tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31114375601240923702024-02-21T22:48:00.253-08:00SynthesisA blog on Synthesis, the final step of creating an architecture, that summarises all inputs and all thoughts into the design. Focused on design problems and thoughts around them that lead to the design.awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-52912436239717775812022-11-27T05:45:00.000-08:002022-11-27T05:45:03.315-08:00What can be done about climate change?<div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a body of scientists, climate experts and governments that has been working on primarily understanding the accuracy and verifiability of climate change over the past few decades. A second goal is to understand the impacts of climate change on communities, citizens and countries. Finally, their role is to understand the timelines and reversibility of climate change, and how should communities, citizens and governments prepare for these changes.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A task force within IPCC is responsible for understanding how calculation of green house gas emissions should be done, and how should one correctly calculate removal of green house gases from the atmosphere.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The IPCC in it's 2022 meeting has assessed that the goal of limiting global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius cannot be achieved. In fact it's likely that we may even reach 2 to 2.5 degrees of warming of the planet.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is an unprecedented situation. For the last 10,000 years, which is the bulk of the recorded history of human civilization, climate has been relatively stable. Forecast changes of average global temperatures by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees will cause unprecedented changes to all human communities around the world.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This blog will examine the actual impact of these changes and if and how some of these impacts can be mitigated. A second part is when these changes are unavoidable then how communities can prepare for these changes.</div><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: left;">Impacts of a 1.5 degrees rise in temperature</h3><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The impact of a 1.5 degree rise in the average temperature of the planet will be based on where one is on the planet and also how vulnerable that part of the planet is. Several areas will also now experience more drought and dry conditions on account of rising temperatures. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Scientists now agree that for most locations on the planet, it will mean a rise in temperature as well as a rise in amount and intensity of rainfall or snowfall in that area. This will mean increase in flooding in many parts of the world. Another impact will be increase in mean sea level and therefore more coastal flooding. Melting of ice cover in the arctic would also mean higher sea levels. With temperature moving from 1.5 degrees to 2 degrees could mean moving from 1 ice-free Arctic summer per century to 1 ice-free Arctic summer per decade. Many island communities could disappear with greater increase in rise of mean sea levels.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Rising temperatures of water will mean more algal blooms, acidification of water which will also mean threat to fish populations and impact on livelihood of coastal communities. The loss of species will also impact land based ecosystems and will pose the threat of extinction of many species.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In addition rising temperatures would mean greater threat of forest fires around the world, a fact that already can be seen in the past few years all around the world.</div><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: left;">What can individuals do?</h3><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Like was seen in the covid epidemic of 2020-2021, almost everything to manage and contain the looming disaster is in the hands of normal people. In the coming posts, we will examine some of these areas and initiatives that normal people like you and me can do to affect change and prepare for adversity.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div>awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-34631986515974457012022-11-02T19:17:00.001-07:002022-11-02T19:17:40.753-07:00The Logic of Failure<p> "The Logic of Failure" is an interesting book by Dietrich Dorner that examines cases where seemingly competent people make errors in judgement and decisions when underlying system is complex and multi-faceted. In such cases, variables may be interconnected in complex ways often made up of multiple feedback loops. Add to it time delays between action and reaction along each feedback loop and people get gob-smacked by outcomes that they did not foresee.</p><p>While the author's premise is based on Systems Theory, and numerous authors and experts have written treatises on it, what makes the book interesting is the vantage point from which the book is written. Rather than a passive observer or an academic, the book looks at a complex situation from the perspective of an active participant whose actions are likely to impact the outcomes observed in the system.</p><p>The approach then suggested is how one should conduct themselves in such situations. The author proposes a 5 step process in how one should go about conducting themselves in such a situation.</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Formulate clear goals</li><li>Formulate models and gather information</li><li>Prediction and Interpolation</li><li>Planning of actions, decision making and execution of actions</li><li>Review of effects of actions and review of strategy</li></ol><div>By iterating on each of the above steps constantly and at short regular intervals, the author claims that participants can avoid failures and ensure successful outcomes. The above message is further illustrated through a series of experiments where decision makers of different skill and experience level are taken through simulations where they make multiple decisions along the way. Successful participants learn from their decisions and constantly adjust their decisions based on what they learn, where as unsuccessful participants usually learn poorly from their early decisions and instead find themselves in deeper and deeper trouble.</div><div><br /></div><p></p><p><br /></p>awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-83657860520035447912022-09-18T19:58:00.002-07:002022-09-18T20:00:09.604-07:00Winter is coming, or is it?<p> Where ever you see in the media, the talk of impending inflation is being discussed. US Federal Reserve has promised that they will try to counter inflation by raising interest rates to at least 4% or higher for next little while.</p><p>Most Economic forecasters are predicting slowdown in China and Europe due to the property markets in the first case, and due to energy crises precipitated by the war in Europe and resulting increase in natural gas prices for most west European countries.</p><p>With this backdrop, economists are also saying that there is a good chance that US will not get too impacted by the slowdown in Europe. This is because US is mostly energy self-sufficient and its economy though over-heated does not seem to be showing signs of impending recession.</p><p>The contrary view could be </p><p>a) US and Canada will not remain unscathed and will also suffer a recession</p><p>b) Europe itself will be able to avoid a recession.</p><p>Let's see both these scenarios one by one.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Scenario A: US will also enter a recession</h3><p>This is a possibility that cannot be ruled out, as United States while self-sufficient in food and energy is still the 2nd largest goods exporter, as well as the world's largest services exporter. While Canada is the biggest buyer of US goods (almost 18% in 2019), almost 25-30% goods are bought by European Union, UK and China. </p><p>On the services side as well, European Union, UK and China together bought 30% of US Services exports, which itself forms 35% of the total US exports. </p><p>Depending on the severity of recession in Europe and China, its likely that some of the impacts will be felt in the US as well.</p><p>If this happens, the sectors that will get impacted the most will be high tech, since in my naive understanding, most US exports will be high technology.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Scenario B: Europe avoids a recession</h3><p>The only way this can happen is if Europe finds alternative ways to deal with its looming energy crisis. That seems increasingly difficult to pull off. If the recession proves inevitable, then it will invariably be the European manufacturing that may get affected by energy shortages. It is likely also the sector that drives the reduced demand for US goods and services exports.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h3><p>Unless Europe finds a way to keep its industries running during the winter, it is inevitable that the downturn in Europe will spread to United States. The optimism in the US in avoiding the recession may be misplaced, and the increase in interest rates to cool down the economy in US and Canada may turn out to be premature.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-14543153234117681792018-03-31T14:23:00.000-07:002018-03-31T14:23:07.482-07:00Impact of Blockchain, Deep Learning et al on next generation solution architecturesWe are facing yet another onslaught of technologies that will revolutionize societies and work. People are predicting that the new technologies of block chain a.k.a distributed ledger and AI a.k.a Deep learning and predictive analytics will change societies, disrupt businesses and render all of us slaves.<br />
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However, as much as new businesses will be formed around these strategies, its not necessary that they will prove as disruptive as people claim in each and every case. Societies with more people than jobs have already figured out that the social contract cannot be wished away except in authoritative societies. Democracies require people to win elections, and that means that to whatever limited extent, the will of the general population still applies, unless you have an oligarchy that is operating . If people cannot put food on table, all progress is merely academic.<br />
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Also, in a market economy, it does not really help if you can only sell what you build to a handful of people or corporations. Look at phones like Vertu that most people have not heard about. It is much easier to sell something that costs ten dollars to a million people in today's frictionless economy than sell a ten million dollar item to one person or corporation.<br />
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What does this all mean? In my mind, it means that the new disruptive technologies with narrow applications will still need to fit in broader solution architectures. It also means that they will not be used where their application cannot be justified in terms of cost or complexity of deployment.<br />
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Let us start with block chain. It is a distributed ledger which provides a non-repudiable history of transactions. So it assumes that we have the context of a distributed transaction database. With that, it is logical that main-stream database vendors are adding this capability to their primary offerings to extend the transactional history beyond the firewall. The use cases where block-chain makes sense, is therefore limited to scenarios involving multiple parties that do not trust one another and need to transact. There may be many legacy applications where this fits, but getting technology to a point where people trust the technology enough, is going to take time. At least three to five years in my opinion.<br />
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Deep learning on the other hand has 3 primary use cases. It can be used for classification, for prediction and for generative scenarios. Again, not an easy scenario to pull off. You need to train the networks, and then deploy them. There could be embedded intelligent agents that update themselves from a common training pool, but it will take resources to deploy.<br />
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Bottomline, I think these are great technologies in the hands of the architect, but the hype around them is in many ways unwarranted.<br />
<br />awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-82316898984040090182018-03-30T20:34:00.000-07:002018-03-30T20:34:40.162-07:00Impact of AI in businessRecent article in the Economist claims that across many industries, many large companies are deploying AI (machine and deep learning) at scale, and achieving cost savings of around 5 to 20% in different business processes from customer service to supply chain.<br />
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Deploying AI on any scale is not trivial. While deep learning is not hard to start, it takes adequate investment to train deep networks both in terms of computing power as well as skilled resources to execute.<br />
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In any case it is more likely that some businesses will start specializing and commercializing these offerings in specific verticals and develop offerings to sell across players. I suspect in the long term, as these companies gain more customers, it will cease to be a competitive advantage. On the contrary, it will reduce barriers to entry for new players to enter into the segment. If that happens, expect that many more industries will get commoditized.<br />
