Environmental studies and Forestry

chose the topic of (Cost Benefit analysis of renewable energy uses) want you to write research paper for 20 to 25 pages, by including all the parts of the research. Also, include question to answer by research and calculation, graphs and tables and references.. and of course introduction and the other parts The course that I want the research for it is about: environment policy and regulation with sheds on ethics and economy, and research paper needs to be based on these aspects. Name Name of tutor Course title Due date Ethical And Economic Aspects Of Environmental Policy Executive Summary Worries over global warming continue to push policy makers to accept the pertinence of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy sources have become favorable today as national and international policies show support for it. However, renewable energy production remains in its early stages of implementation and a unit cost of energy derived from renewable sources remain higher than from a traditional plant. Despite these, governments offer cost based traffics and incentives to support the research and development of renewable energy. Cost benefit analysis offers an idea about the feasibility and acceptability of this domain of energy production. Cost benefit analysis in the context of energy is the evaluation of every benefit and associated costs of any energy project that accounts for both future and present work. It is different from social cost benefit analysis because it takes account of both social and financial benefits as well as costs. One of the hottest debates modern governments engage in is that involving environmental regulation. There are those in support of regulation and those who abhor the same, with various interests and philosophies at play. At the end of it all, environmental regulation is a phenomenon that has far reaching implications on the economy but with a strong entanglement to ethics. It has strong attachment to ethics because regulation more often than not does not augur well for capitalists and politicians, who are entrusted with passing or dropping regulatory legislation, often find themselves having to balance between ethics and political survival. Ethics would mean that the politicians appeal to what is right and what benefits most people and humanity in general while interests has to do with staying relevant to capitalists, who often support political endeavors of politicians. Individuals and entities who oppose environmental regulation argue that it damages the economy generally and particularly the job generation process. There are those who posit that specific environmental regulations would kill millions of job and that there is need to weigh the costs against the benefits before being implemented. Another segment argues that it is critical to evaluate the evidence and theory that would support the notion that environmental regulation has negative impacts on the economy and jobs. A common theme emerges here- that environmental regulation is an issue on which there is no unanimous agreement amongst different interest groups, each drumming support for its position and interests. At the same time, it also comes out clearly that environmental regulation has significant nuances of economic and ethical aspects. Industry Specific Cost Benefit Analysis Metrics The choice of cost benefit analysis depends on the individual or the entity but for the energy production and distribution industry, there are mainly three ways of evaluating the costs and benefits. One of them is the ratio of benefits to costs and the others net present value and the internal return rate. The ratios of cost and benefits use renewable energy parameters that depend on the type of renewable technology in question. Some of the parameters are involvement of government, availability of the right skilled staff, status of technology, and economical factors. The cost benefit analysis parameters can be classified on the basis of the inflow and outflow of cost, the capital involved in the plant, investment related to change in government policy, benefit through sale of energy, and social benefit of supplying the energy in the area among others. Most of the renewable energy projects are less viable in the economic sense owing to the high risks and investment associated with these projects. Most governments, however, are still keen on increasing the renewable energy share and the overall cost benefit assessment of renewable energy indicate that they are acceptable. The key benefit of renewable energy is its cleanliness and the social acceptability that come with it. Cost benefit assessment Renewable Energy An assessment of the cost benefit of the utility of renewable energy resources culminates in the conclusion that the short term returns on this investment is low while the long term case shows profitable returns on condition that there is production of development capital. Some of the renewable energy resources include hydro and tidal power, geothermal, biomass, and solar energies. Putting together these renewable sources of energy is critical for sustainable development and sustained production. Sustainable production relies on the economic and geographic resources as well as factors related to resources. The production of cost effective renewable energy sources demands a technology for distribution that and practices aimed at offering user needs further away from the generation source. Numerous items to look into while evaluating renewable energy return on investments are standards, efficiency, centralization, storage, and support. Other factors are management, monitoring, and development. Over time, cost benefit analysis of renewable energy is inconclusive but it offers important insights while reviewing the current state of development of renewable energy. Demand for electricity and the production