Sunday, December 15, 2019
Assembly Line Essay Free Essays
Raul Contreras History 18 November 18, 2009 Assembly line From the beginning of times, most markets and products have been targeted to the bourgeoisie and/or anyone who could easily afford these products. But in the early 1900ââ¬â¢s, an individual named Henry Ford, decided to change this idea and dared society to work for the success of the proletariat and the lowering of costs. Henry Ford, along with other individuals, created the highly praised ââ¬Å"moving assembly lineâ⬠and started the mind change in the targeting of markets. We will write a custom essay sample on Assembly Line Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now The assembly line was a way in building a final product using various people that would build particular parts, and then would assemble them together as a whole; this was a success and revolutionized the world of manufacturing. Although many opposed to this idea in the early stages, and many independent builders suffered from this method of building, the assembly line was one the best things that could have happened to the U. S. because it lowered costs of products, completed products faster, helped middle class people succeed and helped the U. S. economy grow in many different areas of economical and business productivity. Meryl Davids, journalist of the Journal of Business Strategy stated that ââ¬Å"the conveyer-belt system was not only a marvelous way to save workersââ¬â¢ precious time, but, in one of the great business decisions ever, it was also a way to decrease expenses and prices, thereby increasing demand among the middle classâ⬠. The idea of working together to build a product faster and in a more efficient way was something that had gone through many minds at the time. But using the conveyor belt system along with the assembly line method of work to speed the work process, was not only something that was ingenious, but was one of the greatest ideas that any entrepreneur could have had at that time. Putting the assembly line in action, and specifically assigning each person to do a specific job, broke the ideal of a ââ¬Å"one person jobâ⬠task (a job in which one person only would start and finish a product), and presented the idea of working in cooperation with brought efficiency and speed that businesses needed to grow in a massive way. Fordââ¬â¢s philosophy was simple, mass production requires mass consumption, and mass consumption requires more products. This philosophy, along with the ideal of providing to the middle class clientele, was the beginning breakthrough of the assembly line and the breakthrough of affordability to middle class consumers. In the early 1900ââ¬â¢s, as today, people were looking for affordability and a better way of living. So productivity for businesses, meaning more sales and more costumers was crucial for businessââ¬â¢ growth, but most important, it was growth for workers, because this meant more work and more payment for the time worked. According to Timothy Taylor, 1996, ââ¬Å"In 1905, there were more than 50 companies each year trying to break into the automobile businessâ⬠. But as these companies were going bankrupt or were barely making it in because of hard competition and focus to the wealthy only, Ford changed the direction of the demand in business and sold affordable cars to middle class people. His idea of the assembly line, and the way it would decrease costs, allowed Ford to focus on the middle class clientele, and allowed cars to be sold for lower prices to working class people. The Model A, (first car produced) mainly called ââ¬Å"the everyman car,â⬠took ten workmen to build in a converted wagon factory in Detroit, and was a success to the working class because of its affordability and good looks, which was new to the middle class clientele. In 1901, and in the next fifteen months to come, 1,700 Model Aââ¬â¢s were sold making it very popular to the middle class and its buyers. But as this progressed to sell, the Ford Company decided to keep improving the car, and after vast improvements, the first Model T came out of the factory in 1908. Its cost was $850 and compared to others, the affordable price and the demand of this product, produced 10,660 sales that year, and beat other car companies even though it was only the first year of this model in the market. As this was a popular vehicle, this model was mainly focused in the affordability and time it could be produced. Along with the idea of faster productivity and affordability, another great idea that Mr. Ford had was that if everyone earned a decent wage, and he produced more cars in less time at an affordable price, then everyone in the country would buy his cars. Focusing on the middle class clientele, their affordability, and his own workers to buy his own products, he decided to raise the workers wages from $2. 50 to $5. 