by yaf00 | Aug 5, 2022 | Dashboard, Uncategorized
You may be questioning yourself; how can one of the richest countries in the world like Kuwait become unlivable?
With a country of a small size like Kuwait, the amount of Co2 emissions is making the air polluted hence hard to live in.
As per the World Data Index, Kuwait has among the world’s highest per capita carbon emissions.
Co2 Emissions Impact:
Co2 emissions is the main cause of human induced climate change. It contributes to urban air pollution and causes respiratory health complications to humans and animals due to inhaling smog and air pollution. In addition, Co2 emissions cause extreme weather changes, food supply disruptions and wildfires.
What is causing it in Kuwait?
The main source of high Co2 emissions in Kuwait is the ‘Power Sector’, as it has a high regional demand for electricity and water. ‘Transportation’ also contributes in increased Co2 emissions due to high gas and fuel consumption.
Solutions:
A key contributor to reducing Co2 emissions is shifting to alternative sources of electricity that use less oil, gas and coal sources. 0% of Kuwait’s sources of electricity comes from renewable but rather it is heavily relying on petroleum sources. Kuwait is financially capable of building renewable energy sources such as solar and hydroelectric powers to generate water and electricity.
by smd40 | Aug 2, 2022 | Dashboard
There is no doubt that global warming is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity, however correlation does not imply causation. Human activities have likely increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is a significant factor in global warming.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) plays an important role in climate change since it contributes significantly to air pollution. Due to carbon dioxide’s ability to trap radiation at the ground level, causing ground level ozone.
https://public.tableau.com/views/FinalProject-CO2Emissions/Dashboard1?:language=en-US&publish=yes&:display_count=n&:origin=viz_share_link
CO2 Emissions Tons Per Capita
According to WDI data analysis, Qatar has the highest CO2 emissions per capita due to two main reasons: Qatar is the largest LNG producer and Qatar has a relatively small population. In addition to being a developing country, Qatar exports the most LNG worldwide and has the third highest reserves of natural gas.
CO2 Emissions from Transport
The transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation primarily come from burning fossil fuel for our cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes. CO2 emissions from transport contain emissions from the combustion of fuel for all transport activity, regardless of the sector, except for international marine bunkers and international aviation. This includes domestic aviation, domestic navigation, road, rail and pipeline transport. The WDI dataset shows that Paraguay has the highest percentage of CO2 emissions. From 1997 to 2014, CO2 emissions in Paraguay from transport (%) fluctuated substantially, increasing to 93.1% in 2014.
CO2 Emissions from Manufacturing Industries and Construction
CO2 emissions from manufacturing industries and construction contains the emissions from combustion of fuels in industry. The IPCC Source/Sink Category 1 A 2 includes these emissions.
United Arab Emirates CO2 emissions from manufacturing industries (%) was at level of 36.9 % in 2014, down from 41.5 % previous year followed by Luxembourg, Gabon, and China.
Buildings and Construction is one of the key industries in the Middle East, the construction industry has achieved considerable progress in reducing its overall environmental impact over the past few years as a result of understanding its impact on the environment, innovation of its methods, processes, and sustainable resource use.
CO2 Emissions (KT)
CO2 emissions of China increased from 2,173,360 million tones in 1990 to 11,680.4 million tons in 2020 growing at an average annual rate of 5.44%. By 2019, CO2 emission for China has reached 10,707,220 million tons.
CO2 emissions (metric ton per capita) is good metric for measuring relative improvements between countries with different population sizes, however absolute CO2 emissions (kt) is the most important metric when considering which countries have the most impact on global emissions.
In most cases, greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are responsible for causing climate change. As a result of factories and transportation emitting large amounts of CO2, the planet becomes warmer and more polluted, causing global warming problems.
Industries need to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, recycle components, and adopt more environmentally friendly design practices, as well as insist on a better value chain-wide approach.