of renewable electricity both future fluctuations, causing variable demand costs. The cost factor here is measured by the end user need and the availability of the energy. To address efficiency of renewable energy, the discussion features the system requirements of the user of renewable energy and the products. Further, there are considerations of the functions of technology. Any type of energy has subjective efficiency. Reducing the barrier related to cost to the efficiency of energy needs adoption of new technologies sand deterring demand without proper generation and distribution. Renewable energy’s system efficiency can only shows profitability if there are sustainable resources as soon as the operational production environment is determined. In the United States, the standards for the utility of renewable energy resources are still determined by each State. The renewable portfolio standards and Renewable Electricity Standards are still at their prototype stages and are mainly derived from procedures and policies as set by Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. The standards are also adapted to the regional requirements and specific production environments. Setting up controls leads to increases in costs that are offset through the creation of reliability. Renewable energy resources standards that are well accounted for is still conspicuously a null factor in the scenario of cost benefit analysis. The risk factor that comes with lack of controls and standards yields a higher cost of renewable energy in the event that standards are lacking. One of the largest points of debate in the cost benefit analysis is centralization, and it has raised national concern and efforts that Installation, Energy & Environment makes. Going by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the costs of distribution of wind, solar, and biomass remain in the region of $2,000 and $10,000 a kilowatt per generating unit. Economies associated with scale rely on factors like low pollution levels, localized production, low maintenance costs, and the land use to ascertain that the costs of distribution are economical. Centralization of distribution increases the price ta of renewable energy though there is reduction in cost per unit generated. High-tension voltage transmissions are necessary for centralized distribution and this is further characterized by loss of energy as well as failure rates that complicate the whole financial outlook over recovery of profits. Support and storage of energy is necessary for maintenance of renewable energy grid system. There are costs of connection of renewable energy sources of extension to power the grids have not been determined in most cases of active systems of renewable energy. This is in part because determination of the befit/ cost of integration of power grid requires evaluation of a lifetime operational span of the source of generation of renewable energy in port and export of renewable energy is common in the state facilities but there is a serious drain on revenue of state governments as a result of the investment and maintenance of renewable energy export and import purposes. Revenues generated from taxing renewable energy storage and maintenance support facilities keep increasing with the cheaper electricity that renewable energy offers because it is bought and retailed by electric companies. Companies in the business of renewable energy development like REDI and EDF have emerged from the renewable energy sector to conduct research on and develop solutions for communities that acquire renewable energy power sources. There is military investment in renewable energy that includes over forty ventures in wind and solar power for the Department of Defense. The inclusion of military and private sector research into national budgets will also affect state funding because of laws that States enact to comply with the requirements of Renewables Portfolio Standards. Benefits accrued to private sector will be derived from application spillover and patents as soon as the renewable energy market becomes stable. Monitoring and management of renewable energy resources, distribution, technologies, and maintenance remain the key focal points of infrastructure. Sustainability is the main goal of assembling diverse types of renewable energy resources for production of cost effective energy. The cost benefit of management and monitoring the infrastructure cannot be evaluated correctly for this industry until such a time that individual systems are incorporated into a wholesome energy network. Operating as individual units separated from incorporation, renewable energy units have to be separately assessed for management and monitoring, profits, and losses. Summarily, renewable energy efficiency can only show a cost benefit as long as the operating environmental are established and are stable in nature. The production of renewable energy standards will also balance the risk of lack of controls as centralization of renewable energy remains less cots effective despite the economies of scale in distribution. The tax revenues on renewable energy remain high because of the storage and support issues in the exportation and importation of energy and military investment as well s government investment in renewable energy development have positive financial effects on private sector. It is also worth noting that renewable energy infrastructure has to be developed to properly handle management and monitoring benefits and costs. Overall, there is a general hint to the need for capital investment in technologies and systems to facilitate maturity and growth of the potential of sustainable electricity that comes from renewable energy resources. Long term economic and environmental benefits like creation of jobs and increased revenues are feasible once the renewable energy system is standardized and there is