...AN ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES IN ACHIEVING ENERGY SECURITY FOR EFFECTIVE OPERATION OF HOMES, SCHOOLS AND HEALTH FACILITIES IN KAJIADO COUNTY, KENYA BY ONYANCHA MORARA GEORGE A Research Project Submitted to the Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Conferment of the Degree of Master of Business Administration DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS FACULTY OF COMMERCE KISII UNIVERSITY 2014 DECLARATION DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE This research project is my original work and has not been submitted for the award of a diploma or degree in this or any other institution/university. Signature……………………………….. Date…………………………… Onyancha Morara George CBM12/10003/10 DECLARATION BY SUPERVISORS This research project has been submitted for examination with our approval as University Supervisors. Signature:………………………………… Date:………………………… Dr. Nemwel N. Bosire Lecturer, Department of Business Signature:………………………………… Date:…………………………. Mr. Martin O. Lumumba Lecturer, Department of Business COPYRIGHT All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by means of mechanical reproduction including photocopying, recording or retrieval from systems without express permission of the researcher or Kisii University on his behalf. ©2014 DEDICATION This research project is dedicated to my father, the late Onyancha Michieka and mother...
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...Europe’s energy security: challenges and opportunities GAWDAT BAHGAT Several geopolitical and economic developments in the first decade of the twentyfirst century have heightened Europe’s sense of vulnerability in respect of its energy supplies. On the supply side of the energy equation, the continuous fighting and rising ethnic and sectarian tension in Iraq, and the diplomatic confrontation over Iran’s nuclear programme, have intensified concern over the stability of supplies from the Persian Gulf. On the demand side, China’s and India’s skyrocketing energy consumption and their efforts to secure supplies have intensified global competition over scarce hydrocarbon resources. These changes in the landscape of the global energy market, in conjunction with diminishing refinery capacity, shrinking spare capacity and a low level of investment, have driven oil and natural gas prices higher. Currently, the European Union’s oil bill (for imported and domestically produced oil) stands at around €250 billion a year, or roughly 2.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).1 These soaring prices have exerted tremendous pressure on European economies and underscored the need for a common European energy policy. The dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas prices in January 2006 further highlighted the risks of dependence on a few energy suppliers. In early 2005 the Russian state monopoly, Gazprom, announced plans to start applying ‘market rules’ in its gas dealings with former Soviet...
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...1. Introduction The most important factor in the fate of societies and nations is command of energy. Energy is defined as the ability or capacity to do work. Energy policy in the European Union represents one of the core policies since the beginning of the European Integration. The treaty of Paris to establish a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM or EAEC) were the first attempts to an energy cooperation within the European Community. As the size of the European Union grows (reached twenty eight member states as of March 2013), it needed more energy sources as energy plays an important role for economic development. Now the European Union is the largest importer of energy (oil and gas) in the world, and the second largest energy consumer. Therefore, member states of the EU need more secure access to energy resources. Beside the North-South and East-West energy corridors, Europe ingests the South-North corridor, connecting it with North Africa and the Middle East. In 2007 Oil and Gas Journal estimated stocks and supplies of oil at 114 billion barrel and natural gas at 13, 9 billion cubic meter. Almost one third of European imported oil comes either from the Middle East or from North-West Africa. Europe pipeline interests in the south are focused exclusively on natural gas. In 2006 Algeria delivered 16, 7% of Europe gas, and it’s considered to be the biggest third land delivers natural gas, including LNG (Liquefied Natural...
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...(b) To what extent are domestic energy resources important in determining the energy security of countries? (15) To have energy security means to have access to reliable and affordable energy sources. E.g. Russia and their natural gas reserves. Countries/regions/localities that do not haver this are said to be energy insecure. E.g. Rural communities in Zimbabwe or the UK winter fuel allowance for the elderly is a recognition of fuel poverty. Domestic energy resources refers to the energy produced from a primary product, within the country. It may be seen that domestic energy resources are important in determining the energy security of the country. This may be because countries that rely on exported energy from other countries are more vulnerable to political issues. An example of this is the Russia-Ukraine dispute over prices of gas. On 31st December 2008, Russia and Ukraine hadn't come to an agreement on the price Russia would pay for transit through Ukraine, and the price Russia would charge Ukraine for the gas. This led to a halt in gas transit, when Russia decided to cut supplies off on New Year's Day, 2009. EU depends on Russia for a quarter of its gas supplies, in which 80% is pumped through Ukraine. When supplies were cut off, many countries down the line were affected. A country particularly affected was Bulgaria, who relies on some 80% of their gas imports. Bulgaria said, at the time of the incident, that they only had sufficient supplies ‘for a few days’. It said...
