After reading through Writing Assignment 1 again, I found that I have a few common mistakes that I should be more conscious about it and should prevent it from happening again.
One of the common mistakes is that I have poor control of modals. For instance, "This would also means car owners...". There is grammatical error in this phrase, modals do not take on -s as they do not indicate number or person. The correct phrase should be "This would also mean car owners...". Other modals include: should, shall, can, could, will.
Another common mistakes is that I tend to neglect verb tenses for connecting words. For instance, "Currently, there were only three CNG refilling stations in Singapore". Since currently is used in this statement, it is necessary to use simple present tense. The correct statement should be "Currently, there are only three CNG refilling stations in Singapore". In addition, if were to write report on what is in print, simple present tense shall be used too. For example, "In her article, Kenneth claims that CNG fuel is cheaper".
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
#5: Summary of roundtable discussion
The roundtable discussion is about if natural sources of energy such as solar power and CNG should be adopted. At the beginning, the moderator (Lek) gave an introduction about Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
The opposition (Boon Tah) discussed about the disadvantages of the use of CNG user. There are only 3 CNG refilling stations in Singapore which located at the western and northern part of Singapore. This brought about inconvenience for drivers in the east and south to refill their fuel tank. Long queue will form during peak hours at these refilling stations which will cause drivers to wait for a long to get their tank refill. In addition, there is a need to install a conversion kit for CNG. The conversion usually cost $3000 to $4000 which is quite a big sum of money.
The rebutter (Balan) argued that there were 2 more stations under constructions which will be located at central and north east part of Singapore. When the central station starts operating, it will be the 2nd largest refilling station comprises of 38 pumps. This will bring convenience to the CNG drivers. The rebutter continue with his argue by saying that CNG is much cheaper than petrol and diesel: CNG: 1.02-1.24SGD/kg, petrol: 1.558-1.670SGD/litre and diesel: 1.143SGD/litre. This will enable drivers to save in the future.
Moderator then introduced solar energy power, which is a technology which has been available for very long time but is not very well received by the people.
The opposition (Zun Kai) stated that is very expensive to own a solar energy system at home. For instance, in US, there is a need to give an amount of at least U$10, 000 before installing the system. In addition, there is research saying that the solar system is unable to produce adequate energy when there is insufficient sunlight.
Rebutter argued that solar energy system is able to store energy during day time for night time or times whereby there is insufficient sunlight to produce electricity. It is a good investment that in long term will be able to recover the cost in installing solar energy.
Moderator then wrapped up the discussion with the points stated by the 3 participants and talked about the issue of global warming. It is everyone’s responsibilities in combating global warming.
The opposition (Boon Tah) discussed about the disadvantages of the use of CNG user. There are only 3 CNG refilling stations in Singapore which located at the western and northern part of Singapore. This brought about inconvenience for drivers in the east and south to refill their fuel tank. Long queue will form during peak hours at these refilling stations which will cause drivers to wait for a long to get their tank refill. In addition, there is a need to install a conversion kit for CNG. The conversion usually cost $3000 to $4000 which is quite a big sum of money.
The rebutter (Balan) argued that there were 2 more stations under constructions which will be located at central and north east part of Singapore. When the central station starts operating, it will be the 2nd largest refilling station comprises of 38 pumps. This will bring convenience to the CNG drivers. The rebutter continue with his argue by saying that CNG is much cheaper than petrol and diesel: CNG: 1.02-1.24SGD/kg, petrol: 1.558-1.670SGD/litre and diesel: 1.143SGD/litre. This will enable drivers to save in the future.
Moderator then introduced solar energy power, which is a technology which has been available for very long time but is not very well received by the people.
The opposition (Zun Kai) stated that is very expensive to own a solar energy system at home. For instance, in US, there is a need to give an amount of at least U$10, 000 before installing the system. In addition, there is research saying that the solar system is unable to produce adequate energy when there is insufficient sunlight.
