Thoughts: In the economic development, it is fundamentally a process of structural form of transformation going on that involves reallocation of productive factors from traditional to modern agriculture, industry and services, and the reallocation of those factors among industrial and service sector activities. If successful in its growth, this process requires shifting resources from low to high productivity sectors. When such industrial development has had become an important role in the economic growth of countries like China, Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia, do such countries still work towards the efforts of sustainability?
In class, we discussed extensively on the importance of not tapping into resources from the future generations to meet own needs, through the use of renewable resources and be environmental friendly. Everyone agrees that sustainable development ties in together the concerns of using our environmental limits with regards to the economy and society. With the problem that that our world is facing now, relating to the human activity not using its natural resources at the rate at which they can be replenished naturally, the earth would theoretically be unable to sustain human life in the long run. Besides, one of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. The current largest sources of energy are the combustion of coal, oil and natural gas. They will last quite a while but will probably run out in tens to hundreds years later. Also, Prof had mentioned that solar energy can be further developed in years to come so that its high cost could be significantly reduced just like the chip example. We had also touched on the discussions of implementing nuclear energy plant that we can potentially look into. Before I go into making my own stand, I read up more on the nuclear industry, which has been around for 56 years, in order to know more information on it before I make a biased judgment, after hearing the negative impacts on the nuclear plants in the past especially the explosion incident.
I feel that we can tap on the advantages of using nuclear energy before its too late, before we run into the “dark doom” stage desperately finding for alternatives on renewable resources. True enough people will question how about the nuclear waste? Nothing is perfectly safe but they are safe enough to be relied upon as a source of energy. Countries that need it the most will continue to use it. For instance, France gets 77% of its electricity from nuclear reactors and the rest from hydroelectric. Japan, with little domestic coal and no oil, is close to 30% and increasing steadily. Most nuclear accidents occurred in the nuclear reactors. Majority are caused by the design or operator errors. Radiation leaks can also occur because of earthquakes, poor waste storage practices or terrorist attacks. The most important safety goal is to maintain the proper operation of the reactor cooling systems. Furthermore, the use of nuclear energy does not produce carbon dioxide into atmosphere which we would not want to be zapped by the greenhouse effect, wouldn’t we? I am supportive on building of such plants for the world’s sustainability.
Sustainability explained through animation
Technology and Innovative Management
I agree with Prof that innovation should be market-driven, even though the reserve way does work. The potential target audience already exists before firm's marketing department deploys advertising techniques to capture the demand from the market place. People are willing to buy your product even it is capped at a high selling price - a good illustration is Apple company selling Iphone/Ipad.
Overall, I rate the lesson 7/10.
Sustainability requires a shift from linear to circular thinking.
Old indstrial model = Economic Dev VS Environment Dev
Sustainable industrial = Economic Dev AND Environment Dev
Dr Shahi