00 overnight, virtually making him a hero to all middle class workers, because he gave the working class an open door of opportunities to grow and buy. In Henry Fordââ¬â¢s times, pay was presumably highly significant for job satisfaction, and people did not mind working at the assembly line if they were well paid. This was an excellent business tactic, because this triggered his workers, and other middle class people, to buy his cars. The affordability of these, and the massive demand the Model T (final mastered product), made the Ford Company massively grow in a matter of years, and helped the U. S. economy raise in an enormous way. The demand among the middle class, and affordability of products, were in fact one of the causes that drove the economy to grow in the early 1900ââ¬â¢s, and made the assembly line successful. As business was growing, more factory workers were needed which meant that more cars were being sold and the economy rose. By 1914, 3,000 people were working in auto plants in Detroit, but amazingly by 1919, that number had increased to 75,000. According to Crews, 1999, ââ¬Å"Ford built 308,162 cars in 1914, which exceeded the number produced by all the other automobile manufacturersâ⬠. And just to have an idea of the demand of this product, the 1913 Model T (after being revised from model A to S), grew from 78,000 to 248,000 vehicle sold per year in one year only. The massive growth of these not only demanded more vehicles to be made, but also caused more people to buy which benefited the economy. The growth of the ââ¬Å"assembly line,â⬠and the success of Fordââ¬â¢s ideals and of vehicles being sold to middle class people, attracted other companies to do the same, producing a massive turnaround in the industrial revolution and growth goods in many different areas. Companies like General Motors or Cadillac adopted the assembly line method of building, and decided to raise wages to workers so they could imitate Fordââ¬â¢s plan. The assembly line not only benefitted the work force, but also the country in many different ways. Not only this opened the eyes that cars were not meant only for the rich only, but also cars were for the ones that actually built these, and other middle class social groups who could afford them. The assembly line, Fords ideals of progress, and the way of how he decided to make a company work faster and more efficient, not only benefited the business world on its own, but also helped the US and middle class workers to raise themselves to a better life. The assembly line method, along with the conveyer-belt system, was not only a magnificent system to combine, but it also increased productivity and speed of work in a massive way. Other businesses that adopted this method of working saw the benefit that this had caused, and joined the pack in finishing a product faster, and with less cost. The assembly line, and the opportunities that this brought along, opened many doors to the proletariat, and helped them progress to a better life in a matter of a few years. Without middle class people not progressing, many new companies would not have been built, and many benefits of this would have not been found. Due to the cut of costs, demand of products because of its prices and quality, and more people being able to afford these, the assembly line helped the US form a stronger capital economic market. Furthermore opening many companies eyes to follow this method of working, producing more work, but most important, more spending and more buying. Resources: Crews, Ed. Henry Fordââ¬â¢s Model T: The Car that Started it All. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999. Davids, Meryl. ââ¬Å"Henry Ford (1863-1947): Loving the Line. â⬠à Journal of Business Strategyà (Sept 1999):à ITEM99270012. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Chaffey College. 23 Nov. 2009à http://find. galegroup. com/itx/start. do? prodId=EAIM. Engstrom, Tomas,à Dan Jonsson,à andà Lars Medbo. ââ¬Å"Production model discourse and experiences from the Swedish automotive industry. â⬠à International Journal of Operations Production Managementà 16. n2à (Feb 1996):à 141(18). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Chaffey College. 24 Nov. 009à http://find. galegroup. com/itx/start. do? prodId=EAIM. Taylor, Timothy. A history of the U. S. economy in the 20th Century. Springfield, VA: The Teaching Company, 1996. Williams, Karel,à Colin Haslam,à John (American clergyman) Williams,à Andy Adcroft,à andà Sukhdev Johal. ââ¬Å"The myth of the line: Fordââ¬â¢s production of the model T at Highland Park, 1909-16. â⠬ à Business Historyà 35. n3à (July 1993):à 66(22). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Chaffey College. 24 Nov. 2009à http://find. galegroup. com/itx/start. do? prodId=EAIM. ââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬â 1 ]. Taylor, Timothy. A history of the U. S. economy in the 20th Century, 1996 [ 2 ]. Crews, Ed. Henry Fordââ¬â¢s Model T: The Car that Started it All. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999. [ 3 ]. Engstrom, Tomas,à ââ¬Å"Production model discourse and experiences from the Swedish automotive industry (Feb 1996):à [ 4 ]. Crews, Ed. Henry Fordââ¬â¢s Model T: The Car that Started it All. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999 [ 5 ]. Crews, Ed. Henry Fordââ¬â¢s Model T: The Car that Started it All. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999 How to cite Assembly Line Essay, Essays
