Bio-fuels and how effective they truly Essay Example for Free

Bio-fuels and how effective they truly Essay If compared with utilizing fossil fuels, research studies on biofuels show that first generation biofuels can be projected to have 60% carbon emission reduction while utilization second generation biofuels can reduce up to 80%. Figure 4 shows the CO2 reduction particularly in the transport sector with the use of biofuels and other GHG reduction strategies. In the future, the type of processing energy used will be more relevant: a biofuel plant that uses biomass energy will contribute far more to reducing GHG emissions than one that uses fossil energy. The European Union started the market for biofuels. Other countries such as the United States of America are fast catching up. The Asian countries are slow in taking up the mandate because people are assuming the wise consumer attitude, adopting a wait-and-see approach, waiting for the infrastructure to be established in order to have a better rationalization of cost and benefit. Historical and projected biofuels production levels are shown in figures 5 and 6. The major country players are clearly indicated. Figure 7 shows the global demand for biofuels. The figure illustrated a 100% increase in the ethanol production between 2000 and 2005. ON the other hand, biodiesel production showed an increase of almost 400%.. Comparing these figures with production of oil from fossil fuels, it showed an increase only by only 7% over this period. Brazil produced 16. 5 billion liters of fuel ethanol (45. 2 percent of the worlds total) with the United States a close second at 16. 2 billion liters, or 44. 5 percent of the total. With these projections, benefits brought about by the utilization of biofuels is expected to be significant specifically on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. CONCLUSION Clean environment is essential to a good quality of life, yet many thousands of deaths yearly are linked to the effects of pollution. Improving local air quality is a major thrust that most countries are currently pursuing. Thus, it is relatively important to bear in mind that for the petroleum and energy industry, one of the major considerations should be the use of environmentally sound, economical and safe fuel. The use of biofuels, as presented in this paper suggests and projects a positive impact in the environment on the long term. While there are issues to be addressed, extensive research should be conducted in order to provide an answer to all these concerns. The figures show that there is an increasing demand for biofuels worldwide, still, policies gearing towards the utilization of such should be developed and adopted to the highest standards in the international scene. Like in some countries wherein the use of biofuels is mandated by law, there should be a worldwide promotion and advocacy campaign for its utilization with emphasis that it brings about to the environment. REFERENCES Biofuels for Transport (2006). What exactly is biofuels and the potential of it for its future use as alternative fuel for future road vehicles? [Internet], Biofuels for Transport. Available from: http://people. bath. ac. uk/ksyl20/my_report/interest. htm [Accessed 22 November 2007]. Brevitt, B. (February 12, 2002) Alternative Vehicle Fuels. Science and Environment Section, Research Paper 02/11. Center for Fuel Cells (2007) Fuel cell today. University of South Carolina. DOE Portal (2007) Biofuel. [Internet], Philippines Department of Energy. Available from: www. doe. gov. ph [Accessed 24 November 2007]. EurActive (2005) Alternative fuels for transport. [Internet], EurActive. Available from: www. eurActiv. com [Accessed 23 November 2007]. EurActive (2006a) Carmakers reject EU plan for CO2 emissions law. [Internet], EurActive. Available from: www. eurActiv. com [Accessed 23 November 2007]. Energy Research (2007) Introduction to Fuel cells. [Internet], European Commission. Available from: http://ec. europa. eu/research/energy/index_en. htm [Accessed 25 November 2007]. Environmental Technologies (2007) Innovations and Industry, Biofuel. [Internet], The Israel Export and Industrial Cooperation Institute. Available from: www. export. gov. il [Accessed 25 November 2007]. Gow, I. T. A. D. (February 21, 2007) EU promises 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. The Guardian. Webster, B. (February 5, 2007) EU is steered from gas-guzzler ban. The Times.

