Homework 2

1.)
Renewable (Green) Energy: In our near future?
Renewable energy sources have long been a hot topic for discussion. The world over knows that the majority of energy resources driving our world as we know it are non-renewable, and a need for cheap, sustainable, renewable energy sources is clearly necessary to sustain our life as we know it in the future. However, when will this transition occur?

According to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy, (http://www.bp.com/productlanding. do?categoryId=6929&contentId=7044622), the world still has enough known reserves to provide 40 years worth of energy (at current energy consumption rates) from non-renewable energy sources. Additionally, Clean Edge (an energy research and publishing firm; http://www.cleanedge.com/reports.php), projects that global renewable energy revenues will rise from $16 billion in 2004 to more than $100 billion by 2014. With this in mind, renewable energy sources will become an integral part of our energy future.

Roadmap to Renewable Energy
With a projected growth of nearly 26%/year in revenues from renewable energy sources, it is projected that by 2030, revenue for renewable energy will jump to nearly $3.2 trillion. Granted, there are many different factors that could change these figures, most importantly the fact that profits tend to decrease per product as widespread adoption will likely bring prices of new technology down.

Conclusions
Green energy is in our near future, and very well my become a lucrative market as we continue to deplete our non-renewable resources.


2.) Multi-part Question

a. Estimate the doubling time of the software development productivity of the average programmer, if productivity increases at 6%/year.

Answer: 12 years

b. Estimate the percent per year of increases in the complexity of PC computers if this complexity doubles every 2 years. (By "complexity" we could say we're talking about the number of transistors on a CPU chip, if you were wondering.)

Answer (by trial and error through Excel Spreadsheet): 41.421% / year

c. Estimate the percent per year of increases in the complexity of PC computers if complexity doubles every 18 months, as some think it is doing.

Answer (by trial and error through Excel Spreadsheet): 58.74% / year

d. What is the doubling time of your money if you have it in the bank making 2% interest per year?

Answer: 35 years