Saturday, December 7, 2019
The Africa of My Dreams Accelerating Africaââ¬â¢s Industrialization
Question: Discuss about the Africa of My Dreams Accelerating Africas Industrialization. Answer: The article aims at focusing on how the Africa of my dreams would be like in the perspective of fourth industrial revolution. The article discusses my hopes and dreams along with my imagination of future Africa. Africa represents the continent which is one of the most enduring and old landmass existing in the world. The country has always been home to slavery until the time when the Portuguese arrived and gradually transformed slavery into an export business. The fuelling of the agricultural production by the African slaves caught the attention of the Dutch and Europeans who were in search of routes for trade. Although the African continent is rich in human and natural resource along with ecological, cultural and economic diversity it is considered underdeveloped (Iliffe 2017). The suffering of most of the African nations is related to the corruption, military dictatorships, war, civil unrest, deeper poverty and underdevelopment. The countries in Africa gets a clarification from the UN as one of the least developed. There has been numerous strategies implemented for the development of these countries but have failed miserably in yielding expected results. In spite of being doomed in economic slavery and perpetual poverty the continent is believed to have immense potential The population of Africa is booming and whose future will be home to around 4.4 billion people that accounts for close to four times the current population. Presently, Africa represents one of the fastest growing continents where the expected GDP growth for the future must begrow by close to 6 percent on the annual basis (Zoogah, Peng and Woldu 2015). The rise of Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR) added to the intricacies of the future economies along with employment outcomes. Thus, FIR stood at equivalence to the unexplored growth in presence of internet connectivity and digitization (Yeoh 2017). Internet connectivity and digitization have the ability of driving Africa ahead and help in encouraging the process of innovation, propel newer business models and ensure improving delivery of the public services. Although the effects of FIR has been disruptive in almost all the economies but there will exists three aspects for consideration for Africa (Alin 2014). This includes: Pre eminence in the development of the digital skills Private-Public partnerships as the power levers for the development Digital rattling of Industries In Africa, the digital economy and the actual economy are not exclusive mutually. Both have gradually merged and have blurred the lines between the digital, biological and physical spheres (Caruso 2017). The growing and massive potential of Fourth Industrial Revolution also needed time to be completely grasped. The information technology industry had the responsibility of unlocking the potential for the citizen service delivery, innovation solutions, enhanced customer experience and ensured a better life for everyone. This will help in cultivating the digital skills amongst its population thereby transitioning from the lower skill and low pay jobs to the high end and higher skill pay jobs. This has been explained via a practical example in the report name The Future of Jobs and Skills in Africa. The report also suggests that for preparing a future for work, the African region will need expansion with higher skilled pool of talent through the development of a curriculum. However, Africa experienced an inclusive growth with the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Inclusive growth refers to the concept that helps in advancing equitable opportunities for the economic participants during the economic growth that will have necessary inclined benefits for every section of the society. The future of the African continent would be bridged in an unparallel manner through mobile related technology (Herbst 2014).The digital infrastructure will also bring in newer opportunities for the informal and rural economies. The country will also have liberal access to technology along with decentralization of the production. Thus, the future of African investors will be aided by reimaging the solutions suitable in the context of Africa. Africa will have an easier way for doing business in a competitive