Ghost Story of the Green Rat Essay -- Ghost Stories Urban Legends

The Green Rat This story was first told to me and my older brother by my uncle when we were still relatively young children (about 4 and 8 years old). We were riding in the car and he was telling the story to entertain and scare us. At the time he was in his mid-30s and living in Olney, MD, as were we. He called the story â€Å"The Green Rat,† and after I talked to him about the story, he said that it was a scary tale that he first heard on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts in California when he was in 7th grade (approximately 1966 when he was about 12 years old). Four kids stayed overnight in a supposedly haunted house. [Here the teller made his description of the house match one of the older houses in my neighborhood (the house was historical, the neighborhood was relatively new)]. On a dare. In one of the rooms, there was a creepy painting of the green rat with a ball and chain on one of its legs. The boys thought they were really tough and chose to stay in separate bedrooms--one may have stayed in the room with the painting. Part way through the night, the boys heard a chain being drug along the floor. [Teller makes a chain noise and later remarks that one time when he recorded the story for one of our cousin’s he used an actual chain to make the sound.] There was a scream [Teller screams] along with the sound of someone being attacked. [Quietly] When the noise subsided, the boys came out of their rooms to find one of them missing--[pause] it was the boy who was in the room with painting. They went to check in the room and noticed that the eyes of the green rat in the painting were now glowing and there seemed to be a little blood around its mouth. There was now a skull in the corner of the picture of the green... ...house with my friends. Works Cited Anonymous. â€Å"The Clown Doll: An Urban Legend.† University of Maryland Legends Collection. Accessed 4/01/06. http://www.wam.umd.edu/~dschloss/Legends/clown.htm. Brunvand, Jan Harold. Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001. Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981. Eeeek-NET! Designed and Maintained by Kryss.com Web Services. 2000-2006. Accessed 4/01/06. http://www.eeeek.com/true_stories1.html. Ellis, Bill. â€Å"Adolescent Legend-Tripping,† in Psychology Today. August 1983. 68-69. Thompson, Stith. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends. Indiana University. 6 vols. 1955-1958.

The Bielski Brothers: a Story of Survival

There are many forms of survival. There is living every day, surviving quietly with the rest of the world. There is personal survival, fighting in a way only you know how. And then there is survival in the face of the greatest adversity, survival against all odds. Survival as a group, when an even larger power is doing everything it can to keep you from surviving. This is the survival experienced by the troop of Jews detailed in The Bielski Brothers, the true story of how three brothers saved thousands by living in the forest.With this book, Peter Duffy tells the story of one of the greatest triumphs of Jews during the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied lands. The Bielski brothers’ group survived through a brutal genocide, even thrived in their forest camps, and were able to take a stand against their oppressors, fighting for their right to live. During this time in history, it was easy for most people to focus on themselves and their own personal survival. For most, it was every man for himself, but not for the Bielskis. They worked as hard as they could to save as many lives as possible.Saving Jews was their number one priority, even above killing Nazis and destroying supplies. For them, saving these Jews was an even more powerful way to get back at the Germans. Even when it was hard, when the winter was harsh and food supplies were low, the Bielskis never turned anyone away. Tuvia Bielski, the eldest brother, is quoted as saying, â€Å"I would rather save one old Jewish woman†¦ than kill ten German soldiers† (Duffy, P. x). The Bielski Brothers shows that one of the keys to survival is having a strong leader. In the effort to save Jews from ghettos, heroes were found in unlikely places.The success of the Bielskis themselves was itself unprecedented, but they would not have saved so many without the help of others. One important hero to the Bielski Jews was Konstantin Koslovsky. Despite being a Gentile, he was dedicated to helping the escaping Jews in any way he could, offering shelter, food, and passage into the puscha. Unlikely leaders also formed among groups in ghettoes, planning elaborate escape and survival methods. The biggest leader of the forest groups was Tuvia Bielski, whose commanding presence and dedication were an inspiration to the Jewish people.He orchestrated the entire forest party, leading rescue missions and raids against Nazis and cooperators. Asael and Zus Bielski were also leaders of their own partisan fighting groups, and Asael was a liaison with the Soviets. The Bielski Jews not only survived in the forest, they thrived there. Instead of seeing the puscha as a prison trapping them in, it became a haven full of freedom and life. They turned their situation around and flourished in industry and the arts. Shops were set up to manufacture goods like weapons, shoes, foodstuffs, and furniture.The forest camp even had a school and a theater group. The group performed songs, skits, and dances, entertaining bot h the Jews in the camp and visiting partisans and Soviets. This was a huge insult to the Nazis—that they had not only failed to eliminate all Jews, but there were even some that felt freedom and success during this time of oppression. Everything the Bielskis did was in defiance of the Nazis, and in protection of their fellow Jews. They gave their group of refugees a sense of security, and hope for the war’s end.Although the Bielski brothers’ greatest triumph was saving thousands of Jews by living in a forest, they also triumphed against the Germans in other ways. One of the first things the Bielskis did was set up fighting groups among the escapees, who planned attacks on Nazis, the police, and German cooperators. Most people of this time followed a submit-to-survive mentality, never rising against their tormentors in the hopes that they would stay alive by keeping their head down. The Bielski Jews, however, while still focused on survival, took a completely dif ferent approach to it.They knew that the Nazis would never let them live, no matter how much they cooperated with them. So, in order to survive, they went against the Germans and fought back. The Bielskis and their fighters were extremely aggressive in their actions against their enemy. They stopped at nothing to take down as many Nazis, cooperators, and supplies as possible. They set mines and watched the roads for approaching Nazi convoys, then, using weapons made in the forest camps, shot the drivers and guards, took as much food, weapons, and other goods as they could, and destroyed the rest of the equipment.When they got word of incoming train shipments, they lay in wait near the tracks and took down the train, taking valuable equipment from the Nazis and using it for themselves. When peasants cooperated with the Germans by feeding them, turning in hidden Jews, and offering intelligence on the Bielski partisans, the fighting groups would visit the peasants’ homes, take t heir food, and kill everyone living there, without hesitation. This merciless stance protected the camp from not only outside enemies, but also from dissent within the group. When IsraelKessler challenged the leadership of the Bielski brothers, Asael Bielski did not hesitate to execute him. Even on their last day in the puscha, when a man defied Tuvia’s orders to only take personal belongings from the camp, Tuvia shot him immediately. The Bielskis made it clear that they had complete control, and opposition would not be tolerated. During the Holocaust, the one thing everyone was striving toward was survival. The Bielski brothers were some of the most successful at this goal, surviving in a series of forests in Belarus against all odds.They saved 1,200 Jews from ghettoes, with the help of Gentiles and Jews alike. Even under the extreme duress of World War II, with a fierce enemy constantly out to get them, they were able to thrive in their forest community and feel a taste of freedom in the middle of a great prison. They fought aggressively against both the Nazis and the ideal that they must suffer quietly in order to survive. The Bielski brothers and their allies were an inspiration to many ghetto Jews, and they continue to inspire people with their courage and strength.