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With these trends, expect firms "selling spades to gold diggers" to do well. This will include companies developing new GPUs as well as companies that have a lot of data to run algorithms on. These could be folks such as Thomson Reuters .<br />
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Here are the trends that could take root.<br />
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1. GPU architectures for deep learning will keep improving<br />
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2. Performance per unit power will keep going up.<br />
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3. Companies will specialize in specific AI algorithms and productize these for the rest of companies in an industry<br />
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4. New players will enter markets lured by cheaper operating models that prove to be unsustainable in the end.<br />
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5. Data aggregators who sell data to AI companies will start coming up.<br />
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It will be an interesting space to watch.awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-7032862232149046852017-07-07T20:19:00.000-07:002017-07-07T20:19:02.155-07:00Going Digital - Start with outcomes, then scale and price to perfectionGoing Digital seems to be all the rage these days. Every strategy, management or IT consultant talks about "going digital". However, execution leaves much to desire. The problem is a poor understanding of the nature of digital disruption and a mindset that is based on decades of living in a different world.<br />
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For many consultants, digital is the new flavour of the month. Consultants and consulting organisations are stuck on billable hours or traditional mechanisms of generating income. A quick comparison of leading digital disruptors like Uber, Facebook and others is that these firms have spent the time to hone an offering and then define a business model that makes sense. Imagine if Facebook provided billable resources to help provide you a service.<br />
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The true mantra is two fold - providing a repeatable service and removing all middlemen. An Uber does not put a call to a human dispatcher to find and book the nearest cab for you. The software simply plots your location, location of nearest rides and books the ride on a first come first serve basis from a drivers perspective. It does this everytime, no matter where you are and who you are. Income comes from scaling the achievement of this outcome, to meet varied markets and remove/ automate all middle-men.<br />
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A more humanized experience would be UpWork that allows buyers and professional talent to showcase their talents and bid a price. Again, the middle man trying to link demand and supply as a faceless corporation is gone. The product or service could be serviced by an individual or a corporation. People don't care as the contract is in most cases deliverable based rather than hours spent.<br />
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Based on this trend it is easy to see how the future will move towards outcome based contracts rather than time based. That will be something that consultants and consultancies will have to become used to.<br />
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That may also be the key to solving to the problem. When a customer starts paying for an outcome rather than time spent, the really smart consultants will start looking at ways to achieve atypical outcomes using automation and digital enablers.<br />
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So as consultants who are trying to advise organizations to go digital, the easiest way of getting "there" would be to start defining outcomes for our customers and then designing digital enablers that can do so at scale and in a repeatable fashion. Finally, it has to be priced to perfection that cannot be matched through conventional means. <br />
<br />awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-4781759779820132662016-09-04T11:39:00.002-07:002016-09-04T11:41:53.579-07:00Impact of Bot automation on industriesThe whole point of bot automation is a self-contained unit that is capable of making decisions and being able to manage a task on its own.<br />
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A good example is the simple cooling or heating controller in your home or office. The resident sets a target temperature for the home/ office. The cooling or heating regulator has a sensor that measures the temperature in the room, and switches on and off the heating or cooling apparatus to match the target.</div>
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While, such sensors have existed for a while, the new paradigm in form of NEST machines are focused on setting the target itself. The NEST machine learns from longer term behavioural patterns and adjusts the target based on time of day, day of week automatically, while trying to conserve power.</div>
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Now, the next generation of automation is upon us as well. With self driving cars (https://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/), that will drive themselves to farmbots (http://farmbot.io) that will grow our vegetables, it is clear that the future is upon us and will perhaps transform or even disrupt previously existing business models. </div>
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So what has changed?</div>
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The first thing that has changed is that computing has become cheaper, faster and more power efficient. You have your smartphones as well as gaming machines to thank for that. Many of the same technologies that have made mobile smartphones and gaming consoles more capable and durable, have given rise to smart and fast processing computers that can react, run complete operating systems and programs as well as learn from patterns better and faster than before.</div>
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So what happens when a previously manual task becomes automated. It creates more leisure time. When cars start driving themselves, as well as ride hailing services like Uber take off, people will start planning travel as time which can be productively put to other uses. We will perhaps see large malls with huge parking spaces disappear, or put to more productive uses. Home delivery services like Amazon will further reduce the demand for retail space, though one should not reject the notion that Amazon could create browsing stores for its merchandise. However, this will be replaced by social settings where people can come and work or meet each other.</div>
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Another important aspect will be reduction of household travel budgets. However, more automation will also mean reduction of paying jobs. So we may see a rift develop in high paying jobs for people with advanced degrees and low temporary jobs for a significant part of the workforce. Lowering costs of services will perhaps mean that overall quality of life will still be better than today.</div>
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We should see many conventional businesses struggle for fat margins they have been used to, or in many cases disappear entirely, unless they adapt to changing needs and demands.</div>
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awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-16064598684621648962015-08-29T11:47:00.000-07:002015-08-29T11:47:33.450-07:00How to judge a good solution?Its a very easy question...<div>
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Q. How good is the solution?</div>
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The answer is simpler</div>
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A. How big is the problem?</div>
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An elegant solution to an insignificant problem means wasted effort. If something needs to claim as a worthy solution it has to compare itself to the problem being solved. So we need to look very closely to the problem we are trying to solve.</div>
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Now lets understand what makes a problem big. A problem is big if it affects large groups of people adversely. Such a problem becomes even more complex if the lack of a solution serves some people quite well, or if there is a perception that the solution to the problem will create winners and losers.</div>
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Solution of these problems requires that we understand who all gets affected by a problem in what way, and how do we slowly affect change and mitigate concerns. Also, how we ensure that people who feel they will get affected adversely by this change, slowly start changing perceptions and behaviours that leads to changed behaviour...</div>
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awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-51186964043307400622015-02-21T13:29:00.000-08:002015-02-21T16:02:49.807-08:00Naming conventions in Dimensional Warehousing modelsI am looking at a good and robust set of naming conventions to adopt for a Dimensional Data Warehousing Model that I am developing. As I looked around, there were different conventions with opposing perspectives. I still do not know which makes more sense, but I will first enumerate the list of questions I have.<br />
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1. Should the table name suggest whether the table is a fact or a dimension?</div>
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2. Should Entity name prefixed in each table attribute?</div>
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3. Should the attribute name follow some convention?</div>
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4. Should the fact table reveal something about the grain?</div>
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5. Should a fact measure provide some clue of the units the measure is recorded in?</div>
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I will update the post, as I get closer to my answer, but already I have seen some links/ blogs from Kimball group and another set of standards from Oracle BI Applications. Here are the links to these resources as I will revisit this post.</div>
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1. Oracle naming conventions</div>
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<a href="http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E25054_01/fusionapps.1111/e16816/namingconv.htm">http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E25054_01/fusionapps.1111/e16816/namingconv.htm</a></div>
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2. Kimball Group Blog on naming convention</div>
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<a href="http://www.kimballgroup.com/2014/07/design-tip-168-whats-name/">http://www.kimballgroup.com/2014/07/design-tip-168-whats-name/</a></div>
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I will explore this further and keep updating my preferences as we go along...</div>
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awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-7512177820152759552014-08-31T06:56:00.001-07:002014-08-31T07:57:09.201-07:00Making Cities SmartIn my previous post, "<a href="http://syntharch.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-are-smart-cities-and-why.html">What are Smart Cities? and Why?</a>", I had provided some historical context into where and how the concept of Smart Cities fits into the overall narrative of cities, towns and urban developments.<br />
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In this post, I would like to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the middle of the second decade of 21st century, that are leading to development of Smart Cities. I will also introduce some of the Smart City initiatives that are being touted within the overall concept.<br />
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Modern Opportunities and Challenges</h3>
In some ways, Cities, both old and new can be made smart. From my perspective, the Smart Cities movement is a combination of technology and sustainable design practices that will be utilized to solve the biggest challenges for cities going into the 21st century. Let us start by understanding these opportunities and challenges at a deeper level.<br />
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Technology: An Opportunity</h3>
Within the sphere of Information and Communication Technology, independent developments have now started coming together and forming the basis for a set of "architectural forms" that will enable new living patterns. These developments can be grouped as<br />
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1. Realtime Status of Infrastructures<br />
2. Scalable Networks<br />
3. Scalable Computing Infrastructures<br />
4. Ubiquitous Access<br />
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Realtime Status of Infrastructures</b><br />
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As sensors and embedded devices have become cheaper, it has become viable to deploy these sensors on a very large scale. With some level of power source that is either always available or can be continuously replenished (solar/ wind), a lot of the previous generation infrastructures can now be sensor enabled to understand in a realtime basis what is happening in the real world. Whether it is Smart Meters or Smart Buildings, this sensor enablement forms the first foundation of the initiative.<br />
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Scalable Networks</b><br />