a high degree of sustainability. Return on investment from renewable sources of energy remains difficult to metricize in terms of short-term profits. In the determination of the cost benefits of renewable energy sources, there is need for a comprehensive portfolio –something that remains elusive, even though segments of this industry can be effectively assessed to offer a guide of profit oriented progress. Economic and Ethical Aspects Of Environmental Regulations One of the recent examples of how environmental regulation can have significant economic and ethical implications is that of the BP oil spill that devastated the economy of the Gulf Coast. As the impacts on the economy are being evaluated, it is also important to assess the background of regulatory lapses that saw such a catastrophe through, and why the capitalists almost always has his way against the environment. This oil spill was arguably the worst case of accidental oil spill in the history of he United States. The original oil explosion took place in mid April of 2010, injuring 17 people and killing 11. In total, there were over five million barrels of oil got spilled into this location and with them came serious environmental and economic costs that continued to unfold for a very long time. This oil disaster interrupted three main trusses of he economy of Gulf Coast-tourism, fishing, and production of energy. Moreover, the cleanup costs were estimated to total to tens of billions it is important to note that this oil spill took place in a regulatory domain that was extremely lax. Going by the National Commission on the case, the lack of concern by the relevant government officials over the safety of the drilling process implied that the question of the regulatory bodies and officials had degenerated to whether there was a chance of an accident happening. The report of this commission also documented some serous regulatory lapses. One of the key lapses was that involving the Mineral Management Service. It was realized that it was structurally flawed and yet it was the one responsible for the enforcement of safety and revenue collection as well as energy development from the issuance of leases. The focus of this agency quickly became biased towards revenue collection than it was safety management. Moreover, it was also established that this agency did not have the technical and capital capability for monitoring offshore oil ventures, particularly with the rapid growth of the offshore oil industry and more sophisticated technologies being put into place. Another regulatory legislation that was closely linked to the events surrounding the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast was National Environmental Policy Act. This law requires all the federal agencies to develop environmental impact statements for all the key federal actions that could potentially significantly affect the environment. These actions could be related to the permission of the construction of an offshore drilling rig or declining the same requests on the basis of environmental impact assessment. The National Commission assigned to this case established further that this law was expressly less riotous in its treatment of Gulf of Mexico than other offshore locations. The Mineral Management Service did not conduct meaningful reviews of the serious potential negative impacts on the environment that were associated with the issuance of the permit for BP drilling in this location, not to mention that BP’s oil spill response for this location was way below par. Most of the oil that spilled was generic substance prepared by a contractor and this was never adapted to the oil spills scenarios here. An example is that in its plan, BP outlined that there were no biological resources in the Gulf. This is a serious concern, knowing that it is public knowledge that the Gulf hosts walruses and sea lions among other biological resources. Despite this serious omission or commission on the part of BP, the Mineral management Service office in the Gulf of Mexico issued an approval to those plan without further analyses or verification. Summarily, this commission realized that the gigantic oil spill was totally avoidable and the laxity of regulatory oversight was important to its occurrence. The catastrophe was a result of clear mistakes by BP and the regulatory agencies charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the environment and people’s safety in general. This was in part because the government officials totally relied on the private industry assessment of the environmental impacts of their ventures and the safety of their operations. There was total failure to create and implement an oversight program for regulatory oversight that would have adequately and properly minimized the deep water drilling risks. There are many other examples of environmental disasters whose occurrences are totally attributable to the lapses in environmental regulation policy. However, it is also important to appreciate that there are serious efforts to ensure independent and through regulatory agencies to ensure that the general environment is safer than before. The only shortcoming is that environmental regulation has significant impacts on the investment side of the equation, as investors would do their best to maximize profits margins- a question of ethics. On the same note, the general “fear” of the private sector energy industry by designated agencies and officials translates to a matter of ethics. The fact that people died and other got injured in the BP accident- an accident that was colloquially “nurtured”, is an indication that there are serious ethical angles to environmental regulation and doing business. To the extent that loss of life is acceptable form of cost of doing business to the capitalist while the regulatory agencies watch and do nothing is a sign that it is a more complicated