Rebutter argued that solar energy system is able to store energy during day time for night time or times whereby there is insufficient sunlight to produce electricity. It is a good investment that in long term will be able to recover the cost in installing solar energy.
Moderator then wrapped up the discussion with the points stated by the 3 participants and talked about the issue of global warming. It is everyone’s responsibilities in combating global warming.
#4 Summary of 2 article on CNG
The first article "CNG car drivers run out of patience", is a newspaper article by Alvin Lim. The article mainly states the frustration of CNG fitted car drivers. By July 2008, there were only 2 refilling stations on operation and only make up to 10 pumps in total. During peak hours, drivers have to wait very long to get their fuel tank top up. One of driver says he sometimes had to wait up to 1 hour before refilling his CNG tank. A typical pump in the station takes 10 minutes to top up the CNG tank and needs 2 more minutes to cool down before refilling the following vehicle. As compared to other 531,590 petrol-driven cars which can fill up within minutes at the other 200 or so petrol stations all around Singapore, CNG drivers are rather inconvenient. There was an incident where the pumps at Jalan Buroh refilling station had to be shut down for safety reason during a thunderstorm. Drivers then had to wait for a long period of time before the pumps resume operation.
The above is a useful source for the roundtable discussion. Firstly, the article provides statistics on the number of vehicles in Singapore with and without CNG fitted technology. It also provides comments from CNG drivers about their views on using CNG fitted cars. Most important is a reliable source as is from “The Straits Times”.
The second article “Alternative fuel, change the fuel, save the world” written by Fandy, states mainly about environmental friendly vehicle and explain how CNG works. Just like bio-diesel, solar energy, electric and hybrid cars, CNG is another environmental cars that has been released in Singapore. However, not many people know the functions and facts about CNG. Many still think that it is very expensive and after conversion the car might under perform. The article also explains that it is a safe system that will not leak even with leakage.
The above source is useful as it explains the specifications of CNG technology and gives facts on CNG. It also explains how it works which let people have better understanding of the technology.
Reference
Fandy. (2008, February 28). Alternative Fuel- Change fuel, Save the world! Retrieved March 13, 2009, from CAR NEWS IN SINGAPORE: http://sg.88db.com/sg/HTML/en-us/indexmkt/Lifestyle/automotive/alternative_fuel.htm
Lim, A. (2008, July 28). CNG car drivers run out of patience. Retrieved March 02, 2009, from asiaOne news: http://www.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20080727-79019.html
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
#3 Thoughts after the lecture
I feel that the 2 hours lecture is very informatics and interesting. The 3 speakers mentioned certain parts which really enlighten me on certain issues regarding global warming, and gave me a better understanding about certain combating global warming.
Prof Andrew Palmer shared with us his knowledge on Geo engineering and spoke mainly about Carbon Storage. He started by discussing issues on climate change and how we response to the changes by mitigation and adaptation. He further elaborated on the technology regarding carbon storage. He explained that carbon dioxide can be stored deep in the ocean within a membrane with will reduced the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. However, this method of carbon storage may results to carbon dioxide diffusing into the ocean over the time and cause ocean to become more acidic.
The next speaker is from NUS, Dr. Benjamin k Sovacool who spoke about Science & Technology Studies (STS). There is a traditional theory which states that technology can be out of control and failure of technology may be due to many factors. By discussing on 2 case studies, he explained the factors which may cause technology to fail. Some of the factors are; political,cultural, social challenges, economic challenges.
The last speaker, A/P Rajasekhar Bala spoke about the global warming in a general context. He explained how green house gases causes global warming and showed charts on increasing global temperature. He also discussed how people combat global warming by mitigation and adaptation. he further add on the difficulties people faced in combating global warming. in the end he shared his views on how government can do his part in reducing carbon emission through incentives and taxes.
Personally I feel that the second speaker's slides are more interesting. It may be due to his eloquence, and may be due to the topic which is something that I have never heard of. In addition, by using case studies he is able to make his topic on STS easier to understand and more interesting. For instance, regarding Case studies 2: Electric Vehicle, he is able to relate how other challenges influence people to stop using a environmental friendly vehicle. Having a technology which may be able to reduce greenhouse gases might not be the main factor in combating global warming, there is a need to look into other aspects as well.
