Tesla Case Study

Tesla Case Study A CASE STUDY ON TESLA MOTORS Cost/Benefit Analysis In business, every decision that has to be made requires thorough evaluation. And one of the most convenient and straightforward methods to do this is through Cost/Benefit Analysis. In CBA, an estimation of the total value of all the benefits of a certain project is compared to that of the value of the costs that are needed in order to realize such project (Watkins, n.d.). In order for the assessor to come up with a better angle of comparison, these values must be expressed into a uniform unit of measurement. Usually, in computing CBA, the values of the cost and benefits are converted into their monetary value. Once all the costs and benefits of the project have been taken into consideration, comparison may be done. If the value of the benefits outweighs that of the costs, it means that the project is a worthwhile endeavour. The next point of evaluation would be the calculation of the break-even point – the time at which the benefits of the project pay off the costs (Hill, 201 2). It would be most preferable to have a shorter payback period. Generally, CBA helps business people to decide whether or not to undertake a particular project. It allows them to frame the best and appropriate project objectives. Furthermore, CBA can be used to prepare the necessary resources as well as develop before and after measures of the project’s success. For example, the move to promote more ecological operations and processes for the company may need a Cost/Benefit analysis to determine the probability of its realization. As the corporate world is becoming more and more aware of the effects of Climate Change, companies are looking to implement environment-friendly practices in their offices. The same holds true for huge manufacturing companies. CBA allows the companies to evaluate probable gains and losses that these actions may bring. Tesla Motors: A Case Study in Environmental Impact Background and Operations of Tesla Motors Leading the advent of a more sustainable transportation system and its innovations, Tesla Motors has established quite a reputation in the automotive industry. Since its establishment in 2003, the company has grown to be the biggest manufacturer of electric cars in the market. It has contributed more than 50,000 cars in roads all over the world as of today (Tesla Motors, n.d.). Its main goal is to create a transportation system that is more environment-friendly and sustainable. Electric cars are charged at home and do not require refuelling of gasoline unlike the cars designed by other manufacturers. Quite expectedly, these zero-emission cars were not easily accepted in the market as they were deemed impractical, not to mention consumers were not really impressed with their rather tacky design. Fortunately, Tesla Motors was able to flip that equation. By releasing their trailblazer electric sports car for the high-end market, the Tesla Roadster, they were able to capture the attention of car enthusiasts and change the face of the green car market. After releasing the Roadster, Tesla pushed for more space in the industry by releasing their luxury sedan, the Tesla Model S in 2012. More and more consumers are looking to buy electric cars because of the innovations that were done by the company. In fact, reservations for their next model releases are already piling up. There is much anticipation for the Tesla Model X and Model 3 releases. How Green is a Tesla Green Car? The very purpose of an electric car is to promote energy innovation; and Tesla Motors’ goal is to achieve this without causing any negative impact on the environment. However, a new technology such as the innovative green car production cannot be made to pass without being thoroughly criticized by the public. Green cars are, by principle, more environment-friendly than the conventional fuel-based cars. The process, by which it is being manufactured, on the other hand, says otherwise. Furthermore, green cars do run on electricity. But, how is electricity being processed? Does it not come from coal and petroleum too? All things considered, is a Tesla green car green after all? The company admits that the degree of being environment-friendly of their cars take the Model S for example, mostly depends on where and how often the car is being driven. In the US, each state has a different mix of energy sources that basically goes into their grid. In other words, a â€Å"cleaner† source of electricity makes a Model S a more environment-friendly car. Generally, it is still cleaner than the internal-combustion design of their competitors in terms of emissions-per-mile; considering the efficiency of battery-powered cars in converting stored energy into a useful form (Oremus, 2013). Tesla Motors and the Campaign for Environmental Sustainability Tesla Motors have established its campaign to promote a