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In addition to sensor enablement of many of the urban infrastructures, the next item was how do these devices communicate back to a server the latest status reports. The combination of IP based networks, and proliferation of cellular technologies (3G and 4G), has meant that devices can now communicate with a centralized location on a continuous basis.<br />
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Scalable Computing Infrastructures</b><br />
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As new devices are becoming sensor enabled, and networks can now be scaled to bring these updates back, the next bottleneck is infrastructure to handle this increased information flow as well as be able to process it under varying demand levels. Scalable computing infrastructures, aka Cloud computing, pioneered by Internet companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Yahoo, provide the next building block. This additional computing power can be leased on demand, making it accessible to much smaller scale organizations.<br />
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Ubiquitous Access</b><br />
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Finally, Ubiquitous Access of information provided by Smart phones means that people at all levels of the society can now tap into these networks and infrastructures with relative ease. The Apps frameworks offered by most smartphone manufacturers means that developers and software engineers can combine these data into new ways to create new applications based on a user's needs. Next, we will discuss smartphones that now play a dual role.</div>
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Smartphones: Moving from a Consumer to a Publisher </h3>
As mentioned, within the last decade a lot of aspects on how technology is accessed and deployed around the world, have been quietly but unmistakably revolutionized. While the Internet revolution started almost two decades ago, the primary interface was the PC. In the last 5 to 7 years, the access interface for Internet has become un-tethered from a wired connection at a fixed location, to a mobile one. More importantly, the access device, aka "the smartphone" has been embellished with a lot of sensors that allows the device to become a data source as much as it is an access device. This means that not only can people stay current with latest information wherever they are, but at an aggregate as well at an individual level, people can broadcast their current information to any body who would like to know.<br />
<h3>
Sustainable Development: A Challenge</h3>
The obvious challenge of 21st century is sustainable development. As mentioned in my previous post, the sprawl development of the 20th century is seen as something that needs to be fixed. This is in spite of the fact, that technology development in the recent past actually encourages sprawl. To explain, much of the social infrastructure in big cities can now be replicated in remote areas without incurring the same cost. However, its the external costs that are driving most societies to look for an alternate development model.<br />
<br />
These external costs are in terms of some of the following issues, that go across developing and developed countries. These are<br />
<br />
1. Congestion on roads<br />
2. Demand for non-productive uses for scarce land such as on-street and off-street parking.<br />
3. Costs in terms of traffic accidents<br />
4. Increasing energy demand specially in developing countries.<br />
5. Increasing costs in Energy extraction and generation.<br />
6. Health costs of Transportation and Energy Generation Emissions.<br />
7. External costs that are being incurred and will continue to accelerate due to climate change<br />
<h3>
Opportunities to make cities Smart</h3>
<div>
In order to make cities Smart, cities will need to focus on initiatives that make modern city living more sustainable and reduce the external costs as much as possible. Much of these initiatives are focused on the following areas.</div>
<br />
1. Switching from personal automobile to shared or mass transit.<br />
2. Encouraging alternate forms of energy production to reduce reliance on fossil fuels<br />
3. Making energy generation and consumption more demand responsive.<br />
4. Tele-commuting and Tele-shopping<br />
<br />
In the next post, we will see how technologies can be combined to create enabling technologies for Smart Cities.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-10815237470810878932014-08-24T06:03:00.001-07:002014-09-09T03:22:56.726-07:00What are Smart Cities? and Why?After perhaps a decade, the term "Smart Cities" is back in vogue. Promoted by IT vendors like IBM, Hitachi and others, IT vendors are trying to bring the concept of instrumented and automated systems into the paradigm of cities and urban living.<br />
<br />
Smart Cities are urban design and urban development approach that leverages recent Information Technology and Communication Technology advancements to provide a higher standard of living and more environmentally conscious and energy efficient city developments.<br />
<br />
In the first post on the series, I will put on my rosy glasses and see what makes "Smart City" a good pitch.<br />
<br />
Historically, cities have been the grounds where different political powers and social systems have arisen, and have faded away within the context of a settlement. As they say "Rome was not built in a day", most cities around the world are actually layers of cities built on top of one another, as a patchwork of different systems and sensibilities of different times and eras. In that context, Smart Cities are another flavor and style being crafted out of recent and modern technological advancements, as well as to solve some of the problems of previous city models. To understand how Smart Cities fit into the overall narrative, let us start with how cities came into being.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Understanding cities before they became Smart</h3>
In the beginning of human cities, these were market towns, or trading ports, where the cultivators and traders of their time came to buy and sell their wares. They slowly morphed into seats of political power as their wealth and influence grew leading to an age of empires. As empires grew, cities became fortified entities that could defend themselves from invading armies. The loot in these cases was taxes collected from the hinterland and armies raised from that capital to invade and protect.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Industrial and Imperial Advancement</h3>
During renaissance, cities like Florence became seats of cultural and artistic revolutions and also scientific discoveries funded by benevolent rulers. This growth in learning cities in Persia, Middle East and India preceded the development of learning cities in Europe.<br />
<br />
Eventually the scientific discoveries of renaissance led to Industrial revolution and funding of expanding navies and trading routes to develop resource and raw material supply chains. Cities during the Industrial revolution evolved from markets to a combination of trading and production centers. As a result they became polluting slums where the workers migrated from hinterland to find economic opportunities. The living conditions also gave rise to several epidemics due to prevalent living conditions, but eventually led rise to development of modern public health systems.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Automobile and Suburbia</h3>
As the societies understood the perils of Industrial revolution, as well as the horse carriage gave way to mass produced automobiles at the turn of the century, a movement started to reduce densities and provide more countryside style of living through development of modern sub-urbia. The development of electricity, modern water and waste water systems, telephone, radio and television allowed sub-urban dwellers to stay in single family residences and yet be part of the urban economy in some shape or form.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Modern communication revolution</h3>
While the Industrial revolution and Automobile were the foundation technologies of previous re-configuration of cities, the Smart City moniker definitely relies on TCP-IP networks. Starting from wired connections, TCP-IP based networks owe their popularity to an amount of scalability as well as some resilience. TCP-IP networks now bridge the high bandwidth networks found in many western homes and businesses with broad-band, as well as mobile networks such as GPRS, 3G and now LTE (4G). The ubiquity of TCP-IP networks has made "getting connected", a lot cheaper and easier.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The digital connection and sensor revolution</h3>
As modern TCP-IP networks have evolved, it has become possible to start connecting many of the sensor-based systems that have been deployed in many modern systems. Sensors can be connected to automation systems that can take decisions based on simple decision trees or algorithms. With these changes, many cities have realized these computerized systems can now be used to make urban systems more efficient and resilient.<br />
<br />
The earlier transition of TCP-IP communication to Smart phones and wireless computing devices has also meant that people can now access many urban services and information from wherever they are.<br />
<br />
<h3>
But why the demand for cities to get Smart?</h3>
Many cities in the developed and developing world realize that the modern cities require a large amount of resources to serve and maintain them. In developed world, the demographic realities and operational budget constraints imply that cities do not have the resources to provide the quality of living they aspired to. They are being increasingly asked to do more with less.<br />
<br />
In developing world, increased connectivity and exposure to western living standards through social and traditional media now has made a new generation of population, hungry of a standard of living that was only previously in the west. However, they are in a position to chart their course to a more efficient urbanization model instead of an energy and resource intensive development model.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Reducing the resource foot print for 21st century living.</h3>
The energy and resources needed to sustain sub-urban development can now be more optimally utilized to allow smarter development models. Automating these aspects of urban development, maintenance and operations is where the so called "Smart City" initiatives make the most sense.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Making the Pitch and the Sale</h3>
However, there are some challenges that make these not such an easy sell. While the pitch is becoming easier to understand, the sale is not that straightforward. This is primarily because it is perhaps not very clear, who is the customer that will pay for these roll outs. In subsequent posts, we will see how these may have an impact on the eventual realization of Smart Cities around the world.<br />
<br />
In the next post, I will expand on the opportunities and challenges for <a href="http://syntharch.blogspot.com/2014/08/making-cities-smart.html">Making Cities Smart</a>.awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-31292430825900496292014-04-21T05:40:00.002-07:002014-04-21T05:40:54.796-07:00Energy Trends in 2014 and beyondI am no expert in energy, but the whole energy industry is undergoing a quiet transformation. It is very important to understand these changes as it will impact everyone for years to come.<br />
<br />
There are few secular trends that are happening and will perhaps accelerate in the coming years. These are as follows:<br />
<br />
1. Per capita energy consumption in the developed world is decreasing<br />
2. Per capita energy consumption in the developing world is increasing.<br />
3. US and Canada are becoming the marginal producers of oil and natural gas for their markets.<br />
4. Fossil fuels may eventually become a marginal source of energy for generating electricity<br />
5. Renewables and Distributed generation will become increasingly important leading to re-design of grids.<br />
6. Energy storage will become more important going forward.<br />
<br />
The above are bold statements, and we will need justification as well as an understanding of the magnitude of the statements to understand their impact.<br />
<br />
Here is a table that provides the overall trends<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cols="7">
<colgroup width="205"></colgroup>
<colgroup width="99"></colgroup>
<colgroup span="5" width="85"></colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFFF99" height="22" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A<span style="font-size: x-small;">spect</span></span></b></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFFF99" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Country</span></b></td>
<td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#FFFF99" sdnum="1033;" sdval="2008" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2008</span></b></td>
<td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#FFFF99" sdnum="1033;" sdval="2009" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2009</span></b></td>
<td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#FFFF99" sdnum="1033;" sdval="2010" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2010</span></b></td>
<td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#FFFF99" sdnum="1033;" sdval="2011" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2011</span></b></td>
