Essays on Environmental Impact

Sustainable Built Environment

Introduction It seems that building development would present an impressive opportunity to reduce energy demand and also reduce carbon emissions effectively with combining current knowledge and expertise (Diakaki, & Kolokotsa, 2009). The highest cost-effectively feasible mitigation prospective is recommended to be found within the residential as well as the commercial sector. This is suggested to be producing a reduction of 29% in respect to the probable emission baseline for the year 2020. Life Cycle Assessment is also known as (LCA) is a technique for evaluating environmental pack of processes as well as products in their life cycle. It attempts to ...

Introduction

The need for organizations to provide their employees with a work-life balance is increasing every day. Although most companies would love to provide their staff with the opportunity to work from the comfort of their homes, there are various challenges standing in the way. The ability to access company networks regardless of the geographical location presents different benefits such as increased employee productivity, satisfaction but also presents some cons such as security concerns and increasing costs for the company. Developments such as the Cisco Virtual Office Solution have significantly addressed the concerns for many businesses and still provided the ...

ConocoPhillips Australia is the world’s largest independent production company of liquids and natural gas. The company explores and develops crude oil and natural gas internationally. As a result, ConocoPhillips is committed to safety, operating excellence and environmental awareness. Currently, ConocoPhilips operates in over 30 countries, 17,500 employees as of 2013, and an annual return capital of $55 billion. Out of the 30 countries that ConocoPhilips have had activities in, the company has set out six major operation segments between Latin America, Canada, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Other International sectors. This report will be focusing on ...

The Ritz Carlton Hotels & Resorts partners with Sea Turtles 911

for the Conservation of Sea Turtles

Introduction

After conducting an analysis and assessment of corresponding scientific literature and recent updates in the news, it is possible to make a statement that the concern of sustainability and environmental protection is a rather urgent one on the international scales. At the same time, insignificant attention has been paid to the effect, made by the planned events on both built and natural environment. For instance, such events usually involve creation of the new infrastructure in the locations, which may be referred as environmentally-sensitive ones. In such cases, there is a need of transporting ...

Sustainability Report: FIA Formula E Hong Kong

Introduction In the modern business world, the issue of sustainability has been a major concern owing to the increased need to ensure environmental conservation. This has been amidst the need to lower costs for the purpose of improving profit and meetings the varying needs of different stakeholders in the business. Moreover, individuals, business organizations, and governments have continually prioritized the economic, social and environmental sustainability of business over any other business goals (Sebastian, 2015). Notably, sustainability has gained importance in the wake of various economic and ecological challenges. Traditionally, corporations around the world have merely been legal entities and ...

There has been increasing awareness of the role of waste in the production of greenhouse gas emissions and its impacts on climate change. Diminishing natural resources has led to the recognition that what is discarded as waste has the potential to be reused as resources. Governmental legislation on prohibiting toxic materials and prevention and control of the volume of waste has helped in decreasing adverse environmental effects. There is a growing public awareness about waste prevention and its beneficial effects. The society has to replace the linear model of extract-produce-consume-dispose to closed Loop's approach of resource recovery and waste ...

While sustainable development means meeting the needs of the present and future generations, and a focus on prevention of environmental degradation, several factors influence the attainment of these goals, specifically culture and organizations. Sustainable development as a concept first appeared in the Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Economic Development (Buchanan 29). The Brundtland Commission was established in 1985 to address environmental problems due to economic development. Atmospheric pollution, climate change and global warming, accumulated wetlands, decreased freshwater quality, topsoil degradation, endangered species of animals and fishes, and forest degradation were environmental concerns discussed in the Brundtland Commission ( ...

This Asian Bank Lets You Borrow Cash and Pay in Trash

In Indonesia, as well as in other parts of the developing world, there are new systems of banking that are beneficial in terms of both those who are using the bank and for reducing the environmental impact of waste. In Indonesia, particularly in areas such as Mutiara, excess waste is a problem and there are many large landfills that are overflowing with trash. A social problem in the area is the poverty that means that many individuals living in the area do not have access to traditional banking systems. This article describes how this community has solved both problems ...