greener personal transport system through its electric vehicles; but how does it impact the environment in the industrial context? Are its processes and operations considered as environment-friendly? The company is very much aware of the fact that they are indirectly releasing carbon emissions through power plants – considering that electricity is the main power source of the vehicles. This is the reason why Tesla moves to promote the absolute removal of indirect carbon emissions by using Supercharger Stations that only uses grid electric power from solar panels (Walsh, 2014). Moreover, Tesla is teaming up with SolarCity to provide electric car owners an option to charge their cars using solar panels in their respective homes. This is like hitting two birds with one stone. By eliminating the need for coal-based electricity source, they are indirectly reducing carbon emissions in the atmosphere; and they are promoting the use of renewable energy source at the same time. Tesla is basically solving the world’s dependence on gas. Through their revolutionary innovations in electric vehicle technology, they have addressed an issue that has been thought as an improbability for many years. By making more convenient adjustments in their electric cars, and at the same time proving that electric cars are indeed effective, Tesla has convinced more consumers to patronize their product. The company is winning more and more battles as they advance into bigger ventures. In order to cater to their growing consumer demands, Tesla is building their very first Gigafactory. Panasonic will be a huge investor in this project, along with Tesla’s other major partners. The best thing about this gigafactory is the company’s plan to run it mainly on wind and solar energy. Nevada is the perfect site for the factory because it is where the biggest solar power plant in the world is located. Tesla does not only serve as a leader in electric car technology, it is also becoming a model for other companies to consider more environment-friendly processes. Coal mining and processing has created many environment-related issues and are still causing problems in many places around the world. If Tesla becomes successful in eliminating the need for non-renewable sources of energy in order to generate electricity, it can change the face of the automobile industry forever. Not only will it dramatically reduce the carbon emissions that are released to the atmosphere, it will also eliminate the issues that are brought about by the processing of electricity that is coming from natural resources. Tesla Motors and the Competitive Industry Of course, Tesla Motors is not the only company that has entered the green car market. Even though the industry for green cars is not that big compared to the conventional automobile market, it can be said that competition is not too lax. In fact, Toyota, Ford, Nissan, and Honda are considered as the biggest competitors for Tesla. Audi, Volkswagen, and BMW are looking to join the green car industry soon. And these are pretty huge companies. Can Tesla keep its place in the industry without being squeezed out by giant car manufacturers? What is its competitive advantage? Unlike the rest of the automobile manufacturers, Tesla is 100% in the green car industry. Thus, their focus is only within that market. Research and development is solely dedicated for this purpose, allowing the company to create better innovations. Also, Tesla has about 5-year head start over the other companies. While other companies are still building their green car designs, Tesla is already polishing its own. The future of the automotive industry is leaning towards the utilization of renewable sources of energy. This basically means that other companies who are on the other side of the industry are at a huge disadvantage. Oil is about to run out; but solar power is unlimited. Sooner or later, they will have to shift to a more sustainable source of energy. Tesla Motors and the Future of Green Car Technology At the moment, Tesla’s priority is to maximize its production in order to meet the demands for the Model S and Model X in the market. They are having troubles in meeting customer demands with their very limited production. But the public can rest assured that Tesla will not stop creating better innovations for their products. Once the gigafactory has been installed, Tesla’s next focus will be on the development and improvement of automated driving technology. As a matter of fact, the company’s CEO, Mr. Elon Musk has announced the release of their partially self-driving vehicle by 2017 (Boyadjis, Rassweiler, Brinley, n.d.). As the technology for zero-emission cars progress, the issues regarding the automobile companies’ impact on the environment is being addressed gradually. Someday, there will come a time when vehicles will solely depend on solar power – among other renewable energy sources. It may not totally solve Global warming, but it will help the world get there one step at a time. References Boyadjis,M., Rassweiler,A., Brinley,S. (n.d.). Object moved. Retrieved from https://www.ihs.com/articles/features/tesla-motors.html Hill,R. (2012, September). Attention Required! | CloudFlare. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_08.htm Oremus,W. (2013, September 9). How green is a Tesla? Electric cars’ environmental impact depends on where you live. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/09/how_green_is_a_tesla_electric_cars_environmental_impact_depends_on_where.html Tesla Motors. (n.d.). About Tesla | Tesla Motors. Retrieved from http://www.teslamotors.com/about Walsh,T. (2014, November 1). Investing in Socially Responsible Companies: Tesla Motors Inc. Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/11/01/investing-in-socially-responsible-companies-tesl-2.aspx Watkins,T. (n.d.). An Introduction to Cost Benefit Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/cba.htm

Introduction :: Computer Science

Introduction ============ I have been asked to create a solution to computerise a system for Super Sports who sell sports shoes. The system that I will create will follow the specification given to me. I will include some hand drawn sketches of the forms I will create. I hope for the system to be user friendly and easy to navigate throughout. The new system will have to store data, calculate totals and quantities. I will make use of command buttons and macros within excel to navigate and to record data. I will also make se of the following advanced functions. Macro’s Linked to Command Buttons On-Screen Help Filtering Data Use of the IF Function Pivot Tables The VlookUp Function I also need to make a web page that has pictures of all the available shoes with details and descriptions of all for sale. Also on the page I will give all these details plus the company’s contact details. I will include relevant documentation for this solution in the form of a user guide, this guide will aim to train the staff in using the software. Description of Development. I started off with a black spreadsheet form Microsoft Excel. I changed the background colour of the whole sheet. I added a selection of command buttons to the form to navigate through the system; I also added a title to the page. I then renamed the sheet to â€Å"Welcome Page† I than added some more sheets as I thought I would need them as I progressed through the application. I then moved onto the second sheet, which I called â€Å"Cost† On this form I used the â€Å"VlookUp function to link the shoe type with price, this will make sure tat the quality, shoe and price are all correct. I also used some validation on this form, in the type of list validation, this allows the user to select data from this list box only. I added a Command button to this page to navigate back to the welcome screen. I then created a total sheet, all this sheet does is hold the total amount of shoes sold. I then created the sheet called â€Å"Shoes† This shoes hold the prices per pair of shoes and the increment for the quality sole. The next sheet I made was the Orders Sheet, this sheet holds all the details of orders placed. It also has a graph which I have made to display the amount of orders placed. The final sheet is called customer Details, I have set this sheet up to store the details of all customers that place orders through super sports. Throughout this project I have used the following advanced features:

Langston Hughes’ “Montage of a Dream Deferred” Essay

Published in 1951, Langston Hughes’ â€Å"Montage of a Dream Deferred† is a collection of poetry which explores the theme of racism and utilizes rhythm to make the pieces almost musical. The work â€Å"Harlem† quickly became one of the most popular of the anthology. Later the title was changed to â€Å"Dream Deferred†, but in analyzing the poem, it is easier to understand in context of its original title. Although the poem was popular with Hughes’ fans, who continued to appreciate the outpourings from this writer closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance, there are those who critically examined the work and found it to be too ambiguous and lacking in real poetic structure. The poem itself is comprised of a list of rhetorical questions which answer themselves. The answers are written as similes, such as â€Å"raisin in the sun† and in the last stanza, â€Å"like a heavy load† (Grimes). These similes appeal to all the senses: visual – â€Å"dry up† and â€Å"crust†¦over†, feel – â€Å"sags† and â€Å"heavy load†, auditory – â€Å"explode†, olfactory – â€Å"stink† and â€Å"fester† and â€Å"rotten meat† – and the sense of taste, as well – â€Å"syrupy sweet† and â€Å"raisin†, (Hansen). The last line â€Å"does it explode?