manner. The continent will experience the penetration of the mobile phones in the remotest of the areas brought along by increased technological readiness. The country will also make investment in grid infrastructure for better penetration of the service. Africans will become more tech savvy and will equip themselves with newer tools for managing their households and business. The FIR will also include the women in business as they will comprise of more than half of the population (Caruso 2017). The women will also implement different perceptions and skills to face the challenges. As Africa becomes more service driven with lesser dependence on the commodities, the continent will foster digital skills. Workers will be more equipped and educated with newer skills so that they are not displaced by the digital transformation. The major boost for productivity, employment and economic growth in Africa might result from the supporting information and communication technology (ICT) (Asongu 2015). The African continent along with collaborators like Ericsson and Boston Consulting Group, World Economic Forum Africa and Cisco will help in supporting the integration projects of northern corridor. ICT will act as one of the strategic areas for facilitating the process of integration within the region. The northern corridor will collaborate to move forward with implementation and conceptualization of projects like implementation of infrastructure, broadband connectivity and ICT policy. There will also be implementation of termination rates and roaming charges along with the harmonization of subscriber identification module (SIM) registration. There will also be projects like implementation of cyber security and mainstreaming of the ICT and e-services. Africa will also experience digital migration along with the deve lopment of regulatory and policy framework for the republic of the South Sudan. The report ends by providing an insight into the future of Africa. The discussion on the hopes and dreams of Africa in the perspective of the author in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution ensures taking a sneak peek into Africas future. Africa can represent a complete player in the world economy through the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The African continent should thus be ambitious and impatient in its achievement towards the goals. Thus, Africa is pushed towards the realms of development by putting forward a transformative power. References: Alin, L.I., 2014. Research on the Model of Urbanization Based on Rural Industrialization.Journal of Landscape Research,6(5/6), p.17. Asongu, S., 2015. The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality.International Journal of Social Economics,42(8), pp.706-716. Caruso, L., 2017. Digital innovation and the fourth industrial revolution: epochal social changes?.Ai Society, pp.1-14. Herbst, J., 2014.States and power in Africa: Comparative lessons in authority and control. Princeton University Press. Iliffe, J., 2017.Africans: the history of a continent(Vol. 137). Cambridge University Press. Yeoh, P., 2017. The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Technological Impact and Privacy and Data Security Issues.Business Law Review,38(1), pp.9-13. Zoogah, D.B., Peng, M.W. and Woldu, H., 2015. Institutions, resources, and organizational effectiveness in Africa.The Academy of Management Perspectives,29(1), pp.7-31.
Friday, November 29, 2019
King Lear Essays (783 words) - King Lear, Literature, Fiction
King Lear KING LEAR: THE PLOT There are really two plots in King Lear, a main plot and a fully developed subplot. Each has its own set of characters. In the main plot, there is the head of the family, the 80-plus-year-old king of Britain, Lear. He has three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. The Duke of Albany is married to the oldest, Goneril, and the Duke of Cornwall is married to Regan, the middle daughter. Cordelia has two suitors, the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France. The court jester, the Fool, is by extension a member of the Lear family and part of the main plot, as is the Earl of Kent, Lear's loyal follower. The Earl of Gloucester, also a member of Lear's court, is the head of another family and the focus of the subplot. He has two offspring, an older, legitimate son named Edgar and a younger, illegitimate or bastard son named Edmund. Various minor characters appear from time to time. They are easily identified by their connections with whatever main character they serve or speak of. As the play opens, Lear has decided to retire and divide his kingdom among his three daughters. Cordelia's husband will be chosen for her immediately after Lear executes this living will. Before he allots the shares, Lear asks each daughter to make a profession of her love for him in order to receive her entitlement. Goneril and Regan waste no time professing love