Replacing conventional energy sources of electricity with solar energy in the UK and Iraq using statistical inference with hypothesis testing

Solar power represents a vast resource which could, in principle meet the world’s needs for lowcarbon power generation many times over. Recent growth in the use of photovoltaic (PV) technology (of around 40% per year) and rapid reduction in its cost (20% per doubling of capacity) has demonstrated the potential of solar power to deliver on a large scale. Energy is a vital resource required for the operation of any business. Currently, the vast majority of businesses use electricity derived for non-renewable fossil fuels, which are expected to run out at its current rate of expenditure and causing substantial environmental damage threatening the future generations. In the UK and Iraq if the current energy source used by small and medium enterprises (SME’s) could be replaced by solar energy then damage to the environment can be prevented. Solar cells involve harnessing the energy from the sun to generate electricity and as such the amount of sunlight hours or solar insulation available in the country is of utmost importance. In this study a methodology has been developed to compare a model micro-business in the UK and Northern Iraq. The comparison shows that using statistically inference the different regions (latitudinally) in Northern Iraq have a reasonable constant supply of solar insulation compared with the U.K which shows that there is more variation and less solar insulation in the more northern regions of the country. Therefore, it is more feasible to replace the existing non-renewable fossil fuel sources with solar cells in all regions of Iraq than the U.K which requires further cost benefit considerations

Rural Development in the 21st Century: Some Issues

Rural development is essentially a part of the process of structural transformation characterised by diversification of the economy away from agriculture. This process is facilitated by rapid agricultural growth, at least initially, but leads ultimately to significant decline in the share of agriculture to total employment and output and in the proportion of the rural population to total population [Johnston (1970)]. Rural development, as such, is not an end in itself but a means to an end and can provide the basis for a sustained and equitable economic growth of all sectors of the economy. The main theme of the paper is to contribute to the perception of rural development in Pakistan by delineating the pros. and cons. of past rural development efforts and the ensuing crisis in agriculture. Possible strategies for sustainable agricultural growth and rural development and the formal approach for their implementation are described in subsequent sections. It is argued that the whole scenario requires courage and political will of politicians to decentralise the development process. Concluding comments and future options for research appear at the end.

Reductions in Co2 emissions from electricity generation from solar energy at Sulaymanyah airport in Kurdistan, Iraq

The gradual increase in the earth’s temperature in the last three decades highlights how global warming has become a major concern for the future of our planet. To meet the world’s needs for low CO2 power generation, alternatives to conventional fossil fuels are required. Solar energy is an attractive alternative that represents a vast resource which can be harnessed in all regions of the world. Dependency on fossil fuels to generate electricity in order to match the rapid power demand and increasing populations has resulted in huge pollution and damage to the environment. This paper considers the electricity demand and the amount of CO2 reductions of Sulymaniah International Airport in Kurdistan, Iraq. The cost of replacing a proportion of the conventional fossil fuel power generation with solar energy is first estimated and then theoretical calculations of possible reductions in CO2 emissions are presented

Solar photovoltaic generation potential and plant capactiy in Northern Iraq

Energy is an essential requirement globally, a reliable supply of energy is vital for our modern life; nowadays the majority of the energy supply comes from non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuel. In the last three decades “Global Warming” has increasingly become a major concern for the future of our planet. More dependency and the use of fossil fuel to generate electricity in order to match the rapid power demand due to development of technology and increasing populations have resulted in huge pollution and damage of the environment. The reliance on fossil fuel sources needs to be reduced by efficient energy management and replacement with renewable energy sources. Solar energy photovoltaic cells (PV) have emerged as promising candidates. This study aims to introduce the feasibility and potential of solar electricity generation on the basis of solar radiation data gained from Agro-Meteorological-sub-sector [1], in the Erbil-Northern Iraq region. Analysis using linear regression and insolation data available for the region suggests that significant electricity output can be generated using solar power from available fixed plant areas. The results and the measurement calculations used justify and support clearly the method been utilised in the stud

Rural Development in the 21st Century: Some Issues

Rural development is essentially a part of the process of structural transformation characterised by diversification of the economy away from agriculture. This process is facilitated by rapid agricultural growth, at least initially, but leads ultimately to significant decline in the share of agriculture to total employment and output and in the proportion of the rural population to total population [Johnston (1970)]. Rural development, as such, is not an end in itself but a means to an end and can provide the basis for a sustained and equitable economic growth of all sectors of the economy. The main theme of the paper is to contribute to the perception of rural development in Pakistan by delineating the pros. and cons. of past rural development efforts and the ensuing crisis in agriculture. Possible strategies for sustainable agricultural growth and rural development and the formal approach for their implementation are described in subsequent sections. It is argued that the whole scenario requires courage and political will of politicians to decentralise the development process. Concluding comments and future options for research appear at the end

Energy analysis for replacing fossil fuel energy source of electricity wtih solar cells in the UK and Kurdistan, Iraq