Introduction

Urban sprawl has turned out to be a controversial issue in recent times due to the rate at which green spaces are disappearing in most of the cities, especially in the United States. Nnaemeka-Okeke (2016) describes urban sprawl as the expansion of a community devoid of concern for the environmental impact. In other words, urban sprawl is the uncontrolled expansion of the metropolitan areas. This phenomenon primarily results in the extinction of green spaces and a variety of environmental consequences. Banai and DePriest (2014) maintain that urban sprawl is considered a cause of the climate change, with environmental effects ...

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on the 24th of March 1989 in Prince William Sound in Alaska. The Exxon Valdez an oil tanker was on route to Long Beach, California when it hit the Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound. The accident caused between 11-38 million gallons of crude oil to spill into the ocean in the next few days. Response to the disaster was slow due to Prince William Sound only being reachable by boat, helicopter, or plane. The identified causes of the spill are (1) The failure of Exxon to oversee the master, along with ensuring ...

Introduction

Waste is generated as a result of a lot of physical, chemical, and biological processes. Dumping it at some appropriate place is one option. However, ecological effects of throwing away waste products are becoming a serious concern these days. In order to minimize waste, the best strategy is to transform it into valuable products . Plenty of research studies have been carried out to utilize waste effectively. The aim of this report is analysis of the proposed methods for the utilization of common forms of wastes for useful purposes. We also recommend better alternatives to help create a lesser negative ...

Managing the process of delivery of commercial products in New Zealand is focused foremost on the management function of planning which will be discussed in the paper. The future goals of the organization in the area of drones will be examined along with the future challenges of the company in this geographical area. The major contributions of the commercial drone delivery will be discussed and the potentials the country could have with their full implementation in the transport sector. The major challenges will be addressed such as safety, economics, civil aviation legislation as well as potential theft of deliveries. ...

The Role of EPR in Sustainable Waste Management

Introduction The problem of the disposal of end-of-life or waste tyres has become a serious problem in the whole world including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)— Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. It is a problem that has largely been ignored in the past. Waste tyres were used largely as landfill. The environmental, health and economic hazards are only realized when problems—like fires arise. In the Kirby Tire Recycling dump near the village of Sycamore in Wyandot County, Ohio, USA, a fire burned a tyre landfill spread across 14 acres in August ...

Executive Summary

Fossil fuels are the predominant source of energy for industrial and transportation consumption. It is however expected that in a few more decades, fossil fuels will have lesser role to play than non-conventional oil and gas sources and renewable energy sources. This paper presents an overview of some of the socioeconomic factors that are driving the global oil industry and their implications for the UK industry. Four key influences are studied to understand the implications for the industry in terms of economic and environmental factors. The steady influence of OPEC is a significant factor in the pricing of crude ...

Essay & Discussion

The Politics of Food, Nutrition and the Environment The family farm system has been suggested to be a solution to the increasing demand for food, which is expected to grow extensively by 2050 (AGree, 2014).Such projections are based on population growth which then inform the food needs on a global scale(AGree, 2014). Agricultural resources required to meet this demand are heavily reliant on policy and economic growth. Concerns of the negative consequences of the current agricultural system which relies heavily on technology and methods of production which harm our health and environment(Schlosser, 2012), has led to ...

Introduction

Quarry is a place that provides rocks, dimension stones, riprap, aggregates, gravel, sand, and other minerals and raw materials are excavated. Quarrying is included in the mining industry and is helpful to extract minerals and elements essential for civil engineering works and buildings. The output from quarrying is sold to different end users that carryout the marketing and promotions for the products. In Nigeria, Akamkpa Quarry is a source of stones and various forms of granite that are used for constructions and building works. The Quarry receives millions of dollars in international investment and contractors and international business rely ...