<td align="CENTER" bgcolor="#FFFF99" sdnum="1033;" sdval="2012" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2012</span></b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Total Primary Energy Consumption per Capita (Million Btu per Person)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="326.45997" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">326.46</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="308.23956" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">308.24</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="316.94623" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">316.95</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="312.80978" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">312.81</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="407.8635" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">407.86</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="391.10771" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">391.11</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="385.0955" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">385.10</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="396.55672" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">396.56</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="64.49649" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">64.50</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="71.29933" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">71.30</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="75.84265" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">75.84</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="82.00652" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">82.01</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="17.45012" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">17.45</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="18.51247" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">18.51</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="18.68523" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">18.69</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19.85471" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19.85</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="73.14767" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">73.15</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="71.84911" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">71.85</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="74.38607" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">74.39</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Total Electricity Net Generation (Billion Kilowatthours)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4119.387" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4119.39</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3950.33159" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3950.33</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4125.05935" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4125.06</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4100.13973" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4100.14</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4047.76523" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4047.77</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="621.73626" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">621.74</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="596.74696" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">596.75</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="585.106" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">585.11</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="622.984" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">622.98</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="644.084" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">644.08</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3280.668" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3280.67</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3507.509" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3507.51</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3904.881" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3904.88</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4490.536" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4490.54</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="796.81104" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">796.81</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="838.753" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">838.75</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="885.748" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">885.75</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="974.877" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">974.88</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19161.09005" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19161.09</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19062.31752" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19062.32</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="20253.92653" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">20253.93</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="21080.87797" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">21080.88</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Total Renewable Electricity Net Generation (Billion Kilowatthours)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="392.73567" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">392.74</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="429.65204" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">429.65</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="440.23135" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">440.23</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="527.48973" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">527.49</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="508.36023" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">508.36</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="381.464" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">381.46</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="379.474" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">379.47</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="366.288" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">366.29</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="398.459" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">398.46</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="406.203" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">406.20</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="596.785" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">596.79</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="639.28" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">639.28</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="770.919" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">770.92</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="800.967" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">800.97</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="124.867" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">124.87</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="123.026" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">123.03</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="135.271" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">135.27</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="160.361" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">160.36</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3731.92758" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3731.93</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3871.42951" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3871.43</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4177.06035" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4177.06</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4402.42525" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4402.43</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hydroelectricity Net Generation (Billion Kilowatthours)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="254.831" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">254.83</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="273.445" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">273.45</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="260.203" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">260.20</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="319.355" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">319.36</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="276.24" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">276.24</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="370.553" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">370.55</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="364.962" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">364.96</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="347.837" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">347.84</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="371.929" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">371.93</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="376.213" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">376.21</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="579.335" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">579.34</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="609.484" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">609.48</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="713.79" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">713.79</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="690.605" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">690.61</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="856.35" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">856.35</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="109.143" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">109.14</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="103.169" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">103.17</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="113.28" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">113.28</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="129.361" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">129.36</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="114.498" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">114.50</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3171.51304" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3171.51</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3224.81708" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3224.82</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3412.16176" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3412.16</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3471.62095" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3471.62</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wind Electricity Net Generation (Billion Kilowatthours)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="55.3631" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">55.36</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="73.88613" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">73.89</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="94.65225" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">94.65</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="120.1766" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">120.18</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="140.822" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">140.82</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3.706" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3.71</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="6.641" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">6.64</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="9.557" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9.56</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19.687" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19.69</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="23.073" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">23.07</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="14.8" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">14.80</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="26.9" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">26.90</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="44.622" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">44.62</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="73.2" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">73.20</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="13.701" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">13.70</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="17.804" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">17.80</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19.911" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19.91</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="26" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">26.00</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="220.29754" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">220.30</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="276.0453" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">276.05</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="341.53199" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">341.53</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="446.33366" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">446.33</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#E6E6FF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Solar Electricity Net