Digital revolution is changing the world and all manufacturers can take advantage of it to make things better. By 2030, digital technologies could have a significant impact on reducing global carbon emissions, through solutions in energy, manufacturing, agriculture, building construction, services, transportation, and traffic management.
Also, sustainability needs to be a central component of business models. It is imperative that every company implements a low-carbon business model as part of its long-term strategy.
by mze15 | Jul 29, 2022 | Dashboard
Contributor: Mazen Eid
Introduction
” I AM ON OILS ” the funniest statement I ever heard for the first time in my life. The story goes back to 2016 when I was visiting my cousins in the US, I was feeling a bit unwell post my trip from New York due to change of weather. My first request to my cousin was, do you have Panadol? I was literally bashed with a reply, you guys still take pills? We are living on oils! The answer intrigued my attention to know more about the oils. How are they consumed? Who produces such oils? All these questions came to my mind at once. I had my share of the oils and next day I woke up fine as if nothing happened. It was my first time trying essential oils on myself and discovering how effective they are on our health. My journey started that day to explore the world of essential oils and its benefits.In 2018, I became Dōterra Wellness Advocate after taking a full course on essential oils. Dōterra is the leading company in the United States that produces essential oils.My passion for essential oils grew as it became part of my daily lifestyle, It introduced me to the world of wellness and a healthy living. Dōterra in latin means ” Gift from Earth “.
History
The origins of essential oils date back at least a thousand years, and have been used for medicinal purposes for at least as long. Essential oils are concentrated oils derived from plants that are described as containing “the essence” of the plant. Essential oil can be derived from nearly any plant matter imaginable, from flowers to tree bark. Today, essential oils are used less for medical purposes and more for aromatherapy, skincare, and alternative healing practices.
Facts
Let’s talk about numbers, the global market value of essential oils grew dramatically from 17.36 Billion USD in 2017 to forecast of 27.49 Billion USD in 2022 (source: statista.com). That’s an increase of 58% within a period of five years only. The top producers worldwide of essential oils are China followed by India and Indonesia.The global impact of COVID-19 has been significant, with essential oils witnessing a positive effect on demand across all regions amid the pandemic. COVID-19 boosted the demand for oils across the aromatherapy and personal care industry.
Why would you inject chemicals in your body when you know that nature is the cure? With the booming of essential oil markets, we also witness a solid war backed up by the FDA against essential oil companies as they are taking a big share of the market. Every year, thousands of lawsuits are filed accusing Essential Oils companies of misleading information to consumers. However, people are becoming more aware and listening to their bodies, and this is evident as consumers’ consumption oils increased dramatically over time. The global aromatherapy market size was estimated at USD 27.49 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% from 2022 to 2028. Awareness is needed within our societies to educate and encourage people to return to Mother Nature. Our bodies are sacred and we need to respect that!
THE GREATEST MEDICINE OF ALL IS TO TEACH PEOPLE HOW NOT TO NEED IT!
The below tableau workbook will give you insights on the drug and essential oils industry with global statistics covering topics such as production, consumption, sales and top essential oils companies.
by Karim Ahmad | Apr 28, 2022 | Dashboard
Contributors: Karim Ahmad, Razane Hani, Sara Kaddoura, Mohanad Rifai, Wassim Radwan, Ghida Raydan
Social media is defined by its interactivity, connectedness, and user-generated content. In today’s society, the use of social media has become a necessary daily activity. It is typically used for social interaction and is a valuable communication tool with others locally and worldwide, as well as to share, create, and spread information. It can influence consumers’ purchase decisions through reviews, marketing tactics, and advertising. Essentially, social media vastly impacts our ability to communicate, form relationships, access, and spread information, and arrive at the best decision.
Startups & E-commerce:
For an e-commerce startup, social media campaigns are the heart and soul of the business. Identifying what sort of marketing campaigns and what platforms to use can make or break the company. Most startups are going fully digital since it’s more profitable due to cost reduction and the absence of a physical location. Also, it’s more appealing to the younger generation to shop online due to their busy lifestyles and high usage of social media. With a solid online presence, it will be feasible for any company to expand globally.