55 Gallon Plastic Drum 55 Gallon Plastic Drum 55 gallon plastic drums are conveniently used in industry and agriculture. Therefore, the used or worn out drums can be recycled, and the quantity of the plastic feedstock is significant. Recycling has several aspects of the environmental impact. Firstly, when the used drum is recycled, it is not stored at the landfill sites, and thus no water or land pollution takes place. Secondly, it becomes a secondary resource, and therefore less primary resources are used. Thirdly, the environmental impact of the recycling process should be taken into the account: if recycling ...

Introduction

Every product has a lifecycle that defines the impact it creates to the environment from the time of production, usage, and disposal. Life cycle assessment process assists in compiling and examining inputs and outputs of a product regarding materials and energy associated with its functioning throughout the life cycle. Life cycle assessment acts as an essential tool for decision support that helps policy makers and industries assess the cradle-to-grave of a product. The assessment analysis chemical production, material selection, design for environment and environmental impact, industrial ecology, and product lifecycle management (Yorzyk and Radzinski 1). The following paper assesses ...

Environmental Sustainability and Its Potential Influence on Business in the Netherlands and China

In this paper, I will first describe the background of Dutch environmental legislation, making references to the historical reasons for its development. Then I will do the same activity for the current Chinese environmental laws, also referring to its historical issues. Next, I will compare key aspects of both policies and draw conclusions as to their effects on business and country growth.

The Netherlands

Jamison, Eyerman, Cramer, & Læssøe (1990, p. 121) indicate that the history of environmentalism in the Netherlands is very much interconnected with international developments since the 1960s. As such, the new environmentalist movement has significantly influenced ...

Since the industrial revolution – an era known for the peak of coal combustion to supply the energy requirements of mechanically evolving world – humankind has been relying on fossil fuels for the majority of energy. However, although the fossil fuel production is at the point of exhaustion, the world, in general, still is experiencing energy shortages, which is almost always associated with high energy prices (Pimentel 1). Furthermore, environmentalists advocate for cleaner energy source, such as the renewable energy sources, as an alternative to fossil fuel due to the fact that the fossil fuel itself, as well as the production ...

Introduction

The issue of hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking” an innovation how to extract natural gas from minerals such as shale rock has become very controversial as of recently in the United States. Large sections of the United States especially in the Northeast have lots of shale rock which has caused many oil and gas companies naturally to extract the region’s resources. This over time has caused many conflicts between the oil companies, local residents as well as local, state and federal authorities. Many people question how safe of a process fracking is and what are the unknown ...

Extraction Stage

Extraction of copper produces both specks of dust and gaseous wastes such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide that significantly contribute to environmental pollutions, especially air pollution (“Copper Mining”). Whereas copper wire miners reduce this pollution level by trapping the generated sulfur dioxide gas for purposes of producing sulfuric acid, considerable amounts of sulfur dioxide still escape and take part in both air and water pollution. However, extraction methods that incorporate emulsion of liquid membranes and applications of microorganisms in removing copper from their underground ores have been currently established as the economical and viable ways of gathering copper. ...

Material Extraction of Dry Battery AA:

A typical alkaline dry AA cell comprises a cylindrical external case, cathode, anode, and electrolyte and separators. The external casing is made from nickel-plated steel and is lined with a separator to divide the anode and cathode. The separator is made of either a porous synthetic material or layered paper. On one end, the battery canister is sealed with an epoxy or asphalt sealant underlying a steel plate and at the other end with a brass rod driven through the cylinder. The rod is welded to a metallic end cap and passed via an outer plastic seal. Inside the ...

Wave and Wind Power Generation

Wind Physics Basics Wind is atmospheric air which is in motion Energy Source The earth surface absorbs solar radiation differently. Some parts absorb more radiation than other. This creates pressure zones. As a result of pressure, air moves from high-pressure zones to low-pressure zones. This causes atmospheric air motion known as wind. Wind is a renewable source of energy. It is constantly available free of charge (Bhattacharyya, 2011).

