Assignment 1: LASA 2: Examining Your Community’s Source of Energy

It is easy to criticize society for not using renewable resources, but in reality, how difficult would this transition be? What processes and procedures would be involved? How would such a transition be made?

The purpose of this assignment is for you to consider what type of energy your neighborhood is currently powered by and what it would really take to convert this source to a renewable one. How much would it take to switch your community to a renewable resource and what would this mean for the environment?

For the assignment, complete the following:

• Identify three primary types of energy that powers your home as well as all of the homes in your community. You may find this information on your community Web site or the Web sites of the local power companies. For example, your community may use electricity and solar panels.
• Explain how the sources of energy you identified impact the environment. Consider the following:
  • Does the use of these types of energy resource have a negative impact on the environment in your area?
  • Does your community have nuclear waste to dispose of?
  • Has your community always used these three power sources? If so, how do you feel this has impacted the environment over time?
  • How much of an impact have these sources of energy had on local air and water quality?
• Considering the current source(s) of power available, determine how much energy your house uses each month. You can find this information on your monthly energy bill.

  Calculate your annual usage for a year. Using this value, estimate the energy consumption for your community. The US Census Bureau is one resource you can use to estimate the number of households in your community.

  You can use the following formulae for this calculation:

  (monthly energy usage) × (12 months per year) = (household energy usage per year); (yearly energy estimate for your house) × (estimated number of houses in your community) = (estimated yearly energy use for your community)

  The following is an example of the above calculation:

  52.8 kilowatt hours (kwh) per month × 12 months = 633.6 kwh; 633.6 kwh × 200 houses in your community = 126,720 kwh

• Recommend a realistic, renewable resource to power your community, using your calculated power needs. Consider the following sources: hydropower, solar power, wind turbines, and geothermal energy.
  • Which source would be the best for your community?
  • Justify your choice based on the kind of resources that are available, how much power these alternative sources can produce, and your estimated energy demands for the community.
• Having recommended an alternative power source, conclude by addressing the following:
  • How realistic is this alternative power source for your community?
  • How will people in your community respond to energy conversion? Will they support it or be against it? Give reasons.
  • How expensive would it be to convert to the alternative power source you recommended? How would this new source impact the environment?
  • What organisms would benefit most from this conversion?

Support your statements with appropriate examples and approximately 4–6 credible resources.

Write an 8–10-page paper in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A1.doc.

By Monday, December 7, 2015, deliver your assignment to the M5: Assignment 1 Dropbox.

Grading Criteria and Rubric

Download the rubric and carefully read it to understand the expectations.

Assignment 1 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Identify three primary types of energy that powers your home as well as all of the homes in your community.	36
Explain how your current sources of energy impact the environment, and answer all additional required questions in the assignment.	52
Determine how much energy your house uses each month and calculate the energy consumption for your entire city.	40
Recommend a realistic renewable resource to power your city, using your calculated power needs. Justify your response.	40
Explain how realistic this new resource is for your area, what the expense to convert energy sources would be, and whether you feel that people would support an energy conversion.	40
Explain how this new energy source would impact the environment and what organisms would benefit most from this conversion.	28
Writing Components: Organization (16) Usage and Mechanics (16) APA Elements (24) Style (8)	64

2 questions. 3 pages long for each question. total of 6 pages.

you have to read the book to answer the questions. the book pages are attached in the ATTACHMENTS below.

 

1st question is :

Critically examine the principal arguments for and against Determinism ( Baron d’Holbach) asd Freedom ( william James ). which account of human agency is correct and why ?(The reading assigned for this question is on the attachments BELOW start from PDF 1 till PDF 4).1 st unnumbered PDF IS INCLUDED  for this question.

 

 

2nd question is : How do John Locke and Martin Luther King, Jr justify rebellion and civil disobedience, respectively? Examine the role of religion in their arguments and contrast their positions with that of Hobbes.

( the reading assigned for this question is on the attachments BELOW start from PDF 5 till PDF 15).

 

Assignment 1: LASA # 2—Capital Budgeting Techniques

 

As a financial consultant, you have contracted with Wheel Industries to evaluate their procedures involving the evaluation of long term investment opportunities.  You have agreed to provide a detailed report illustrating the use of several techniques for evaluating capital projects including the weighted average cost of capital to the firm, the anticipated cash flows for the projects, and the methods used for project selection.  In addition, you have been asked to evaluate two projects, incorporating risk into the calculations.