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...Energy supply, its demand and security issues for developed and emerging economies M. Asif, T. Muneer We require energy to charge our mobile phones, to cook our food and even for our daily commute. In essence, energy is the key to survival. With the world population steadily increasing, it is imperative that new sources of energy would have to be found to replace fossil fuels – the dominating energy resource over the course of human history. In fact, it isn’t just searching for sources that should be of concern to humanity. Rather, finding a more efficient means to exploit the energy systems that are available to us, making it cleaner and greener. Looking back at history, since the 1800s, where the population was estimated to be approximately 1 billion, to the modern age, our energy consumption has seen an approximate 20-fold increase. This figure is far in excess of the increase in global population and really opens our eyes to the reality of our energy resource crisis. Currently, the 3 known energy resources are fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewable energy, which can further be broken down into specifics such as wind power, solar energy, hydropower, biomass energy and geothermal energy. While fossil fuels are rapidly being depleted, and the many complications that nuclear power brings about, the solution that makes the most sense would be to exploit the abundance of renewable energy sources around us with the technology we have at our disposal in this day...
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...Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Solar Energy 112 (2015) 68–77 www.elsevier.com/locate/solener Short-term reforecasting of power output from a 48 MWe solar PV plant Yinghao Chu, Bryan Urquhart, Seyyed M.I. Gohari, Hugo T.C. Pedro, Jan Kleissl, Carlos F.M. Coimbra ⇑ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, Center for Renewable Resource Integration, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, Center for Energy Research, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA Received 31 March 2014; received in revised form 14 November 2014; accepted 17 November 2014 Communicated by: Associate Editor Frank Vignola Abstract A smart, real-time reforecast method is applied to the intra-hour prediction of power generated by a 48 MWe photovoltaic (PV) plant. This reforecasting method is developed based on artificial neural network (ANN) optimization schemes and is employed to improve the performance of three baseline prediction models: (1) a physical deterministic model based on cloud tracking techniques; (2) an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model; and (3) a k-th Nearest Neighbor (kNN) model. Using the measured power data from the PV plant, the performance of all forecasts is assessed in terms of common error statistics (mean bias, mean absolute error...
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...January 2012 Explain the classification of the selected energy resources shown Figure 1 shows nuclear power to have low economic impacts, but high economic costs and low social acceptability. Low environmental impacts of nuclear power stem from the lack of fossil fuels it produces, nuclear is a very clean energy and the only waste products caused by it are water vapour and toxic waste from atom splitting. However this toxic waste is very dangerous due to its high radioactivity, and takes thousands of years to become non-toxic. Leakages from nuclear waste can have very serious impacts on the environment and people affected, such as in March 2014 when the only long-term geologic repository for nuclear waste in the United States suffered a radiation leak, with the initial report showing that 13 workers tested positive for radioactive contamination. However, aside from the waste, nuclear is a very clean recyclable energy as the atoms used to cause the reaction can be reused several times before they run out of energy. Nuclear power has low social acceptability partially due to the risk of leaks from toxic waste which can cause terminal illnesses such as cancer. Risk also stems from accidents or malfunctions causing meltdowns, which cause large areas to become susceptible to high radioactivity, affecting thousands, and making places un-livable. Accidents such as the 1986 Chernobyl incident in Ukraine caused an estimated 4000 deaths, although this figure is still debated over....