Digital marketing campaigns should serve several purposes, for instance, engagement campaigns don’t focus on generating sales, it’s leaning toward generating interactivity on the content posted, while a conversion campaign is focused on turning potential customers into buyers. Those campaigns should be delivered using the right channels, deciding on which platform to use and the type of content to post on a certain platform will play a huge role in increasing audience engagement and enhancing the image of the brand.
Analysis and Insights:
In our case, we analyzed social media marketing campaigns that were implemented by a Lebanese e-commerce company. They launched multiple campaigns with different goals and used several platforms but the best-performing ones were Instagram and Facebook. The performance differed among the campaigns and platforms, Facebook had higher numbers when it comes to reach, impressions, and link clicks, however, Instagram generated more unique purchases. This can be linked to the demographics of Instagram users, the majority of them are millennials that make impulsive purchases and enjoy trying out new products.
In addition to measuring performance, data can act as a starting point for expansion plans. Google Trends offer data related to searches in different countries, analyzing this data will generate insights that will unleash new perspectives into what markets and which countries will have great potential if the company decided to expand.
by Jana El Oud | Apr 25, 2022 | Dashboard
Contributors: Sara Ramadan, Jana El Oud, Wael El Aridi, Mohammad Mohsen, Mahdi Mohammad, Amir Bazzi
Food insecurity, described as a situation in which a household suffers from disruption of food intake or of eating patterns given limited funds and other resources, is a major nutrition and economic issue worldwide. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as the lack of consistent access to adequate food for an active, healthy life.
Lebanon is currently facing marginal food security and low food security where households are facing anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food, as well as the reduction in quality and variety of food. This phenomenon is caused due to poverty and the lack of adequate resources.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been facing an economic crisis which has led to the deterioration of the Lebanese Lira. The World Food Programme reported a 340 percent increase in the price of the basic food basket by May 2021. This has left many Lebanese households unable to afford the essential food items.
We are tackling three strategies that can be implemented to reduce Food Insecurity in Lebanon:
- Distribution of Food Parcels
Food parcels are parcels of food prepared and sent , especially by charitable organizations, to people in need. NGOs can aid the Lebanese people by distributing these parcels that contain items that are sufficient to provide the required daily nutritional values.Handing out weekly food parcels with nutritionally balanced products for households can decrease the burden of securing food. We determined the optimal items to be included are bread, pasta, rice, milk, oat, beans, lentils, tuna, and biscuits.
- Supporting the Agricultural Sector
According to the world bank, 64% of the Lebanese land is cultivatable and almost 14% is arable. In addition to the abundance of water resources, Lebanon has an average rainfall of 2.2 billion m³ per year. These numbers are significantly higher than other countries in the region which shows that this sector, if used efficiently, can help diversify the economy and increase the resiliency of the people in case of any sudden crises.
Although this sector currently contributes to 3% of the Lebanese GDP, data shows that this sector is severely underutilized. Moreover, the yield for some of the major crops has been decreasing. This is evident from the Total Factor Productivity that has decreased on average by 0.46%.
Supporting this sector optimizes the yield by increasing the supply of the items leading to local price reduction. This will decrease the import dependency for food consumption which averages around 75-80%.
The government and the NGOs can support this sector by encouraging the production of the primary materials used in the cultivation to decrease their imports, as well as asking for some international help to supply the farmers with the latest machinery as most of the farmers are still using outdated techniques.
Also, the government and the NGOs could educate farmers about the proper way of using the chemicals as there have been concerns regarding chemical levels in the products. The government should also take restrictive measures to limit the export of products that do not meet the quality standards required by other countries.