Energy is a vital resource required for the operation of any business. Currently, the vast majority of businesses use electricity derived for non-renewable fossil fuels, which are expected to run out at its current rate of expenditure and causing substantial environmental damage threatening the future generations. In the UK if the current energy source used by small and medium enterprises (SME’s) could be replaced by solar energy then damage to the environment can be prevented and reduce costs as solar cells become more efficient. Solar cells involve harnessing the energy from the sun to generate electricity. In this study a methodology has been developed to compare a model micro-business in Manchester, UK and Kurdistan, Iraq. The comparison shows quantatively that even though Kurdistan, Iraq is abundant in oil and gas its climatic conditions favour the implementation of solar cells. Therefore, it is more feasible to replace the existing non-renewable fossil fuel sources with solar cells in Iraq due to greater solar radiation striking the earth’s surface. Our research suggests that solar cells can replace a reasonable amount of the energy requirements even in Manchester, UK and a much higher proportion in Kurdistan, Iraq. Using existing 20% efficient silicon solar cells we can replace 28% and 88% of the energy requirements of the micro business in UK and Kurdistan, Iraq respectively

Impact of Bank Profitability on Default Risk: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

This empirical study investigates the effect of the bank-specific determinants of bank profitability on the default risk of the banks listed on the Stock Exchange of Pakistan. For this purpose, the study considers balanced panel data covering the period 2009-2018 for the 20 selected commercial banks of Pakistan, and the probability of default is used to measure the default risk of these banks. The bank profitability is measured using bank-specific determinants such as the net interest margin, non-interest income to total assets, return on assets, return on equity, and spread ratios. The empirical findings of the fixed effects model reported that net interest margin, non-interest income, and spread ratio are the significant determinants of default risk. The findings highlight that the bank profitability determinants can act as early warning signs of a bank’s deteriorating stability level. The study recommended that the central bank of Pakistan should guide the commercial banks to disclose the probability of default values in their financial reports. The study also suggested that the risk management department of a bank should consider these bank-specific determinants of profitability to manage default risk

Myths and Realities about Language of Instruction in Pakistan: Parental Perspective

Language of learning and language of state requires proper awareness in multilingual countries. It demands much clarity if the role of a language in learning is to be acknowledged on the academic achievement grounds. Language of instruction is a controversial issue in Pakistan. Language policies and practices play vital role in shaping the perceptions of individual for the choice of any language. These perceptions may be based on reality or merely myths. Parents are major beneficiary or sufferer of the outcome of the education of their children. This article aims to explore perceptions of parents for the choice of language for the education of their children. By drawing upon Woolard & Schieffelin’s Language Ideology Model (1994), this paper analyses how parents perceive the importance of language of instruction for the education of their children. The researchers conducted 20 semi structured interviews from parents of Hyderabad Town by using Maximum Variation Sampling. Constant Comparative Method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) of analysis is used as an analytic technique to discover perceptions of parents regarding language of instruction for the education their children. This research implies that perceptions of parents are fraught with myths and misunderstandings of past practices and unclear language policies in Pakistan. This study recommends that parents’ voice must effectively be included in the making of language policy and they must be made aware of the researches in learning mother tongue or second language as the language of instruction for the education of their children

A Taxonomy on Misbehaving Nodes in Delay Tolerant Networks

Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) are type of Intermittently Connected Networks (ICNs) featured by long delay, intermittent connectivity, asymmetric data rates and high error rates. DTNs have been primarily developed for InterPlanetary Networks (IPNs), however, have shown promising potential in challenged networks i.e. DakNet, ZebraNet, KioskNet and WiderNet. Due to unique nature of intermittent connectivity and long delay, DTNs face challenges in routing, key management, privacy, fragmentation and misbehaving nodes. Here, misbehaving nodes i.e. malicious and selfish nodes launch various attacks including flood, packet drop and fake packets attack, inevitably overuse scarce resources (e.g., buffer and bandwidth) in DTNs. The focus of this survey is on a review of misbehaving node attacks, and detection algorithms. We firstly classify various of attacks depending on the type of misbehaving nodes. Then, detection algorithms for these misbehaving nodes are categorized depending on preventive and detective based features. The panoramic view on misbehaving nodes and detection algorithms are further analyzed, evaluated mathematically through a number of performance metrics. Future directions guiding this topic are also presented

Natural convection heat transfer in nanofluids - a numerical study

Natural convection heat transfer in nanofluids has been investigated numerically using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Analytical models that describe molecular viscosity, density, specific heat, thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion have been considered in terms of volume fraction and size of nanoparticles, size of base fluid molecule and temperature. The uniform suspensions of different concentrations of Al2O3 in base fluid (water) are considered as nanofluids. Thermal conductivity of the nanofluids has been obtained by solving the governing equations in conjunction with Kinetic model and interfacial layer model using FLUNET 6.3. Numerical simulations have been carried out in a closed pipe for L/D = 1.0. The numerical values of k have also been compared with the experimental values available in the literature. Both the models gave similar predictions with experimentally compared values of k