Spatial scales

Atmospheric air motion can be categorized depending in terms of spatial scale. Four spatial scales identified include planetary scale, synoptic scale, mesoscale, and microscale. There are various types of spatial scales ...

The Name of class

Introduction 1 Manufacturing Process 2 Structural Components 2 Electrical Components 4 Functional Components 4 Sustainable Industrial Systems 5 Industrial Reusability 6 Service Reusability 6 Remanufacturing 6 Solutions and Interventions 6 Modifying the Structural Size and Weight of the Current Components 7 Creation of a recycling and collection center 7 Using high quality materials for all components 7 Reuse of activities 7 Sustainability in the individual components 7 Conclusion 8

References 8

Introduction In any manufacturing activity, there has always been the need for the implementation of an efficient materials use. These was down traditionally through recycling. As at present, the need ...

Executive Summary

The proposed environmental communication plan addresses current and future environmental initiatives in Whistler, BC. It is suggested that a range of communication tools can effectively inform Whistler destination stakeholders about current and upcoming efforts to promote growth and innovation for the environment. The visitors are local and non-local, and the tools address the needs of all as well as convey a positive image of Whistler to prospective visitors. The communication plan comprises the following tools and their implementation and dissemination: website for green visitors, video on past and future vision for sustainability, Facebook profile and group for participation by ...

Scenario Planning

The concept of scenario planning involves deriving a probable future situation, usually achieved through consistent description of one possible future outcome. Many researchers and other professionals attribute the process of scenario planning with a number of advantages, and highlight different approaches that can be utilized in deriving future scenarios. This paper seeks to evaluate the existing literature regarding scenario planning, the process of undertaking scenario planning, and the associated advantages.Specifically, the paper will evaluate the effects of communication technological advancements on the process of management. The development of future scenarios helps an organization to focus on how the process ...

Management

Analysis of Abbott’s Citizenship Report This paper is devoted to the American company Abbott that is a well-known actor in the international pharmaceutical and related markets. Its diverse business is divided into four main directions: nutrition, medical devices, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. During the last seventeen years the company prepares the citizenship report that shows the company’s strategy, standards, goals and results. Let’s analyze the company’s report of 2014 in order to analyze the ethical standards, environmental impact and human resources policy of the company.

The citizenship report shows the company’s code of ethics that ...

Nature in city; seed bank; ecosystem and social-urban development.

The terms “ecology” and environment” have different conceptual meanings which often overlap with the concept of “nature” in the context of academic and scientific research and analysis. For instance, ‘Natures and Ecologies’ studies explore the environmental dimensions of ecosystems which includes both physical parameters and biotic attributes of a particular region. The “environment "includes the physical world, the social world of human relations and the built world of human creation. [Ankers 2005] Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals, ...

Business Model & Environmental Crisis

Patagonia adopts a business model based on three key pillars: (1) Environment Stewardship, (2) Management By Absence, and (3) Value-Based Choice of Partners (Reinhardt, Casadesus-Masanell and Kim). By Environment Stewardship is meant company's commitment to minimize impact of company's business on environment. Examples are numerous including removing anti-odor chemicals from products in 1998, switching to manufacturing all cotton products from organically produced cotton in 1996 in spite of increased costs and signing in 2007 Bluesign Technologies, standard used to appraise environmental impact of dye and finish chemicals (Reinhardt, Casadesus-Masanell and Kim). If anything, CEO Casey Sheahan's statement is central ...

Introduction

The business planning and formulating is not as easy and simple as it seems just like to run operations and deal with staff. To start a new business, it is very important to understand the nature and role of entrepreneurship. Many entrepreneurs have succeeded, and many have failed in the past, it means that there is something exist that can differentiate the successful and failure entrepreneurs. Before conducting a plan for the new business of wedding planner services, it is needed to understand the needs, challenges and risks in the development of new business and how these challenges and ...