process that it appears on the surface. On the part of economy, it could be argued that BP offered employment to several people and assisted in the job creation process, and that too strict environmental regulations would mean that the energy investors and other industries that touch on the environment would cut down employment. The question becomes whether environmental regulations should stick to the philosophy and ethics and environmental protection and justice, comply with the need to create a “conducive” business environment for employment, or strike a compromise between the two. Data Analysis Report Abstract Starbucks was founded in 1971, at a time when coffee business had begun gaining its ground in the US. What started as a retail coffee shop has now grown to become a global brand. The company grounds and prepares coffee in different flavors that often seek to provide the perfect high-quality taste to the consumer. From the time it was founded, Starbucks has risen to become the 2nd most valued brand in the global market within the fast food industry. Despite the fact that the company has been performing well in other parts of the globe, there have been challenges in some regions where its operations have not been as successful. During its eight years of establishment in Australia, more than 60 of its branches had to be closed down mainly due to poor performance. This report aims at establishing some of what are deemed to be the major causes of its failure in the region, and how this could have been avoided. Executive Summary The importance of determining the possible causes of failure at Starbucks makes the collection and analysis of data an essential part of this research. Some factors are observed as the key causes of this failure ranging from market factors, competition, to the failure of the firm to align its strategies to suit the market needs. Also, the people's culture and inclination towards the local brands causes the newly introduced firm to fail in Australia. The t-test data analysis method is used to determine the significance of the organizational strategies as well as those of the population. There are remarkable differences in the coffee consumption patterns between male and female consumers, which leads to the end results, obtained during the analysis. Using a sample of 500 participants from various regions in Australia, the market patterns can be observed, which can then be used to realign the firm's strategies and improve performance during future investments. Even though the responses firm those that are interviewed are an indicator that Starbucks could revitalize itself in the market, there are certain limitations of using this method to acquire information. The analysis report is a positive indicator of future business performance; however, questionnaires filled and sent back by the respondents may not be fully reliable. This is because some may not have understood the questions but still went ahead and filled in what they though were most appropriate while others may not be genuine in their responses. Such errors need to be accommodated when developing the strategies to achieve more in the market, as the analysis results indicate. Introduction Starbucks was first opened in 1971 under the name Starbucks Coffee Company. The objective of the company was "To make the world a better place where you can share great coffee with your friends". Howard Schultz, who is present, the chairman of the company and its Chief Executive Officer visited the company in 1981. The company was driven by the idea of creating an in-between point for work and home where people and friends could meet for chit chatting and passing time after a long day at work. Howard at a certain time broke away from the company but later came to purchase the company with help from some other investors. With the mission, "To inspire and nurture the human spirit" the company has grown to a multinational millions worth business with a stable market and huge share in the beverage market, in countries such as Australia. The company has the goals to expand further and to continue providing the customers with the g highest quality of coffee (Starbucks, 2015). Despite the fact that the company has been performing well in other parts of the globe, there have been challenges in some regions where its operations have not been as successful. In the Australian market, Starbucks coffee has failed to establish itself fully mainly due to some competitive forces from firms such as McCafe and Gloria Jeans. Over the years, 2000-2008, Starbucks has had to close down more than 60 of its stores, which have failed due to competitive forces(Mescall, 2008). Rational consumers tend to show their preference towards products that are sold at a relatively lower price while at the same time the level of customer service they acquire determines their possibility of a return purchase. These might have some of the missing links that resulted to the closure of most Starbucks Australian outlets. The majority of the Australians have a higher preference for their locally produced brands and getting them to trust a foreign producer implies investing in a wide range of economic and social platforms. Also, this increases the likelihood that they will refer their colleagues and friends to the same business premise in future, where they felt that their needs were well sufficed. Overall, the company is huge in size judging from the earnings of the company about the industry at large. The earnings for the company were 35.4 while the industry average earnings were 33.3. The earnings for the company exceeded the average earning for the food and beverage industry in total meaning that the company is f a very large size. It is the largest company in the food and beverage industry with over 20000 outlets in about 60 different countries with the number still growing. To determine the