for their father, but Cordelia is speechless. She loves her father as any daughter should, no more and no less. Lear is outraged by what he sees as her lack of devotion. He cuts Cordelia out of her share and banishes her. Her share is divided between Goneril and Regan. Lear gives them everything but keeps a retinue, a following of 100 knights who will accompany him as he alternates monthly visits between his two daughters. Cordelia's suitors are called in. Without a dowry, Burgundy rejects her; but the King of France sees her true worth and leads Cordelia off to marriage and his protection. At Gloucester's castle, Edmund reveals that he will not let his illegitimate birth and older brother prevent him from inheriting his father's estate. He devises a plan to convince Gloucester that Edgar is secretly planning to kill his father to get his hands on the family property and enjoy it while he's still young. Edmund then tells Edgar that their father is after him for some mistaken notion of a reported crime. Eventually Gloucester is convinced of Edgar's treachery and seeks to put his older son to death. Edgar flees for his life. Meanwhile, Lear discovers that living with his two daughters is no joy. He is so outraged by their cruel behavior toward him that he curses them and rushes out into a violent storm. During his exposure to the elements he is accompanied by Kent, the Fool (his court jester), and eventually by Edgar, who has disguised himself as a lunatic beggar named poor Tom. Gloucester tries to help Lear and his followers but is betrayed to Cornwall and Regan by Edmund. As punishment, Gloucester is blinded and sent out into the storm, too. Edgar, still disguised, discovers his blind father and leads him to Dover, where he joins Lear, who has gone mad from exposure to the elements and the anguish he has suffered at the hands of his daughters. The news of Lear's treatment had reached Cordelia, and the King of France has sent an invading force to England to help restore Lear's rights to him. In Dover, where they have landed, Cordelia finds Lear and helps to restore his sanity by loving care. While preparing to fight the French invaders, Goneril and Regan have developed a passion for Edmund. But before they can do anything about it, the battle is fought. The French lose, and Lear and Cordelia are taken prisoners. Edmund sends Lear and Cordelia to prison with orders for them to be secretly killed. When Albany enters, he accuses Edmund of treason for plotting with Goneril against him and the interests of the state. Edmund is given the chance to defend his honor in a duel. Edgar appears in a new disguise to take up this challenge and mortally wounds Edmund. Goneril sees the handwriting on the wall and flees from the scene. Edmund confesses all his crimes as a servant enters and announces that Goneril has poisoned Regan and killed herself. Edmund then reveals that he has ordered Lear's and Cordelia's deaths. Albany sends soldiers to prevent
Monday, November 25, 2019
Class Roles in Pygmalion essays
Class Roles in Pygmalion essays Laura Wingfield has the fewest lines in the play The Glass Menagerie, yet the play revolves around her. Laura is twenty-three, and walks with a limp due to a brace on her leg. Although Laura faces problems throughout the play, she is very compassionate. She is humble, shy, and never does anything to hurt anyone else. The character of Laura throughout the play is like a fragile piece of glass, unable to survive in the outside world, and she always retreats to her glass collection. Laura is a loving portrait locked up in her own little world, her lobotomy trapping her in a permanent adolescence. Due to Lauras low self-esteem, and inferiority complex she devotes herself to an imaginative world, which is colorful and enticing, but based on fragile illusions. Lauras mother, Amanda, comes from a Southern family and has had an idyllic youth. A former jet setter, Amanda relishes telling stories about her exciting past. My callers were gentlemen, all! Among my callers were some of the most prominent planters of the Mississippi Delta; planters and sons of planters (Williams 8). Amanda is disappointed in Laura because is not as proficient in the area of picking paramours; It wasnt enough for a girl to be possessed of a pretty face and a graceful figure, although I wasnt slighted in either respect. She also needed to have a nimble wit and tongue to meet all occasions (Williams 8). Laura explains to her brother, Tom, their mothers disdain in her lack of love interests. Laura is not as popular as her mother once was, and therefore no gentlemen callers have come for her. Her hair parted in the middle and braided, and wearing black lace-up shoes and ankle socks, Laura is far from the fetching debutant of her mothers dreams (Patrowicz [onli ne]). Amanda wishes to live vicariously through Laura. Laura feels that she will never find someone that will take ca...