Generation (Billion Kilowatthours)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.864" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.86</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.891" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.89</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="1.212" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1.21</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="1.818" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1.82</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4.327" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4.33</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.065" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.07</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.133" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.13</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.188" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.19</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.463" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.46</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.537" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.54</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.152" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.15</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.392" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.39</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.939" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.94</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3.00</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.02" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.02</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.023" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.02</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="0.023" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">0.02</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="1" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1.00</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="1.1" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1.10</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="11.877" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">11.88</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19.764" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19.76</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="31.221" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">31.22</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="58.742" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">58.74</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CFE7F5" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Total Petroleum Consumption (Thousand Barrels Per Day)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19497.96721" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19497.97</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="18771.39726" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">18771.40</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="19180.12877" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">19180.13</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="18882.07397" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">18882.07</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="18490.21585" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">18490.22</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="2224.9413" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2224.94</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="2162.9225" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2162.92</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="2264.5784" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2264.58</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="2266.0499" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2266.05</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="2280.7593" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2280.76</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="7467.51975" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">7467.52</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="8539.72543" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">8539.73</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="9330.17597" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9330.18</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="9852.08038" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9852.08</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="10276.82554" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">10276.83</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="2863.99804" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">2864.00</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3112.73607" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3112.74</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3255.39117" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3255.39</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3410.54441" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3410.54</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3621.75052" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3621.75</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="84696.9203" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">84696.92</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="84917.65089" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">84917.65</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="87527.34681" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">87527.35</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="88743.91253" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">88743.91</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#FFCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="89406.61102" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">89406.61</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" height="94" rowspan="5" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Total Oil Supply (Thousand Barrels Per Day)</span></td>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">United States</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="8563.59563" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">8563.60</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="9133.79726" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9133.80</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="9684.53151" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">9684.53</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="10136.20821" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">10136.21</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="11104.50535" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">11104.51</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Canada</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3343.57681" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3343.58</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3318.82898" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3318.83</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3441.73001" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3441.73</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3597.33277" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3597.33</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="3856.43963" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">3856.44</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">China</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4036.66601" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4036.67</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4067.54429" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4067.54</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4362.65795" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4362.66</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4346.98288" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4346.98</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="4372.44576" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">4372.45</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">India</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="874.9688" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">874.97</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="873.59378" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">873.59</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="965.30151" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">965.30</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="995.80532" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">995.81</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="990.17788" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">990.18</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">World</span></b></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="85438.91438" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">85438.91</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="84592.52108" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">84592.52</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="87157.80384" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">87157.80</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="87572.88166" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">87572.88</span></td>
<td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#CCCCFF" sdnum="1033;0;0.00;[RED]-0.00" sdval="89292.4898" style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: 1px solid #000000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">89292.49</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<br /></h3>
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<br />awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-79049001429326160252014-03-02T07:34:00.000-08:002014-03-02T16:11:23.761-08:00The Long(er) View in 2014<div align="CENTER" style="margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The
Long(er) View in 2014</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When making any decisions about the
future, one needs to look at long term trends, medium term episodes
and short term events. They all guide where we are likely to be in a
few years/ decades. Also, important is to understand the trends that
will happen no matter what, and other things that will seek to
counter-balance or reinforce these trends. In many cases, unraveling
of some trends will set off domino effects that will fundamentally
alter the reality that we see.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Overall trends can be assessed in the
following areas.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ol>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Demographics</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Technology</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Science</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Energy</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Economy</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Social</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Politics</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Out of the above, I would rate
Demographic trends to be most fundamental. Science and Technology
follow a close second. The remaining – Economic, Social and
Political trends to me are generated out of the more fundamental
forces that are likely to be more kosher.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h1 class="western">
Demographic trends in the next decade</h1>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The demographic trends in the near
future is almost clear. With 2.5 out of the 7 billion people on the
planet (37%) living in China and India, the world's population is
becoming more skewed towards South East Asia.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXO3ZCe6APvcj4E1c2LTyZYohnVTshzJ_k6lGXH3AQgOvu8drefjdWwyx6eczebCkYcdeC_AUBsfrT0dlZuTdo-OcoD6pAJzQKMDbE4b1AOkDzhQ04ktr9HwJugn34JrtuqV_vH6XLTo/s1600/File_World_population.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXO3ZCe6APvcj4E1c2LTyZYohnVTshzJ_k6lGXH3AQgOvu8drefjdWwyx6eczebCkYcdeC_AUBsfrT0dlZuTdo-OcoD6pAJzQKMDbE4b1AOkDzhQ04ktr9HwJugn34JrtuqV_vH6XLTo/s1600/File_World_population.png" height="290" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Global Population by country in 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A more fair comparison would be the density of population.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm2BJA9bEVl2adw_u-q7d_3XvE8RhMnzDRQwZLSLZc5jIas1cGRTb93vbOlE3vqxCOQW8XcaGfamwBc81TMEYDRw5Ns71Wss_tY6wajO5t-sWKsSVrus7LW2REnE6NtdiyqAcf9OJrwgw/s1600/World_population_density_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm2BJA9bEVl2adw_u-q7d_3XvE8RhMnzDRQwZLSLZc5jIas1cGRTb93vbOlE3vqxCOQW8XcaGfamwBc81TMEYDRw5Ns71Wss_tY6wajO5t-sWKsSVrus7LW2REnE6NtdiyqAcf9OJrwgw/s1600/World_population_density_map.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Global Population Density</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Also, if we compared the population in East and South East Asia, we would find them to be comparable.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S9zWEAAvs_FVLaQo-RAoED4jlKaOzMLt1yCjFvkEeYkmxn7sOXkBIakfrmfhVap033kT_xYIswnDPr0YQ7lxew_n811X4gVcj0SQByzQr4pwL3HELwt0bXPRKa5SaKZQyUVyVgMOU60/s1600/Half+the+World.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S9zWEAAvs_FVLaQo-RAoED4jlKaOzMLt1yCjFvkEeYkmxn7sOXkBIakfrmfhVap033kT_xYIswnDPr0YQ7lxew_n811X4gVcj0SQByzQr4pwL3HELwt0bXPRKa5SaKZQyUVyVgMOU60/s1600/Half+the+World.jpg" height="418" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
For most of the world
population (including China), fertility rate is 1-2 births per woman.