possible causes of failure in this coffee industry, the research below is conducted in the market, with an analysis of data collected in the population. Research Design To obtain the data regarding the possible causes of failure in Starbucks’ coffee business in Australia, a research proposal was prepared, with the approval of Starbucks management. Using the data collected from the field, the analysis is done to determine the possible causes of this failure and how they could be rectified, as well as the order in which to prioritize them. Sampling Technique Data is collected from various sources with a random sample of a 100 of the firm's current and former customers being selected. These customers are from different locations where the stores are an operation or at least had been operational for some time. These locations include Sidney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast(Mescall, 2008). Some survey questionnaires were also sent to 500 customers where only 473 responded to them, which was a considerably good number. Data Collection Method Through the questionnaires issued to these consumers, their feelings and preferences on the changes they would like to see at Starbucks were collected to determine the course of action for the failing firm in coffee selling the business. The differences in the number of male and female customers were noted in the way the questionnaires were responded to as well as data from past researches. Also, a study of academic reports and journals regarding the issue was conducted to track the history of Starbucks in Australia, and how it could have resulted to the current state. Human Ethics Consideration In collecting this data and reporting the research finding, various ethical considerations have to be made. The respondents, Australian consumers, in this case, had to be provided with the content and the reasons as to why the research was important. This would go a long way in ensuring that they provide genuine information having understood how its availability would help improve the status of service provision at Starbucks. Confidentiality was guaranteed, and the respondents were not supposed to indicate their personal details if they felt that this would compromise their privacy. To collect effective data that would be usable, the Company officials had to be informed on the costs involved, to ensure proper funding for an exhaustive study of the population and in turn, better solutions can be derived(Baid, 2015). Also, openness between the researcher and the officials would ensure that there is no bias, resulting from distortion of information. The sample selection process is clearly outlined enhancing the acceptability of the data and final results obtained. Hypothesis Testing The franchise nature of key competitors such as Gloria Jeans, Hudsons, and Coffee Club among others, in Australia, has enabled them to expand and gain a greater share of the market. On the contrary, Starbucks had stuck to its store-owned setting that could have limited its chances of expansion. The hypothesis whether the level of customer service differs from the objectives set by the managements can be stated as; Null Hypothesis: the current level of customer satisfaction is equal to 7 Alternative Hypothesis: the current level of customer satisfaction is not equal to 7 Statistical test: The most appropriate statistical test for this data test is the Univariate t-test. This is because; the test aims at establishing whether the mean of customer satisfaction, one variable, is different from 7. Since customer satisfaction is a continuous variable, then univariate t-test becomes the most appropriate way of testing the relevance of the null hypothesis. t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means Variable 1 Variable 2 Mean 8.145877378 7 Variance 19.18842047 0 Observations 473 473 Pearson Correlation 0.515022056 Hypothesized Mean Difference 0 Df 472 t Stat 17.65584004 P(T<=t) one-tail 3.08833E-54 t Critical one-tail 1.648088336 P(T<=t) two-tail 6.17665E-54 t Critical two-tail 1.965002676 Statistical interpretation: the mean value for overall customer satisfaction is 8.15 (variable 1). This is significantly different to management’s goal of 7 as indicated by a t-statistic of 17.656 which is greater than the critical t-statistic of 1.965 and a p-value of 0.00 which is less than 0.05, the degree of significance. As such, we accept the null hypothesis that the current level of satisfaction is equal to 7 and reject the alternative hypothesis that the current level of customer satisfaction is not equal to 7. Non-statistical interpretation: the current level of customer satisfaction is slightly different from the management's target at 7. The value of customer satisfaction is high at 8.15. There is not much difference between the preferences of the male and female consumers of Starbucks. They all exhibit equal levels of tastes and preferences, according to the statistics recorded. Analysis Differences exist in the way customers express their degree of satisfaction, whereby it is higher in some regions and lower in others. The current level of customer satisfaction falls within what the management at Starbucks had anticipated, setting its goal at 7 out of 10, at 8.15. Gender differences are evident in all the five store locations since some have a lower turnout of a particular gender. However, in most cases, female gender is not as represented as the males. Apart from competition, there are some other internal and external factors that contributed to the failure of Starbucks in the coffee selling industry, within Australia. Competitors' menu prices were relatively lower than those set by Starbucks, in the Australian market. This caused the firm to lose a great deal of customers, who opted to go for competitors firms, whose products were cheaper. Also, Starbucks' Coffee customer service failed to