† is a metaphor referring to the way a dream can be like a time bomb – it must be used before the time when it will detonate inside a person. Hughes employs the use of rhyme, as well, such as â€Å"sun† and â€Å"run† and â€Å"meat† and sweet†. In this way, the poem has a somewhat musical tone when spoken aloud and the short stanzas provide an easy structure. Hughes uses imagery, as well, to give the reader a clearer picture of his intent. â€Å"Raisin in the sun† is particularly evocative of an item withering away while â€Å"fester like a sore† gives the reader a grim visual and denotes the bitterness of the writer. In interpreting â€Å"Dream Deferred†, it must be taken into account that Hughes was well-noted for his scant use of words to convey the issues and circumstances most affecting Black Americans of the time period. In this case he is asking a question which means more than just its surface meaning. â€Å"What happens to a dream deferred† is referencing the dreams, the goals, the visions, most particularly of Blacks, who have been denied many of the privileges of their White counterparts. Hughes answers the question with several lines evoking imagery. â€Å"Like a raisin in the sun† is a reminder of skin, both in its dark color and wrinkled image, and could even reference days spent toiling in the sun by migrant workers working in the fields. That fact that the dream dries up could also refer to it becoming less valuable, or less viable (Grimes). During the time Hughes grew up, he could very well view a lofty dream as being impossible to attain due to his race and thus the issue of racism is once again addressed by Hughes in this poem. â€Å"Dream Deferred† also answers the question by stating the result of ignoring a dream may be for it to â€Å"fester like a sore† and â€Å"then run†. In this case, the dream, if not tended to, may become â€Å"infected† by a lack of motivation, or opportunity, or circumstance. The reference to the stink of rotten meat refers to the nurturance required to make a dream reality. Without proper preservation, a dream â€Å"may decay because it dies† (Grimes). When Hughes uses the terms of crusting over and syrupy sweet to describe a dream deferred, he makes an analogy to something which started out as a treat but becomes unusable if it is, again, not properly cared for. A dream which once held hope â€Å"hardens into an unusable substance† (Grimes). The deterioration depicted can be further assumed to be referring to the state of the Black population and Harlem itself. Hughes was worried about the â€Å"widespread poverty, drugs, and crime of the 1950s† (Mueller) and felt the society he was most familiar with was experiencing a general decay. Instead of continuing to answer the question, the second stanza gives a set of possibilities: maybe it sags, maybe it becomes a heavy load, maybe it just explodes. If working toward the dream seems impossible, it can deflate, become a burden, or perhaps it causes the dreamer to erupt due to the unrealized end to his goal. The burden can be an expression of depression, or the loss of will to make a dream come true. The explosion could occur in the form of death – not necessarily a literal death, but the death of a person’s soul, or motivations, or hope to change his life. This explosion and death also analogizes the life of Black Americans at the time. According to Hansen, â€Å"Its disintegration mirrors the continuing failure of American society to achieve harmonious integration of blacks and whites†. For so long, the race had been oppressed and the pent-up frustrations and anger of Hughes’ fellow Blacks, could very well one day explode in a burst of violence (as if often did). Hansen criticizes the unity of â€Å"Dream Deferred† by referring to it as a mass of â€Å"unresolved conflict†. According to Hansen, its elements, form, and structure are all at odds with themselves and do not follow that often prescribed for poetry of the period. He states that most of the answers Hughes gives to the question â€Å"What happens to a dream deferred?† are not declarative and the only one which is, â€Å"maybe it just sags† loses its significance because it is written without force and does not provide a conclusive answer (Hansen). Hansen also decries Hughes’ usage of stanza breaks. The middle five lines are indented, giving more weight to the first line (the question), and the last (the answer), although Hansen feels the middle lines are much more dramatic and should have been given the emphasis. As well, Hansen criticizes the structure in that the rhyming lines are not placed in logical order and thereby lose their musical resonance and the importance of the pairing of oppositions. Hansen sums up the contradictory nature of the poem and its ideas by reiterating the lack of forceful answers, the final answer which is tentative in its assertion, the division of stanzas which remove the importance of pairing opposites, and a failed rhyme scheme in â€Å"Dream Deferred†. While Hansen’s criticism of the work has