Also, world population growth rates around the world hover from -ve
to 1-2% in most of the planet. So, what does all this mean?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8tMmFrOO2KopLml8opnchk79RzAQubx6QDbVw3bKWG3LEN_ymu5H6j8ziiU_IwxdFEdbygUqQW4sw1UzTBBhVnsNNwGotiKvFKvEe-8-Ny1_bJcuBgl2_ndsZRCRjznMLplXjs6fPdc/s1600/800px-Population_growth_rate_world_2005-2010_UN.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8tMmFrOO2KopLml8opnchk79RzAQubx6QDbVw3bKWG3LEN_ymu5H6j8ziiU_IwxdFEdbygUqQW4sw1UzTBBhVnsNNwGotiKvFKvEe-8-Ny1_bJcuBgl2_ndsZRCRjznMLplXjs6fPdc/s1600/800px-Population_growth_rate_world_2005-2010_UN.png" height="296" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annual Population Growth Percentage by Country</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Next the median age in different countries of the world.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<img align="BOTTOM" border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Median_age.png" height="308" name="graphics3" width="697" /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
It means that there will be more older
people in richer parts of the world, while more working/ younger
population in poorer parts of the world. While a small percentage of
the working population may choose to take care of the old and rich,
it is more likely that the now older and retiring population would
want the younger population to take care of them. This could happen
through the following ways</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Healthcare professions may become
more lucrative for younger population</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
More automation and technology
coming into healthcare</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
More investment into training and
education of younger people in health and medical disciplines.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Establishment of large healthcare
organizations that may provide direct employment opportunities to
working populations in current countries.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Manufacturing and innovation
moving to more populous countries in Asia and Africa</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It will also be important for
currencies to stay favourable for enticing younger populations to
focus overseas.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If we see global expenditures on health
as percentage of GDP, we can see the following trend.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4mRCN_qlJQlpd01y7QqwI3NNOnGHrW_OtvQURLbeugVi1hqhRf7cStH4Gds_BvLwTng6GqhxZmZaS9yHS4LSZMC-zzzA-q6C2YNvxqA6jvjTgCL5N1FDF8YaT0KlhTsyFXnnTPfjWD44/s1600/HealthExpenditureAsPercentOfGDP.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4mRCN_qlJQlpd01y7QqwI3NNOnGHrW_OtvQURLbeugVi1hqhRf7cStH4Gds_BvLwTng6GqhxZmZaS9yHS4LSZMC-zzzA-q6C2YNvxqA6jvjTgCL5N1FDF8YaT0KlhTsyFXnnTPfjWD44/s1600/HealthExpenditureAsPercentOfGDP.png" height="368" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Health Expenditure as a percentage of GDP by country matches the median age distribution shown above with some minor variations</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In dollar terms, we can see that
expenditures are focused on the richest western counries in the
world. We can see that governments will see that healthcare is no
longer an expense they can allow at its current levels. To make the
process more efficient, we should see governments putting more
emphasis (and dollars) on preventive healthcare than on traditional
medicine and recovery.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXFBmNmDy-C-uh9ujGqFH4-u69eYdbGvKzEAmH_YfoKA5h10rIMnX-J5tcgedNytjfglSzMZoKpyUBgMnMt_gTiYymH1zjk0iIXEswmgEedjTVFlSW8oVRi2uWYKhvIQ0Ts_9H64mn_Io/s1600/HealthExpenditureInDollars.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXFBmNmDy-C-uh9ujGqFH4-u69eYdbGvKzEAmH_YfoKA5h10rIMnX-J5tcgedNytjfglSzMZoKpyUBgMnMt_gTiYymH1zjk0iIXEswmgEedjTVFlSW8oVRi2uWYKhvIQ0Ts_9H64mn_Io/s1600/HealthExpenditureInDollars.png" height="374" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In dollar terms, expenditure on health probably is more in line with per capita GDP. As per capita GDP rises in other countries, we can probably expect absolute dollar expenditure on health rise more as well.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The increased dollars will also
probably entice next generation of technology breakthroughs to come
in the areas of health and medicine. Portable devices that allow
patients to monitor their health and report it on a routine basis to
health care professionals sitting remotely will become the norm. Add
the capability to automate the backend using statistical and
predictive analytics will add to the process.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h1 class="western">
Technology Trends</h1>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Technology is disrupting the economics
of many fundamental value chains. Steve Jobs idea of modeling Apple
on Sony instead of Microsoft, upon his return to Apple, and then
using technology to try and disrupt each and every industry Sony was
in (almost), including music, media and entertainment is a case in
point.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As technology evolves, the threshold
economics of many traditional industries will give way. Industries
such as Banking (online banking), Trading (online), Finance, Higher
education (MOOCS), Insurance (Geico), Entertainment (Netflix and
YouTube), Print Media (websites, Facebook, declining advertising and
readership), etc. have already felt the tectonic plates shift with
communication and Internet technology. As new platforms emerge, they
unravel the economics of previous business models and allow new
businesses to emerge.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h2 class="western">
Mobile</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
New changes will likely be increased
adoption of 3G and 4G technologies in mobile. Current adoption is 30%
in markets where 3G is deployed, and 4G deployment is accelerating as
people are accessing more online services on their mobile. It is
likely in next few years, 3G and 4G adoption will grow substantially.