Prof Andrew Palmer shared with us his knowledge on Geo engineering and spoke mainly about Carbon Storage. He started by discussing issues on climate change and how we response to the changes by mitigation and adaptation. He further elaborated on the technology regarding carbon storage. He explained that carbon dioxide can be stored deep in the ocean within a membrane with will reduced the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. However, this method of carbon storage may results to carbon dioxide diffusing into the ocean over the time and cause ocean to become more acidic.
The next speaker is from NUS, Dr. Benjamin k Sovacool who spoke about Science & Technology Studies (STS). There is a traditional theory which states that technology can be out of control and failure of technology may be due to many factors. By discussing on 2 case studies, he explained the factors which may cause technology to fail. Some of the factors are; political,cultural, social challenges, economic challenges.
The last speaker, A/P Rajasekhar Bala spoke about the global warming in a general context. He explained how green house gases causes global warming and showed charts on increasing global temperature. He also discussed how people combat global warming by mitigation and adaptation. he further add on the difficulties people faced in combating global warming. in the end he shared his views on how government can do his part in reducing carbon emission through incentives and taxes.
Personally I feel that the second speaker's slides are more interesting. It may be due to his eloquence, and may be due to the topic which is something that I have never heard of. In addition, by using case studies he is able to make his topic on STS easier to understand and more interesting. For instance, regarding Case studies 2: Electric Vehicle, he is able to relate how other challenges influence people to stop using a environmental friendly vehicle. Having a technology which may be able to reduce greenhouse gases might not be the main factor in combating global warming, there is a need to look into other aspects as well.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
#2: Government policies will help in reducing problems of global warming
Global warming has been an issues that people are very "concerned" about for the past decades. Although lots of work has been done to reduce the problems, the global temperature never decrease at all. Instead, it has been increasing. People has been producing more greenhouse gases ever the industrial era. It adds on the natural deforestation Natural disasters such as heat waves and drought are happening more often than ever. To certain extent, it became life threatening to a number of countries. It is thus crucial that the occupants of the earth do take good care of it before it is health gets depleted continuously.
Countries' leaders play a major role in reducing the problems of global warming. Policy such "Bring Your Own Bag Day (BYOBD)" will help in reducing the usage of plastic bags which in turn reduce the greenhouse gases produced when the plastic bags are incinerated.
National Environmental Agency (NEA) and Singapore Environmental Council (SEC) had launched the BYOBD on 18 April 2007. The main supermarkets in Singapore collaborated with NEA and SEC with the new policy to help in reducing the usage of plastic bags. For every first Wednesday of the month, supermarkets such as Carrefour, Cold Storage, Giant, NTUC FairPrice, Prime Supermarket, Sheng Siong and Shop N Save will not be issuing plastic bags to customers, either they use their own bags or paid an amount for the plastic bags.
Based one of the reports from the Channelnewsasia.com, on the first BYOBD, Singapore managed to save an estimated amount of 100,000 of plastic bags. NTUC and Cold Storage had cut its plastic bags up to 60 percent on that day. Usage of plastic will be reduced further and this policy will also serve as a reminder that it is every one's responsibility to take care of the environment.
Government plays a key role in setting policies in reducing problems of global warming. However, it takes two to tango. If majority of the people are not going to do his part, no matter how robust the policy is, global warming will continue to threaten out stay on the earth.
Countries' leaders play a major role in reducing the problems of global warming. Policy such "Bring Your Own Bag Day (BYOBD)" will help in reducing the usage of plastic bags which in turn reduce the greenhouse gases produced when the plastic bags are incinerated.