Friday, November 22, 2019
Changing world of work and choice and opportunity structures affecting Essay
Changing world of work and choice and opportunity structures affecting careers. WORK, SOCIETY & ORGANIZATIONS - Essay Example 141). Writers point to medieval guild masters or even earlier nomadic tribal leaders as ancient prototypical managers, but from Georgeââ¬â¢s definition one might be tempted to say that mothers comprised the first managers in human history. A ââ¬Å"managerâ⬠is difficult to categorically define. Georgeââ¬â¢s definition centers on managers as motivators, working to achieve goals through people. Managers are also organizers: Daniel A. Wren called management ââ¬Å"the activity which performs certain functions in order to obtain the effective acquisition, allocation, and utilization of human efforts and physical resources in order to establish some goalâ⬠(Trent, 1973, p. 141). Militarism and Mechanization was formalized by Frederick the Great in the 17th century. He revolutionized warfare, and he is generally acknowledged as an early efficiency expert. He was credited with redirecting the structures and processes of waging war, and creating the elements of the machine o rganization as it applies to the military establishment. Elements of his management style included the institutionalization of authority by creating a system of ranks, establishing identity by uniforms, the standardization of regulations, task specialization among the troops, and the use of command language to reduce miscommunication and specialized training (MacDonogh, 2001). This management style is of course essentially still used to some extent in military and police organizations, although it is much tempered by contemporary HR practices in its treatment of people. Scientific Management Frederick Winslow Taylor, an engineer and self-styled consultant, conceptualized the link between corporate profitability, industrial productivity, and cost-efficiency. Under scientific management, productivity is increased and unit cost is reduced when workers become more task efficient. In turn, workers become more efficient if they are rewarded for higher volume productivity, and punished for low volume productivity. This management theory is also known as Taylorism. The principle of scientific management espouses the elimination of rule-of-thumb methods, and to instead use measurement techniques to determine the optimum methods that optimizes the use of time, effort, and resources. Jobs are broken down into sequential tasks, and each task is engineered for greater efficiency. Then the workers are trained in the new tasks using scientific methods. There is division of labor and responsibility among managers and workers, where management sets the goals and policies, and workers execute the tasks. Finally, discipline is maintained to coordinate task execution (Taylor, 2008). The worldââ¬â¢s largest restaurant chain is an avowed follower of Taylorism. McDonaldââ¬â¢s employs the scientific method in its corporate operations, where all tasks are worked out and standardized, and all employees worldwide are rigorously trained in this system. Tasks are broken down and num bered, so that the crews related to their customers according to a prepared script, and those who man the kitchen abide by a numbered set of procedures. Even the cooking machinery are specially designed to operate at pre-determined time settings. The result is a rigid quality level that ensures McDonaldââ¬â¢s products are prepared and serve in exactly the same way the world over. Formal bureaucracy was conceived by Max Weber in the early 1900s. This was done in reaction to the prevailing management style then, where organisations were run according to the whims and
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Christian Bale Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Christian Bale - Movie Review Example It was no wonder hen, that Bale himself soon followed in the family footsteps. His father was fond of travelling, and the family moved excessively form place to place during bale's childhood (Tiscali 2008). This gave Bale exposure to many different interests and opportunities that developed his passion about acting. His first major break was Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun in 1987 when he was still a child actor (Tiscali 2008). This was followed by a little rough career patch before becoming a hit in Little Women (Tiscali 2008). As a child, his initial screen and stage appearances include "a part in a Pac-Man cereal commercial, a Lenor ad, and a West End stage debut" (Tiscali 2008). He was also a part of a theatre group at Reading (Tiscali 2008). The focus film for my presentation is the The Machinist, which would be discussed in a greater detail than the other two films under discussion, to examine the extremes to which Christian Bale pushes