This is more true for areas where no other competing technologies
such as television and fixed line phones and Internet have been
deployed.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Also, as the mobile phone batteries
improve, processing improves and demand for gaming and media
consumption on mobile increases, it is likely that the phones will
become bigger and adoption of smart phones will increase. Also, as TV
content becomes more accessible on smart phones, it is likely that
the smart phone user base will grow beyond urban to more broad-based
as for traditional Television audience.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0h1ILm9OXdb5J6a_bDW8ItR-8yTeZMhDE0vO5yB5oA-kVE9PsqXJd17P1y0_3XuNTms2_MeVdXQr-m-ISQi6MUDSFhhdOMCUP7U12eyL1y2tg2py-JcXC-Q0KQow6hK3IjfyBRU-hxyQ/s1600/SmartphoneAdoption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0h1ILm9OXdb5J6a_bDW8ItR-8yTeZMhDE0vO5yB5oA-kVE9PsqXJd17P1y0_3XuNTms2_MeVdXQr-m-ISQi6MUDSFhhdOMCUP7U12eyL1y2tg2py-JcXC-Q0KQow6hK3IjfyBRU-hxyQ/s1600/SmartphoneAdoption.jpg" height="600" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smartphone adoption will rise across all countries with additional services coming on line.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2 class="western">
Automobile Technology</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Automobile technologies are increasing
range and reducing price of electric vehicles. Tesla motors seems to
be eying a more sizable percentage of the market in coming years, and
other vendors are also investing in making traditional combustion
engines, hybrids and electric vehicles more economic in terms of cost
of ownership. Pure electric cars now provide a range of 300 miles at
a full charge that costs 9 dollars on average.
<br />
<br />
In other countries, which are not producing their own oil (and hence have to rely largely on oil imports), the move to mass transit modes will intensify specially in urban areas. Given congestion and cost for travel, it is also likely that electronic commerce and e-delivery will intensify. In some countries, where the logistics and distribution is not well developed, online retailers may partner with brick and mortar companies to promote last mile delivery. Given these scenarios, it is likely that mobile commerce will also intensify.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<h4>
Internet</h4>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is wide disparity between
countries in terms of per capita bandwidth consumption. This is an
image from 2003, however this is perhaps indicative of the order of magnitude.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhESPstS2KYOubCOa0vwDu-81bsayE9dUrNByPYPB5vSdON4VhNKV5MTkDeyQunUJw3Ktjec6ZTbWqtxb2qgeTqYyn8JfoFEffN8kXHwqSMKb5ZPGptUUNesWYQ1uUqpznlpuAA-bVEkuA/s1600/InternetBandwidth2003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhESPstS2KYOubCOa0vwDu-81bsayE9dUrNByPYPB5vSdON4VhNKV5MTkDeyQunUJw3Ktjec6ZTbWqtxb2qgeTqYyn8JfoFEffN8kXHwqSMKb5ZPGptUUNesWYQ1uUqpznlpuAA-bVEkuA/s1600/InternetBandwidth2003.png" height="390" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Given the economic realities that
underpin these innovations, it seems most likely that these
innovations will intensify. In the short and medium term, companies
will benefit from capital investment in last mile connectivity.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h2>
Science trends</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Much of scientific research is focused
on medicine and health. This is a space I need to do more research to
understand the trends a little deeper.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h2 class="western">
Energy Trends</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Energy trends are a little mixed at
this point. The ongoing exploration and extraction of oil and gas in
continental North America and in Russia is likely to put pressure on
OPEC. However, these efforts need oil to stay above 80 to 100 dollars
per barrel. Therefore, it is unlikely that price of oil is going to
change even with US and Europe reducing their reliance on middle
eastern oil. This will make alternative energy sources more appealing
including solar, wind and others. Also, as the adoption of electric
vehicles increases, it is likely that solar adoption will increase
both at grid as well as consumer side. On the consumer side, we can
expect households, offices, plugin charging stations increase their
adoption of solar and other alternative forms of energy.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Given new alternative forms of energy
sources coming online, it is anticipated that power grids will be
re-balanced to allow grids to tap into new forms of energy.
Initiatives such as Smart grid roll outs will see investments in
digitization and improvement in reliability of the grid. Smart grid
drivers seem to be of two kinds – firstly, introducing Demand
Responsive capabilities and secondly, Supply Responsive capabilities.
Given energy efficiency is improving across most usage scenarios
coupled with Time of use pricing, it is likely that Supply Responsive
measures will be a bigger driver for change to the Grids.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That now leaves Economy, Social and
Political trends that we will cover in the next post.</div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-16925736814798744732013-08-31T03:48:00.000-07:002013-08-31T03:56:31.862-07:00Book Review: Information Dashboard Design by Stephen FewThe guru of Dashboard design, Stephen Few, finally released the much anticipated second edition of his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1938377001/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1938377001&linkCode=as2&tag=synthesis03-20">"Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-Glance Monitoring"</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=synthesis03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1938377001" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. The book is quite valuable from my perspective, as he lists the design principles for a good dashboard design.<br />
<br />
What is a dashboard?<br />
<br />
While most people are familiar with Stephen Few's pioneering work on bullet graphs and other visualizations, I think an equally important contribution is Stephen's definition of a dashboard. He defines a dashboard as following:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>A dashboard is a visual display </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that has been </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>consolidated on a single screen</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so it can be</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>monitored at a glance</b></div>
<br />
In the book, he goes on to describe common pitfalls, some background theory on how information is perceived by the human brain as well as how to conduct a project for dashboard design. An equally important concept for a novice like me was the Ink to Data ratio, and I can see how some of my previous efforts could be improved substantially.<br />
<br />
There are many important sections in the book on ways to start and optimize a dashboard and coupled with Ralph Kimball's suggestions on <a href="http://syntharch.blogspot.com/2013/07/principles-of-dashboard-design.html">design of drill downs in a dashboard</a>, I think it provides excellent design principles and patterns for how to think about dashboards.<br />
<br />
In summary, I think all the information given is extremely valuable, and this book will be sitting on my shelves for a long time.<br />
<br />
<script src="http://wms-na.amazon-adsystem.com/20070822/US/js/link-enhancer-common.js?tag=synthesis03-20" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<noscript>
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</noscript>awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-68911214300821202782013-07-30T04:27:00.001-07:002013-07-30T04:27:47.207-07:00Combating Food WasteI read recently that in most households anywhere between 15 to 30% of food is thrown away. Almost 50% of salad leaves are thrown away.<br />
<br />
These are certainly jaw dropping statistics, and I am wondering if we can somehow figure out a way to reduce the waste. For many of us, who do like to cook, maybe there is a way to keep track of food that is going to become spoilt soon and incorporate those ingredients in our recipes in our daily cooking.<br />
<br />
Equally important, could be uncooked food that we can donate to a food drive that is nearing expiry, and can be picked up from our kerbs. Food that is already cooked that can be picked up from our homes as well, with hours of expiry listed. These could be picked up by volunteer organizations and provided as meals to hungry folks. There of course needs to be a goodwill system that recognizes more dependable and honest folks versus people who try to pass of their already spoilt food into these drives. A recycling fee could be paid to these households that have been consistently good and honest about the quality and condition of their food.<br />
<br />
<br />awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-19083834366219318412013-07-28T19:20:00.003-07:002013-07-28T19:23:16.417-07:00Understanding the complexity in systems using simplified mechanismsAs the systems we design and build are getting more function rich, the underlying logic is getting bigger and bigger, and as a result, the complexity in these systems is also increasing. The traditional view of adding features to products has meant that we are now left with systems, whose complexity is understood by very few and sometimes nobody at all.<br />