Todays Realities and Yesterdays Models Essay - 1156 Words

Todays Realities and Yesterdays Models Todays realities do not necessarily fit yesterdays models. In a universe where shifting paradigms are the norm, scientists are in continued search to establish cause and effect relationships between events that can be modeled. We see behaviorists scurrying for specific reasons as to why two youths could commit such heinous acts in Colorado. Their existing models could not predict such atrocity. Meteorologists and environmentalists are developing an explanation for global warming. What new factors will explain the condition? Will updated models accurately predict future trends? Economists are not exempt from this process. In todays world, where markets are defying what was previously†¦show more content†¦Phillips. Phillips theorized that high demand drives higher inflation and the growth of real output and corresponding lower unemployment rates.(McConnell and Bure, pg. 339) The viability of these models was challenged with the events of the 1970s and 1980s. Specifical ly, we began to see the simultaneous co-existence of both rising unemployment and inflation that was not indicated in either Keynes or Phillips models. Stagflation was the word used to describe this new phenomenon in which the economy was impacted by high inflation rates and high unemployment. The reality of the current events do not fit this model. The theories and terms used in the past modeled the times but none serve as a guide to describe todays reality. Unemployment has been falling for the past several years, and last month dipped to 4.2 percent, its lowest level in nearly three decades and well below any mainstream estimate of the natural unemployment rate. Economic growth, while slowing somewhat, remains robust. Yet, the predicted inflation is nowhere to be found.(Stevenson, April 11,1999) We are in the longest peacetime expansion in American history. We continue to move into uncharted water(Thurow). The growth rate for 1998 was 3.8 percent, the third consecutive year the economy has expanded at nearly 4 percent. Previous economic theory heldShow MoreRelatedMonte Carlo Simulation Analysis And Decision1698 Words   |  7 Pagesof an asset, such as a stock is: Today’s Stock Price= Yesterday’s Stock Price x er r=periodic daily return, the rate that the asset increased or decreased that day. Because the rate of return on an asset is a random number, to model the movement to determine possible future values, a formula is needed that models random movements. 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