Wk+10

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**Energy Efficiency, Transition Towns and Sustainable Energy Solutions:**
> Rob Hoskins calls Transition Towns 'a design concept,' because it is coming up with something in order to solve an underlying problem of society's reliance on fossil fuel. The concept relies on communities to work together and actualize a vision to get there. Furthermore, it is a collaborative effort that enables people to view life without oil.
 * 1. List the eight principles of Transition Towns. **
 * 1) Positive Visioning
 * 2) Help people access good information
 * 3) Inclusion and Openness
 * 4) Enable Sharing and Networking
 * 5) Build Resilience
 * 6) Inner and Outer Transition
 * 7) Transition makes sense - the solution is the same size as the problem
 * 8) Subsidiarity - self-organisation and decision making at the appropriate level
 * 2. Describe why Rob Hoskins calls Transition Towns ‘a design concept’. **

Peak oil refers to the point in time in which the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached. Once peak oil is reached, we enter into a rate of decline,the consequence of decline will inevitably lead to further over consumption and lead to depletion.The rate of decline is dependent on our rate of extraction as well as our rate of consumption and production.
 * 3. What is ‘peak oil’ and how was Transition Towns created to correct it? **

Based on 'permaculture', Transition Towns is an environmental movement. Ultimately, the prime focus of this project is to allow for the transition of communities into other sources of viable, and sustainable living. Transit towns encompasses a broad field including energy production, education, and health. By focusing on different fields, Transition Towns tries to wean communities off oil and provides guidelines on how to deal with challenges such as climate change as well as peak oil.

Community based wind farms benefits the local residents – farmers, and community dwellers that have pooled funds to harvest wind energy. When projects are developed locally, they benefit the local economy. The local entities own the projects. Furthermore, the aggregation of farmers to set up wind farms allow for cheaper costs due to economies of scale. Hence, the community wind farms are a feasible sustainable option. Communities can create a source of income and improve economy.
 * 4. What is a community wind farm? How is it different than any other wind farm? **

Reasons: 1. We obtain clean sustainable energy 2. Affords economic development and economic liability for rural communities 3. Long term low-cost energy
 * 5. Dan Juhl says that community wind is a “trifecta,” what are the three reasons he thinks this is true? Do you agree? Why or why not? **

While the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, wind farms cannot fully sustain the energy expenditure of the region. Furthermore, wind farms can also pollute the area with their noise emissions.

Micro loans – small sums of money granted to borrowers to enable their way out of poverty. The Generation of money legally cuts down on criminal activity. The concept of micro loans was a result of a vision by Muhammad Yunus' long-term vision to eliminate poverty. Through this project, many impoverished individuals/families were able to engage in self-employment projects allowing them to pay the loan and also generate income to sustain themselves and even improve their quality of life.
 * 6. What is micro-credit? What are the benefits and challenges? **

• It is a small loan of money, and as a result, the risk decreases • Allows for community growth (people are able to improve their life) • Reduces poverty •risky market - Maintaining sustainable loans is costly
 * Benefits of Micro-credits:**
 * Disadvantage of Micro-credits:**


 * 7. The United Nations stated that sustainable development “implies meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Given this definition do you think the programs of Grameen Bank and Grameen Shakti (the non-profit organization) are promoting sustainable development? Why or why not? Use specific examples. **

The programs run by Grameen Bank and Grameen Shakti are non profit. Hence, the economic gains from the programs can help their goal of sustainable development. By enabling people to help themselves through loans, individuals can use their earnings to install lighting in their homes which in turn will allow children and adults alike to follow other avenues such as education. Additionally, Shakti–management is the women’s business, hence, if a woman can be liberated from doing menial tasks that are time consuming, she can better educate the children and provide a better sustainable future for the next generation. The gain in human rights is a gain in quality of life. Clothes, books and suits for husbands are the first use of income for women. Women are embedded into the system by virtue of their role as a caregiver.

Enabling access to power is vital to the growth and success of economic development. The ability for people to harness energy through solar panels will allow - without limitations of the dark, to pursue other avenues such as education.Access to power is the bases for economic development, and in poorer communities of Bangladesh, not having stable power, hindered economic development. However, with renewable energy, people can increase productivity and improve the environment in which they lived, worked, and interacted.
 * 8. How did access to renewable energy help the economic growth of the poorer communities of Bangladesh? **