himself, "both physically and mentally" (LA Weekly 2007), in order to completely lose himself in the character (LA Weekly 2007) and bring... He was also a part of a theatre group at Reading (Tiscali 2008). The Machinist The focus film for my presentation is the The Machinist, which would be discussed in a greater detail than the other two films under discussion, to examine the extremes to which Christian Bale pushes himself, "both physically and mentally" (LA Weekly 2007), in order to completely lose himself in the character (LA Weekly 2007) and bring belief and life to his roles. Background: Ever since he was a child, Bale loved role-playing (LA Weekly 2007). More importantly, he was keen on taking his roles and make-belief games very seriously and was insistent that others do the same; not take fantasy as fantasy, but take it as fiction (LA Weekly 2007). This is the attitude that has kept him going in the filed of acting, where he his dedication to his roles and his extreme impersonation of the script characters has etched a glowing mark for him with the critics and the audiences alike. His father was a traveler and an adventurer (LA Weekly 2007), and this has instilled in him a sense of adventure and self-exploration that he brings to his acting and his roles, and pushes his limits beyond what other people would dare to go to achieve that level of satisfaction and excitement that is a major part of his career as well as his personal life. Discussion: The Machinist was directed by Brad Anderson (The Independent Online Edition- CB.net 2005). It was released in 2005
Monday, November 18, 2019
Ethanol Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Ethanol - Research Paper Example The study involved 19 American Corn producing states and the effect of corn farming for ethanol production were analyzed based on 12 environmental factors. The study also considered the factors known as ââ¬Ëeutrophicationââ¬â¢ that is simply described as "an increase in the rate of supply of organic matter in an ecosystem" (Evans). Based on their study, it is revealed that E85 (blend of 85% ethanol and 15% of gasoline) fuel causes worse environmental impact than pure unblended gasoline. To be precise, E85 shows, on average, 23% higher impact in relation to gasoline. Moreover, if greenhouse gas emissions from land use are taken into account, the impact on environment is found to be 33% higher than gasoline. The researchers in their findings used the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model developed by Argonne National Laboratory. The model determines "the amount of fuel required for the average gasoline and flex-fuel vehicle over a di stance of about 0.62 miles (1 kilometer)" (Evans). E85's benefits and drawbacks are compared with gasoline that is produced from imported crude oil and refined in the country. The authors point out that in previous studies the impact of irrigation, fertilizer uses, and pesticide application for feedstock growth has not been taken into account and without that real impact of ethanol on environment cannot be estimated accurately (Yang et al.). On land-use change, Searchinger et al. argues that when American farmers divert corn for ethanol production that means some other land within the US or outside must cultivate corn required as feed stock for human consumption assuming total consumption remains stationary. It can be construed that bio-fuel production is bound to drive agriculture in some other parts of the world. With new areas converting to agricultural use, a carbon debt is bound to occur. Searchinger et al. estimate emissions using agricultural model of land-use change and they have found that corn-based ethanol production enhances green house emission by 100% over 30 years. Authors conclude that as long as biofuel is grown on farmland, it can not imporve our carbon foot print (Searchinger, 2008). It is important to note that the Federal government in the US is providing large subsidies to farmers so that corn-based ethanol production could be enhanced. The objective is to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent. Does that mean that the US government is providing subsidy to worsen the environment instead of improving it? Michael Grunwald argues that bio-fuels take away the agricultural land and destroy the forests, and grasslands that are storehouse of huge amounts of carbon. In Indonesia, in a bid to grow palm oil trees for bio-diesels people have reduced wilds to such an extent that the country has been now third largest emitters of carbon. Same is the case with Malaysia where palm oil farming for bio-fuel production has taken surge reducing agricultu ral land for human consumption. In the US, 20 percent of corn is sold to ethanol production creating scarcity of corn for human and cattle feed consumption (Grundwald).
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