 

You have also agreed to provide an 8-10 page report, in good form, with detailed explanation of your methodology, findings, and recommendations.

 

Company Information

 

Wheel Industries is considering a three-year expansion project, Project A.  The project requires an initial investment of $1.5 million. The project will use the straight-line depreciation method. The project has no salvage value. It is estimated that the project will generate additional revenues of $1.2 million per year before tax and has additional annual costs of $600,000.  The Marginal Tax rate is 35%.

 

Required:

 

1. Wheel has just paid a dividend of $2.50 per share. The dividends are expected to grow at a constant rate of six percent per year forever. If the stock is currently selling for $50 per share with a 10% flotation cost, what is the cost of new equity for the firm? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of financing for the firm?
2. The firm is considering using debt in its capital structure. If the market rate of 5% is appropriate for debt of this kind, what is the after tax cost of debt for the company? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of financing for the firm?
3. The firm has decided on a capital structure consisting of 30% debt and 70% new common stock. Calculate the WACC and explain how it is used in the capital budgeting process.
4. Calculate the after tax cash flows for the project for each year. Explain the methods used in your calculations.
5. If the discount rate were 6 percent calculate the NPV of the project. Is this an economically acceptable project to undertake? Why or why not?
6. Now calculate the IRR for the project. Is this an acceptable project? Why or why not? Is there a conflict between your answer to part C? Explain why or why not?

 

Wheel has two other possible investment opportunities, which are mutually exclusive, and independent of Investment A above.  Both investments will cost $120,000 and have a life of 6 years. The after tax cash flows are expected to be the same over the six year life for both projects, and the probabilities for each year’s after tax cash flow is given in the table below.

 

Investment B			Investment C
Probability	After Tax Cash Flow		Probability	After Tax Cash Flow
0.25	$20,000		0.30	$22,000
0.50	32,000		0.50	40,000
0.25	40,000		0.20	50,000

 

7. What is the expected value of each project’s annual after tax cash flow? Justify your answers and identify any conflicts between the IRR and the NPV and explain why these conflicts may occur.
8. Assuming that the appropriate discount rate for projects of this risk level is 8%, what is the risk-adjusted NPV for each project? Which project, if either, should be selected? Justify your conclusions.

 

Turn in your completed work to the M5: Assignment 1 Dropbox by Monday, September 28, 2015.

 

Assignment 1 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Correctly calculated the cost of new equity and explained the calculations, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of financing for the firm. (CO4)	20
Correctly calculated the cost of new debt and explained the calculations, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of financing for the firm. (CO4)	20
Correctly calculated the weighted average cost of capital and explained how and why it is used in the capital budgeting process. (CO4)	20
Correctly calculated the annual cash flows for the projects and explained the methods used in the calculations. (CO1)	44
Evaluated the projects using the NPV method and came to the correct conclusions based on the decision rules for the NPV. (CO2)	44
Evaluated the projects using the IRR method and came to the correct conclusion based on the decision rules for the IRR. Identified any conflicts between the IRR and the NPV and explained why these conflicts may occur. (CO 3)	44
Correctly introduced risk into the evaluation by using the expected values as the cash flows and evaluated these cash flows using risk adjusted discounted rates. (CO 5)	44
Written in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.	64

 

Read the case study, entitled “Marketing in Schools”. Once you finish reading the case study, answer the following questions:

 

• Is there an appropriate age that advertising should consider?
•  Who are the stakeholders that will be affected by your decision, and how will each be affected?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks to advertising products within schools?
•  What other facts would you need to make a decision, and how might your decision affect the stakeholders?
•  Discuss alternative marketing practices that could be ethical and help the schools to raise money.

 

Evaluate any assumptions that you make. The case study should be thoroughly discussed, and the written submission should be at least two and half (2 1/2) pages in length (not including the cover and reference pages), include a summary of the case study, and answer the five questions listed above.

 

Remember to use APA style for your assignment.

 

Reference:

 

Hartman, L. P., DesJardins, J., & MacDonald, C. (2014). Business ethics: Decision making for personal integrity & social responsibility (3r