretary, George Canning, through Richard Rush, proposed to Monroe that America should join powers with Britain for the joint protection of South American colonies from the Holy Alliance. There was once again a division of views on this matter. Adams believed that Britain had great self-interest behind such an offer. When Monroe consulted with Jefferson and Madison on this issue, Jefferson asked him to accept the proposal, however Madison, like Adams cautioned Monroe to be wary as it most definitely has British self-interest involved. According to Harry Ammon, Quincy Adams was convinced that Britain had ulterior motives in this offer. He believed that using this joint action as bait, Britain was hoping to discourage American intention of taking over Cuba, which Adams believed, was inevitable. After much debate in the cabinet, the decision was reached to reject this proposal, for it seemed that America had nothing to gain through this alliance, and President Monroe was anyway reluctant to do anything that might make the US appear subservient to Britain. However America still needed to protect the southern states from being restored to Spain via the holy alliance. Also if such an attack occurred, and Britain interceded and emerged victorious, Americans would be left at the mercy of the British once again, and the Southern territories would fall under British control. It was then decided that the southern countries needed to be protected not only from Spain, the Holy alliance, or Britain, but also from all non-American powers, and this is how the genius idea behind the foreign policy, to be called Monroe Doctrine emerged. This doctrine, though presented as the annual presidential address, was the brainchild of John Quincy Adams, the secretary of state, whose main motive behind this policy, according to Edward Renehan Jr. , was to deter colonialism. Even though the doctrine shaped future American foreign policy, the immediate impact of the Monroe Doctrine was mixed. It was successful to the extent that the continental powers did not attempt to revive the Spanish empire, but this was on account of the strength of the British Navy, not American, which was relatively limited. According to Alejandro Alvarez, the doctrine was simply a policy for the United States’ self defense, not for its aggression or for its isolationism. The Monroe doctrine also had not stated any disapproval towards Pan-Americanism or even cooperation with other European nations. The Monroe Doctrine was especially influential in the history of Latin American countries. Around the early 1800’s many Latin American areas, under the leadership of Simon Bolivar, had declared their independence from the controlling powers in Europe. These new countries lacked the military strength and experience to fight with foreign powers, however, when the Monroe doctrine was put into effect, they were safeguarded from these wars, and thus welcomed this policy. Over the years, the doctrine became the defining foreign policy of the United States, with continuous changes and variations, however, its two main ideas held true through the years. First, that the United States would not tolerate European powers further colonizing the American continents or interfering in its affairs. And second, that the United States would not interfere in existing European colonies or in Europe itself. According to Edward Renehan Jr. , the Monroe Doctrine had a significant impact, not only in the development of Foreign policy, but also on American history, which would have been significantly different, if not for this doctrine. In essence, ‘Without its existence Latin America would have been severely regionalized by European powers to serve their colonial interests, and a range of European powers, not just Spain but also Holland, Germany, France, and Great Britain—would have gained a major foothold, introducing not only new lines to the map, but also new languages and cultures’. The coinage of the term ‘Monroe doctrine’ first came from President James K. Polk in 1845, when he successfully invoked this doctrine to thwart of French and British efforts against annexation of Texas, as also British threats in Oregon and California. He also expanded the doctrine to include his belief of ‘manifest destiny’. A concept, which along with the Monroe Doctrine came to be referred as Polk Doctrine. Monroe Doctrine greatly changed the American foreign policy, by shifting the emphasis from neutrality, to respect towards America, as a newly independent nation. With the ending of the war between European nations, and the restoration of peace, the American foreign policy was liberated from its earlier inhibitions, which had existed ever since Washington’s presidency. Monroe seized the opportunity to let matters of neutral rights of America dissolve in the background, while bringing to the forefront the concept of the United States as the most powerful in the Americas, and a country which was a serious and powerful republic, which no longer needed the aid or patronage of foreign nations to achieve its diplomatic aims. The Monroe Doctrine was significant in defining and paving the way for American foreign policy for centuries. It was initially drafted simply as a means of asserting America as a power as well as for American self defense, and highlighting it as an independent nation. Its true brilliance was realized only decades later when it was recalled time and again by several Presidents of the United States. It was the first act that grew to see America as a superpower in the world. This simple assertion of non-interference separated the old world from the new world, thus making the United States the biggest power in the Western Hemisphere. It was the first decisive step in the foreign policy of America after Jefferson’s embargo on trade, and it greatly changed as well as shaped foreign policy as the United States for the first time asserted itself as a power without the support or patronage of another nation.