attain the expected degree of customer service for this particular market. This, put together with the high menu prices is capable of driving away the existing and potential rational consumers in any industry (Mescall, 2008). A customer’s year of patronage plays a key role in determining the level of satisfaction that they have obtained from the products and services offered by the firm. The most frequent buyers, who have been served in the Starbucks’ outlets, indicate higher levels of satisfaction than those who had not been to these outlets as many times. Consumers will prefer products that are sold at a relatively lower price while at the same time the level of customer service they acquire determines their possibility of a return purchase. It is crucial to note that most Australians have a higher preference for the local brand and getting them to like a foreign brand implies investing in a wide range of economic and social platforms. Also, this increases the likelihood that they will refer their colleagues and friends to the same business premise in future. But these were lacking in Starbucks and consumers would only turn to competitors, where they gained more satisfaction for their money(Mescall, 2008). The failure to cater for the Australian consumer taste and preference also contributed to the closure of most of its branches. Failure to do so could arise as a result of poor market research that is aimed at establishing the tastes and preferences of the current market. The fact that a particular product is accepted in one region does not automatically translate to it being the preferred choice in a different location. Consumers have different tastes and preferences, which must be put into consideration before any business operations are begun(Allison, 2008). According to Australians, Starbucks offered low-quality coffee, the same as the one the sold in their original market in America, at a higher price. This pushed most of the customers away from buying coffee at Starbucks(Baid, 2015). Clearly, there were cultural barriers that caused Starbucks to fail considering that they had introduced a product used elsewhere, assuming it would also suit the population in their new market, which is not the case. Starbucks had also failed to improve their advertisement tactic, to create awareness among consumer and in the process, expand their business. Advertising is one of the key pillars to success in modern businesses. Failure to advertise could give competitors an added advantage, which caused Starbucks coffee to fail in its business(Baid, 2015). Through advertising the firm would have had the opportunity to attract more customers from the region, and at least, gain an equal share of the market as its competitors. Since most of the stores that were closed down had been located in locations with fewer pedestrians, then advertising should have been the only way to inform the consumers of the firm’s location. Also, a possible solution to this could be changing the location of the firm to ensure that it is located closer to the public eye. This way, the consumers would be easily directed to the premises without much struggle and at the same time, avoid business failure. Gloria Jeans has since 1996 been a leading coffee retailer in Australia and competing on the same ground would demand that Starbucks be well established through proper measures and research to ensure they fit in the market(Allison, 2008). Recommendations and Conclusion From the various researches conducted, Starbucks may not have been the best choice for the Australian coffee consumers. In a country where people value their local brands, then the strategies adopted by a foreign company need to be well evaluated to ensure failure is not the closest stage. Therefore, Starbucks lack of far-sightedness to realize the impact that new investments would have on their overall business performance. On venturing into a new market, Starbucks came in with an aggressive development strategy that would not in any way match the regions' culture and business environment. Faster growth at the initial stages could have cost the firms profitability, which would then have a long-run effect of the financial status of the company, leading to the closure of some of its branches, to enable others to operate effectively(Mescall, 2008). To improve these conditions, Starbucks should invest more on media advertisement, which is likely to affect the consumer's perception regarding their products. Also, the brands provided to the public should be adjusted to cater for their unique tastes and preferences. This can only be achieved through thorough research to determine the coffee and tea qualities that are preferred by the people and not just forcing them to accept a brand from a different market. Fulfilling consumer expectations improve the performance of the firm while gradual increment of their store ensures that they do not have to lose profits, in pursuit for faster growth. Prices should be reduced to match those of competing firms, which are the leaders in this local market. References Allison, M. (2008). Starbucks closing 73% of Australian stores. The Seattle Times. Retrieved 13 November 2015, from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008079196_websbuxaustralia29.html Baid, V. (2015). How and Why a Global Brand Starbucks failed in Australia. Slideshare.net. Retrieved 13 November 2015, from http://www.slideshare.net/virenbaid/how-and-why-a-global-brand-starbucks-failed-in-australia Mescall, J. (2008). Starbucks in Australia: Where did it go wrong?. ABC News. Retrieved 13 November 2015, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-08-07/32188 Starbucks. (2015). Starbucks Coffee Retail Food and Beverage Company Careers | Starbucks Coffee Jobs Phoenix AZ. Retrieved from http://www.bestcompaniesaz.com/arizonas-award-winning-companies/item/901-starbucks-company-profile