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...local resource – and using this for power generation at village level. The objective of HPS was to provide a comparatively cheaper, eco friendly, reliable power system for the poor living in the rural and remote areas of Bihar (initially), while making sufficient profit to ensure that the business model could function smoothly in the long run. To achieve its objectives, HPS carried out a detailed study before setting up the husk power plant. It first tried to understand the types of electricity, existing source of energy, and the per kWh (kilowatt hour) cost to the target customers. The business model of HPS was well suited for Indian environment and the country’s demographics and geography spoke loudly to the market size and to the potential entry barriers and operational challenges. So the market’s size and scope were enormous. The energy supply was sustainable and the growth potential was attractive. So it was an environmentally conscientious energy company capable of providing electricity to the millions of rural Indians in a financially sustainable, scalable and the most profitable way. The founder of the company now wanted to expand its business and increase its footprint at...
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...As to what actions need to be taken to combat terrorism? For starters, we need to take homeland security as a serious matter. The debates around illegals are distracting us from border and port security matters. We need to better manage the funds in rebuilding Iraq because every (billion) dollar saved can be spent on local security and intelligence efforts. Terrorism must be fought both abroad and at home. Next, we must stop fostering terrorism in the world. We may call them insurgents or terrorists, but we need to be mindful that those same people are hailed as heroes, freedom-fighters, and liberators by many in the Middle East and beyond. Every time a stray bomb blows up women and children, every time a soldier murders an innocent villiager, more freedom-fighters/terrorists are created. To rebuild Iraq, we must put the Iraqi-people-building before nation-building. Finally, we must put freedom ahead of any single idealogy, both domestic and abroad. This means that we must implement security measures without taking away individuals' due process under law, we must not allow any government agency to run amok and terrorize our own citizens. Our mission for freedom must be clear to both our soldiers and people of other nations so it does not appear as if we are fighting for oil and profit. Our mission for freedom must be so pure and true so others are willing to fight alongside with us and not against us. The Buddha and the Terrorist Seaman, Donna. The Booklist 102. 22 ...
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...Domestic Energy Production ENG-121-DS22 24 March 2012 As the United States continues recovering from the worst recession in decades, it is now more important than ever to begin focusing upon ways to strengthen and sustain our future economy. While unemployment and foreclosure rates continue to rise, the United States sends roughly $300 billion a year overseas to fuel its addiction to foreign oil (ProCon.org). With technological advances occurring almost daily, combined with newly discovered oil/gas fields and a willing and able workforce with a capitalist mentality, the time is ripe for the United States to break free from its energy dependence and begin to develop its rich natural resources domestically. Certainly, some may be concerned with the environmental impact that this intense energy development may cause but with improved technologies and techniques, we can continue to lessen our carbon footprint and possibly improve our environment, along with our economy. Maintaining a position as a major world power has come at a price for the United States. Currently, we consume nearly a quarter of all energy produced worldwide, importing some 10 million barrels of oil per day (Utley). As competition for oil reserves continues to rise with various newly emerging economies, especially India and China, Americans across the nation are feeling the effects. Not only at the pump but also in the rising costs in everything dependent upon energy production (Weeks). With a substantial...
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...evolved from oil and gas lamps in the 17th and 18th centuries to electric lamps in the late 19th century. Electric lamps have since progressed from incandescent to fluorescent to mercury vapor (MV). Today high intensity discharge (HID) lamps dominate street lighting installations. Two HID lamp types predominate: high pressure sodium (HPS), noted for its yellow/orange light, and metal halide (MH) that emits a bright light. Recently the trend has been to convert to LED fixtures because of documented savings on energy use and life-cycle maintenance costs. In our technology today, one of the most useful devices to be invented is the “Night Detector Lights”. This device is off used in special facilities and even in common households. This device give luminance in the sight of darkness, it is after all a night detector. A. Background “Night Detector Lights” are extremely useful and versatile in a wide range of renewable energy projects from automatic lighting to security systems. This circuit uses a light dependent resistor to detect luminance in the surroundings to prevent the circuit from giving power to the LED/Bulb for it to illuminate. The light dependent resistor (LDR) converts the light it absorbs into heat that then signals the resistor when gathered enough heat to cut off the flow of electricity to its destination the LED/Bulb. This may sound complex but it is rather simple. The LDR represents the switch of the circuit as it is automatically switched on/off by the light...