[Monti Cleaning]

Business Plan

Business Plan template 1 Business Plan Summary 3 The Business 3 The Market 3 The Future 4 The Finances 4 The Business 5 Business details 5 Registration details 5 Business premises 5 Organisation chart 5 Management & ownership 6 Key personnel 6 Products/services 7 Unique Selling point.7 Anticipated demand8 Risk management 8 Operations 8 The Market 9 Market research 9 Market targets 9 Environmental/industry analysis 10 S.W.O.T. analysis 11

Advertising & sales 12

The Future 13 Vision statement 13 Mission statement 13 Goals/objectives 13 Action plan 14 The Finances 14 Key objectives & financial review 14 Start-up costs for [YEAR] 15 Balance sheet ...

            The generation of electric power through the exploitation of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, is one of the main factors influencing climate change due to the greenhouse gases emissions resulting from the process. In consideration, there is an increasing need to shift towards systems of power generation derived from renewable sources, which have a significantly lower environmental impact; among these are solar, wind, geothermal, hydraulic and ocean power generation. This essay will focus on solar power generation. The energy contained in sunlight can be converted into electricity through the use of Concentrated Solar Power systems ( ...

At the turn of the 21st century, electronic communication and technology has been rapidly developing to a point that human beings and its environment is not at par. The world has been talking about the new models of smart phones and the new software that bridged people together despite distance and borders. The advancement of technology has created virtual communities. People are talking about the successes of these communication and other technologies but never did people talk about the environmental and health consequences of these rapid developments. Clara Piccirillo in an article entitled “Environmental Impact of Information and Communication ...

At first glance, the bridge that connects Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau is revolutionary as to convenience of commuters going to the mainland. In the presentation, the travel time will be reduced to 60% to 80%. For the Hong Kong workers traveling to mainland, from more than seven hours of travel, they will only spend roughly 2 hours and presto, they are in the mainland. Economically, the accomplishment of the project will bring in more money Hong Kong because of tourism, job opportunities which will decrease unemployment rate. Who would not like this project? Most people who do not ...

Impact of design

Introduction The design the most important step in the creation process of a new product or solution. The design starts with the determination of the necessities of the market or a problem. The problem with the available resources the conception of a first design starts. The conception is the translation of the problem solution into a technical approach. After the conception process, there is necessary the development of the engineering process in two phases: Basic Engineering Detailed Engineering . The basic engineering consists in the definition of the design functioning with material composition and dimensions. The basic engineering gives to ...

Ability to apply knowledge of basic science and engineering fundamentals

Industry placement gave me a great opportunity to learn many things. During the time I spent in the industry placement, I learned how theory is translated into practice. In school, we learn many concepts in various subjects. Sometimes it is very hard to imagine how the concepts apply in practice. The placement offered me a chance to apply the engineering concepts we learned in class. I practically applied basic science and engineering fundamentals in making judgments regarding the specific tasks I was given to handle. I also understood that in some instances there is a slight difference between theoretical ...

The AEG Sustainability Program

Introduction Sustainability should be of great concern to all companies in the events industry. Their business activities have a great impact on the environment. There are many new developments in sustainability, both in theory (including an increasing body of academic literature) and in practice (such as new industry guidelines, accounting frameworks like Triple Bottom Line, and corporate certification schemes) (Sachs, 2015). Corporate management in events companies is, of course, in the best position to make business decisions consistent with the growing awareness of sustainability issues. However, other corporate stakeholders can also become engaged when necessary to assure that their ...

A significant population in the world smoke cigarettes, which is a harmful behavior. Various studies have indicated that smoking is among the leading but preventable causes of death and diseases around the world. Apart from health issues produced by smoking, financial issues also prevail and they are among the main predictors of quitting smoking. For instance, Sindelar and O'Malley (2013) found out that quitting smoking could help an individual to save about $3000 per year. Despite the financial, environmental, and health problems created by smoking cigarettes, many people argue that smoking provides various benefits, and they cannot imagine the ...