- Supporting the Livestock Sector
According to a study done by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2015, it was found that 1% of the Lebanese population raises livestock. There is a high dependence on imports to satisfy these needs where the imports of sheep and cattle recorded 416,289 and 317,818 heads respectively. On the other hand, only 90,986 sheep heads and 2,997 cattle heads were exported. Thus, the NGOs and the Lebanese Government should increase veterinary services provided, support livestock related research, and conduct training sessions forfor livestock raisers about the food diet of livestock, widespread diseases, breeding, and grazing techniques would play a major role in increasing the productivity of the livestock sector.
Supporting the agriculture and livestock sectors, as well as handing out food parcels does not mean that Lebanon will be self-sufficient when it comes to food, but it will decrease the burden of the current crises and any future disaster that might put the Lebanese people at risk of food insecurity.
Dashboard:
Kindly view the below dashboard in full-screen view.
by Anas Sidani | Apr 24, 2022 | Dashboard, Visualization
Rafic Srouji, Lara Zbibo, Anas Sidani, Dima Daouk, Ziad Moghabghab, Celine Kabbara
As MSBA students, we are used to working with data daily, we are accustomed to hearing about its importance and how it holds the answers to any question we might have. We didn’t really understand how powerful data was until we were asked a question we didn’t have the answer to, and with the use of data we were able to unearth the answers to our question.
It was Monday February 22, directly after our Data visualization class, we were walking from OSB to Zaituna Bay and we were discussing different potential ideas for our upcoming visualization course when suddenly we were stopped by a SkyNews reporter. He asked us if we were students and then proceeded with asking us the one question that captured our curiosity:
Luckily, they included MSBA’s one and only Rafic Srouji in the news report the next day. His answer was:
This whole interaction got us thinking and sparked our curiosity; we wanted to find out why is the cost of consumer goods drastically increasing and what can we do about it.
As residents of Lebanon, we experienced first-hand the dramatic rise of prices every time the Lira devalues with an average inflation rate of 132.98%, so we joined the monthly inflation rate data in Lebanon with the monthly Lira rate data from 2019 till 2022. After plotting the timeseries data, we found that when the lira rate increases the inflation rate increases substantially. With further research, we found that the price of consumer goods changes substantially with the fluctuation of the lira because most consumer goods are imported, thus being purchased with the USD.
In order to get more insights about the nature of the trade deficit (exports and imports), we analyzed the Lebanese exports and imports data. This enabled us to create charts that compare the import and export values in Lebanon, and to divide them by sector.
As we can see in the dashboard’s charts, Lebanon has a large trade deficit of $12.81 Billion with most consumer goods being imported, this definitely plays a huge role in the increase of prices. If Lebanon was more self-sufficient when it comes to consumer goods and other basic products, the price of said products could potentially decrease and would be less volatile to changes in the lira rate.
Lebanon imports 20% of its total imports from the Agriculture sector, as well as 20% from the Minerals sector, which both constitutes to its highest imports. Our focus as to evaluate whether this amount could be reduced.
A big discovery was found! Lebanon has opportunities all over its area, hidden in its chaos; the country has at least one available factory that can produce goods from any tradeable sector. Lebanon has more than enough factories to reach the dream of putting a dent in the trade deficit. The country has 1,616 factories in the food industry that can dramatically decrease the high prices of food and beverages, if properly exploited.
A comparison between Turkey and Lebanon was found to be a great validation to our proposed solution. Turkey’s Lira has lost more than 70% of its value since 2021, but it was found that the inflation rate didn’t follow as aggressively as that of Lebanon. The weaker correlation between the Turkish Lira rate and the Turkish inflation rate is a direct result of the strong local production in Turkey. Turkey has a negligible trade deficit of $29 million which is negligible in comparison to its population (85 million), in opposite to Lebanon who has a trade deficit of $12.82 billion with a population of 6.83 million.
Local production is a key player in decreasing Turkey’s yearly trade deficit. Improving local production is seen to be effective in decreasing the country’s trade deficit, and decreasing the prices of goods.
From here, our findings demonstrate that there is a crucial need for local production. To do so, the government must allocate resources towards these factories and exploit them, especially in times we need them the most. This would potentially increase tourism, increase local jobs, and decrease prices all together.