its merits, there is still an important message regarding racism within Hughes’ poem, one which the author reiterated in many ways. Through the use of imagery, metaphor, and similes, many of which are uncomfortable, Hughes airs his frustrations regarding race separations. Often Hughes employed a sardonic tone to get his point across and educate the general public about the effects of racism (Mueller). Even as he began to achieve some fame and acclaim for his literary works, Hughes wanted to be known as one of the more common folk and let others of his race know that he, too, experienced their frustrations and anger. To this end, Hughes was quite successful. He, as well as his peers, had all experienced the emotions accompanying a dream which seemed impossible. Although â€Å"Dream Deferred† couches his message in rather repugnant phraseology, it is effective in bringing forth a natural fighting instinct to rail against the dictates of a racist society and this is exactly what Hughes desired to do. Works Cited Hansen, Tom. â€Å"On ‘Harlem’†. Modern American Poetry. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from the Modern American Poetry Website: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/harlem.htm. Mueller, Michael E. â€Å"Black Biography: Langston Hughes†. From Answers.com. Retrieved March 28, 2008 from the Answers.com Website: http://www.answers.com/topic/langston-hughes-poet-writer Grimes, Linda Sue. â€Å"Hughes ‘Harlem: A Dream Deferred’: Analysis and Commentary†. Suite 101. February 1, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2008 from the Suite 101 Website: http://poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/hughes___harlem__a_dream_deferred_.

13 Funny Thanksgiving Quotes to Keep Fights Off the Table

Thanksgiving is a time for families to get together, share snippets from their lives and enjoy the company of their dear ones. But what if your Thanksgiving becomes a time for family fights, shouting matches, complaints, and one-upping competition? If you have invited guests over for a Thanksgiving dinner, you can help break the ice with some funny words. However, if you crack jokes about a persons gender, color, or nationality, you may offend some people. The best way to keep the mirth flowing is to use funny words of the famous. Use these quotes smartly and you will have a room full of laughter. Enjoy the warmth of the Thanksgiving holiday with a round of humor. Louie Anderson At Thanksgiving, my mom always makes too much food, especially one item, like 700 or 800 pounds of sweet potatoes. Shes got to push it during the meal. Did you get some sweet potatoes? Theres sweet potatoes. Theyre hot. Theres more in the oven, some more in the garage. The rest are at the Johnsons. Berke Breathed, Bloom County Dear Lord, Ive been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us—a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird, a social being, capable of actual affection, nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, its dead and were gonna eat it. Mitch Hedberg I hate turkeys. If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad at turkeys. Theres turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami. Someone needs to tell the turkey, man, just be yourself. Tony Snow If you think Independence Day is Americas defining holiday, think again. Thanksgiving deserves that title, hands-down. Alistair Cooke It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it. Phyllis Diller It took me three weeks to stuff the turkey. I stuffed it through the beak. Aaron Neville Its a thanksgiving to God. Its something I have wanted to do for a long time, but the record company wasnt ready for it. So I did it myself. Marilu Henner Its better to pace yourself throughout a big day like Thanksgiving by having something healthful for breakfast and something light for lunch. Rita Rudner Most turkeys taste better the day after; my mothers tasted better the day before. Ted Allen My whole problem is that all of my favorite things at Thanksgiving are the starches, and everyone is trying to go low-carb this year, even a green vegetable has carbs in it. David Letterman Thanksgiving is the day when you turn to another family member and say, How long has Mom been drinking like this? My mom, after six Bloody Marys looks at the turkey and goes, Here, kitty, kitty. Jim Gaffigan Thanksgiving. Its like we didnt even try to come up with a tradition. The tradition is, we overeat. Hey, how about at Thanksgiving we just eat a lot? But we do that every day! Oh. What if we eat a lot with people that annoy the hell out of us? David Letterman When I was a kid in Indiana, we thought it would be fun to get a turkey a year ahead of time and feed it and so on for the following Thanksgiving. But by the time Thanksgiving came around, we sort of thought of the turkey as a pet, so we ate the dog. Only kidding. It was the cat.