What is wrong with the current system?

The Canadian government is currently undergoing a huge capital investment initiatives which have made the natural resource sector grow. Therefore, the environmental assessments within its federal jurisdiction have proved to be critical to the viability of its various projects. The Canadian federal government should promote a self-reporting, self-regulatory model of assessment which would ensure that the environment and the public interest is never compromised for the sake of any gain which could be detrimental to the humans welfare. Therefore, there is need to formulate and propose new legislation as suggested by the Liberal Party of Canada that would create, ...

With the influx of mobile phones, one cannot survive without using this gadget. It is an indispensable device that serves a lot of functions from communication to entertainment to business. It has made communication easier and has provided opportunities for businesses to reach out to more clients. Although mobile phones were reported to have negative effects to human health, there are still numerous benefits that the society can gain from using this device for as long as it is being used cautiously. With the emergence of smart phones, the technology has paved way for many people to access a ...

Introduction

Mining activities can pose serious environmental and health implications. Although, these environmental and health hazards can be mitigated and effectively managed through sound engineering and environmental practices, these environmental and health issues associated with mining operations could not be totally eradicated. In general, there are three major players in the mining industry: the company, which include the employees and the stockholders; the regulatory bodies, which include the government and other national and international environmental organizations; and the community, which are not directly related to the mining industry, but is impacted by its operations. Each one of these stakeholders has ...

Introduction to Ecological Sustainability

Ecological sustainability involves a rational usage of the available natural resources in the short term bearing in mind that these resources will be needed in the long term. The concept of ecological sustainability in organization arises from the fact that human beings can exhaust the available resources. The concept calls for the management of the businesses and employees to utilize the resources wisely and efficiently to avoid exhausting them.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Stanley Black & Decker organization has been committed towards the development of communities for more than one hundred years. The organization has very strong corporate social responsibility, which is clearly evident ...

According to EPA (2016), environmental management involves the development of systems aimed at reducing environmental impacts of various activities. In the Brundtland commission report (WCED), sustainable development has been described as development aimed at meeting the current needs of the present generation. However, as the current generation focuses on meeting their own needs, their activities should not compromise the capability of future generations to also meet their own needs. Available evidence suggests that the future generation would have challenges meeting their own needs if the current generation fails to adopt sustainable practices. The sustainable development incorporates the triple line: ...

Abstract

Electronic waste is a growing global problem and as the demand and supply of electronic products grow, so does the–e- waste. Consumerism is on a steady rise, and people want new mobiles and computers every few months. That means more and more landfills and incinerators to take care of discarded and obsoleted electronics and potentially seeping of toxic substances like lead and mercury into groundwater. This can lead to serious health hazards and create toxic footprints. The essay looks at new developing technologies for the recycling of computers and creates a report on the basis of the quadruple ...

Impact of Engineering Design

The proposed design has implications at a global level. Firstly, the Microsoft’s Kinect system has formed the basis for the continued evolution of scanning technologies. For instance, Hardesty (2015) reported algorithms that exploited the polarization of light to improve the depth sensing of the Microsoft’s Kinect system by a thousand fold. One of the challenges identified by Tong et al., (2012) regarding the Microsoft’s Kinect system was that it achieved a coarse depth. However, the combination of the depth frames from the Microsoft’s Kinect system for polarized photographs shows that Microsoft’s Kinect systems have ...

Elimination of Subsidies for all Energy Alternatives

I agree with the proposal to eliminate government subsidies for all energy alternatives so that all energy providers can compete in a free market economy. My rationale for agreeing with this proposal is that providing subsidies is a retrogressive economic policy that allows the government to prop one sector of the energy industry at the expense of other sectors. Rather than foster competition, government subsidies will give alternative energy investors unfair price advantages over other energy providers. Moreover, subsidies will cause the alternative energy sector to become less cost competitive and encourage unhealthy dependency on preferential treatment from the ...