National Environmental Agency (NEA) and Singapore Environmental Council (SEC) had launched the BYOBD on 18 April 2007. The main supermarkets in Singapore collaborated with NEA and SEC with the new policy to help in reducing the usage of plastic bags. For every first Wednesday of the month, supermarkets such as Carrefour, Cold Storage, Giant, NTUC FairPrice, Prime Supermarket, Sheng Siong and Shop N Save will not be issuing plastic bags to customers, either they use their own bags or paid an amount for the plastic bags.
Based one of the reports from the Channelnewsasia.com, on the first BYOBD, Singapore managed to save an estimated amount of 100,000 of plastic bags. NTUC and Cold Storage had cut its plastic bags up to 60 percent on that day. Usage of plastic will be reduced further and this policy will also serve as a reminder that it is every one's responsibility to take care of the environment.
Government plays a key role in setting policies in reducing problems of global warming. However, it takes two to tango. If majority of the people are not going to do his part, no matter how robust the policy is, global warming will continue to threaten out stay on the earth.
Monday, January 19, 2009
#1 :The ability to analyse information and apply systematic approach in designing solutions
Procedures are resolving every one's life such as withdrawing money from a ATM and driving a car. All the routine works are often conditioned and learnt with the procedures beforehand. Some are conditioned from young, while some are learnt through series of trainings and practices. One is only able to drive a car after series of coaching and practises. Engineers are usually trained by professionals before being able to perform his or her duties. Analysing complex information and apply systematic approach in designing solutions is engineer's procedure of handling problems while performing his or her tasks.
Be it Polytechnic or University, engineering students are equipped with knowledge of various engineering topics. Through almost all the modules, students are to complete tutorial by using different methods and formulae learnt during lecture. With the guidance of the lecturers and tutors, the logic of "Analysing complex information and apply systematic approach in designing solutions is engineer's procedure of handling problems" is conditioned to each of every engineering students.
Industrial attachments served as one of a vital factor in moulding a engineering student's ability. It not only lets the students get a sneak preview of his or her future job, it also allow students to practise what he or her had learnt in school. it also acts as a test on his or her abilities in solving engineering problems. With guidance from colleague and superiors, students thus gained more knowledge and confidence. Doing Final Year Project (FYP) is another important factor in embedding the students ability in analysing complex problems and applying systematically approach to solve their problems. Students handling FYP oftern has to learn new computer programmes or lab work in accomplising his or her project. The ability to learn is therefore very important. And through the knowledge he or she learnt, analyse the problems and come with proper working methods in solving problems and completes the FYP.
Due to the diversify of the job scope of engineers nowadays, personally i feel that it is important that the engineers must have the ability to analyse problems and apply systematically approach in designing solutions. this is just like a life skill that will be useful in performing any tasks. it may not be engineering field of work, but eqiupping this ability will certainly come in handy.
Be it Polytechnic or University, engineering students are equipped with knowledge of various engineering topics. Through almost all the modules, students are to complete tutorial by using different methods and formulae learnt during lecture. With the guidance of the lecturers and tutors, the logic of "Analysing complex information and apply systematic approach in designing solutions is engineer's procedure of handling problems" is conditioned to each of every engineering students.
Industrial attachments served as one of a vital factor in moulding a engineering student's ability. It not only lets the students get a sneak preview of his or her future job, it also allow students to practise what he or her had learnt in school. it also acts as a test on his or her abilities in solving engineering problems. With guidance from colleague and superiors, students thus gained more knowledge and confidence. Doing Final Year Project (FYP) is another important factor in embedding the students ability in analysing complex problems and applying systematically approach to solve their problems. Students handling FYP oftern has to learn new computer programmes or lab work in accomplising his or her project. The ability to learn is therefore very important. And through the knowledge he or she learnt, analyse the problems and come with proper working methods in solving problems and completes the FYP.
Due to the diversify of the job scope of engineers nowadays, personally i feel that it is important that the engineers must have the ability to analyse problems and apply systematically approach in designing solutions. this is just like a life skill that will be useful in performing any tasks. it may not be engineering field of work, but eqiupping this ability will certainly come in handy.
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