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...Participants will learn how world class organizations use safety metrics, including leading and lagging indicators in their journey towards excellence. DuPont has eleven best practice workshops available and is designed to introduce participants to DuPont’s best practices and describe how their participanting can help the organization prevent process related injuries and incidents. DuPont has been implementing Process Safety Management and Operational Risk Management concepts in their facilities and at sites worldwide for over 30 years. The productive costs of DuPont Industries is as follows as of 2012: Energy- 2.4% reduction in non-renewable energy intensity since 2010. DuPont...
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...beautiful verses from the Metta Sutta known as the Discourse of Love one can feel their energies move to a solid place of calmness, love and compassion. Our love energy is stronger and more sustainable when we continue to offer it to another. "May everyone be happy and safe, and may their hearts be filled with joy." "May all living beings live in security and peace, beings who are frail or strong, tall or short, big or small, visible or not visible, near or far away, already born or yet to be born. May all of them dwell in perfect tranquility." "Let no one do harm to anyone. Let no one put the life of anyone in danger. Let no one, out of anger or ill will, wish anyone any harm. " " Just as a mother loves and protects her only child at the risk of her own life, we should cultivate boundless love to offer to all living beings in the entire cosmos. Let our boundless love pervade the whole universe, above, below, and across. Only our love will know no obstacles, our heart will be absolutely free from hatred and enmity. Whether standing or walking, sitting or lying as long as we are awake, we should maintain this mindfulness of love in our The Buddha has numerous teachings on love. By reciting these beautiful verses from the Metta Sutta known as the Discourse of Love one can feel their energies move to a solid place of calmness, love and compassion. Our love energy is stronger and more sustainable when we continue to offer it to another. "May everyone...
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...NATONIA ENERGY – Case Study Individual Review Assignment Date due 17th June 2016 COB (close of business) ~ 3500 words This document presents a description of the company NATEPCO, a full description will follow below. NATEPCO is a subsidiary of NATONIA ENERGY HOLDINGS in the imaginary country Natonia. You hold the position of CIO of NATEPCO and you have been tasked to prepare an IT strategic plan for the Managing Director of NATEPCO. Use thereto the following questions to cover all relevant aspects: Part 1 a) Sketch the Business Model for NATEPCO using the approach of Osterwalder. Make a short description (3-4 lines) for each of the 9 boxes and indicate (where possible) what kind of IT systems are being used in each. b) Derive the business maxims for NATEPCO (maxims are explained in attached article). c) Derive IT maxims relating to these business maxims (do not purely map 1-1). Part 2 a) Identify what is wrong / lacking with operational and organizational governance in NATEPCO. Where does NATEPCO stand on the issue of LIKE and AS a business (see attached article). b) Identify areas of improvement for NATEPCO’S IT organisation in the area of organization, e.g. Committees, Processes, Roles & Responsibilities, Rules and Budget authority. c) Develop an IT Balanced Score Card for operational performance management of NATEPCO d) Sketch a (high level) outline for a IT Balanced Scorecard for NATONIA ENERGY HOLDINGS. Part 3 a) Suggest new IT technology relevant for...
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...pollutants into the air, the warming is highly exhilarated. We, as a nation have the technology to supply our energy needs without the use of fossil fuels. According to Greenpeace ( 2010 ), “With current technology, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal can provide 96% of our total heating demand – accounting for almost all of our primary energy demand.” (The Solutions, para. 1 2010). By putting these resources to work preservation of our planet for future generations is the most advantageous reason for making these changes. Changes would also create more jobs, and do away with our foreign oils dependence, thus increasing our national security. We hear about global warming on almost a daily basis, some believe in it but know little about it. Others do not believe it exists or that it is harmless. However, there is no doubt among the world’s scientists that global warming is happening and its cause is people burning fossil fuels. We are witnessing many changes in our world already, many people are dying from cancer and other illnesses brought about by pollution. We have more natural disasters than before due to the climate changes. Food and water will gradually become scarce if we do not act immediately. Greenpeace has started the Energy Revolution which is a plan to do away with the use of coal, oil and nuclear energy for the worlds demand for energy. They are advocating for Climate Legislation by pressuring Congress and the President of the United States...
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