<br />
This is causing trouble not only in testing these large systems, but more often than that even the architects and developers are at a loss to understand which all pieces of the system are interacting with one another.<br />
<br />
In open source systems, this complexity is somehow managed by adding more eyeballs to the code base as well as constant re-factoring by self-motivated and many time unpaid developers. However, in commercially developed software the complexity can kill or really shorten the product life.<br />
<br />
Luckily, there are techniques that can help everyone understand the underlying complexity so that it can be understood and tackled by everyone. One of these techniques is called DSM where all components of a system are put in a NXN matrix and then the interactions between these components is mapped in the resulting matrix/grid. Optimization techniques involve pulling the interacting elements closer to one another spatially on the grid, so that these can then be understood as one system rather than random components interacting with one another.<br />
<br />
Lets hope these techniques become more accessible in the days to come so that we don't end up being in the new Dark Ages of automation, where no body really understands why and how our software and hardware components interact with one another.<br />
<br />
<br />awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-6941987358979036172013-07-18T17:59:00.000-07:002013-07-18T18:04:55.996-07:00Principles of Dashboard DesignI was thinking about the ideal strategy for designing dashboards, till I came across a couple of blog entries by the master himself - Ralph Kimball. In these blog posts, titled "Drill Down to Ask Why" (<a href="http://www.information-management.com/issues/2007_49/10001560-1.html">first</a> and <a href="http://www.information-management.com/issues/2007_50/10001728-1.html">second</a>) the master gives the mantras of good dashboard design.<br />
<br />
Here they are, in the order explained by the Master (and mentioned to him by his colleague):<br />
<br />
1. Publish reports. Provide standard operational and managerial “report cards” on the current state of a business.<br />
<br />
2. Identify exceptions. Reveal the exceptional performance situations to focus attention<br />
<br />
3. Determine causal factors. Seek to understand the “why” or root causes behind the identified exceptions.<br />
<br />
4. Model alternatives. Provide a backdrop to evaluate different decision alternatives.<br />
<br />
5. Track actions. Evaluate the effectiveness of the recommended actions and feed the decisions back to both the operational systems and DW, against which stage one reporting will be conducted, thereby closing the loop.<br />
<br />
<b><u>More on Asking Why?</u></b><br />
Giving the example of an air fare planner looking for reasons for poor performance of their data, Ralph provides the following illustrations:<br />
<br />
1. Give me more detail. Run the same yield report, but break down the high-level routes by dates, time of day, aircraft type, fare class and other attributes of the original yield calculation.<br />
<br />
2. Give me a comparison. Run the same yield report, but this time compare to a previous time period or to competitive yield data if it is available.<br />
<br />
3. Let me search for other factors. Jump to nonyield databases, such as a weather database, a holiday/special events database, a marketing promotions database or a competitive pricing database to see if any of these exogenous factors could have played a role.<br />
<br />
4. Tell me what explains the variance. Perform a data mining analysis, perhaps using decision trees, examining hundreds of marketplace conditions to see which of these conditions correlates most strongly with the drop in yield (explaining the variance in data mining terminology).<br />
<br />
5. Search the Web for information about the problem. Google or Yahoo! the Web for “airline yield 2008 versus 2007.”<br />
<br />
I think the above provides a great structure for a real enterprise level executive dashboard.<br />
<br />awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-31214080963932289052013-05-15T19:04:00.001-07:002013-06-02T09:05:07.595-07:00Multi tenant architectures in On-premise settings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
When discussing cloud computing, one often hears the term "Multi Tenant Architecture". The term is seen as "the standard" by which one should judge whether a software is truly a cloud solution or simply a software hosted on a remote data center. The expression implies the ability of an enterprise software to be effectively used by multiple enterprises at the same time, without the knowledge of one another.<br />
<br />
As mentioned, Multi tenant architectures are supposedly one of the underpinnings of modern SaaS (Software as a Service) or cloud architectures. However multi-tenant architectures are increasingly being asked for in many on-premise deployments.<br />
<br />
The reasons for this ask, ranges from convincing to the absurd. This trend is particularly noticeable in organizations where:<br />
<br />
1. After an era where Corporate IT had no say (for good reason), in business departments running their own mini-IT shops, IT has now become "a strategic expense". IT is trying to consolidate various home-grown systems, but the requirements have become so divergent that completely different functional and non-functional requirements are being sought.<br />
<br />
2. Alternatively, in other cases, IT departments in large Organizations have bought multi-tenant software products without real business analysis. Here the promise was that client departments would utilize their own resources to understand the processes they would want to automate and then go about implementing such solutions in a self-service model.<br />
<br />
3. Finally, are organizations where Multi-million dollar data centres have been sold to large organizations with the promise of virtualization without having a real business case for it.<br />
<br />
Regardless of the mechanism, reality is that IT departments would like to look for applications that can be rolled out in this self-service way.<br />
<br />
For our purposes, on-premise multi-tenant architectures are being desired by organizations wherever there is a self service software delivery model. Where multiple groups or departments or even organizations are using a shared environment and would like to sandbox their interactions and system configurations to their own use scenarios.<br />
<br />
Multi tenant as the name implies multiple distinct uses. A good metric to validate if the architecture is truly multi tenant is to Of course ask the question "How many user groups are using distinct configurations, their own databases as well as configuration policies and yet are on the latest release of the software?"<br />
<br />
To achieve multi-tenancy is a whole different ball game together. The first step is what is called virtualized multi tenancy where multiple environments and associated user groups are having their own configurations but in sandboxed virtual environments. <br />
<br />
The next level is to allow multiple deployments within the same environment, but completely isolated by having dedicated instances of run time environments.<br />
<br />
True multi-tenant architectures would imply that its the same run time process but allows completely isolated operations. The way to achieve it is perhaps through configurations that can be altered and spawned at any time. Perhaps resource constraints can be set to prevent monopolization of resources by a single instance/ configuration. Software based memory architecture would allow completely sand-boxed operations. All this requires a lot of hard work in upfront planning and designing and building.<br />
<br />
Given these above requirements, I would think that to be functionally complete multi-tenant architectures would require the following:<br />
<br />
1. A Configuration driven administration model<br />
2. An ability to spawn and kill configuration based instances that are completely sand-boxed from one another.<br />
3. An ability to set resource constraints on usage<br />
4. A configuration authoring tool<br />
5. A set of policies that dictates what can be done and not done<br />
6. A starting persistence and object model that can be tweaked to a degree.<br />
7. A standardized higher level SDK that can be developed against without having to accessing lower level APIs<br />
8. Ability to monitor and report on usage and optionally get billed for it.<br />
<br />
Based on the above, some conventional platforms are evolving to support multi-tenant models. Others, have a long way to go....<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-50154498320746645742013-05-01T10:27:00.001-07:002013-05-02T03:42:19.014-07:00Design principles of google dashboards<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><div>Google analytics is one of the most heavily used BI dashboards on the planet. The design principles used by Analytics are straightforward but can provide a very rich user experience.<br/><br/>At the highest level, the dashboard is made up of metrics, dimensions and visualizations (widgets).<br/><br/>Google analytics collects various metrics about a visit to an enabled site. This includes site usage (new visit, visit duration, bounce flag, page visit), E commerce goals that the user may have set up, Adsense metrics in terms of revenue, CPM, CTR, and others.<br/><br/>The dimensions are grouped under headings of Audience, Traffic Sources, Content and Conversions.<br/><br/>Visualizations are provided as widgets which could be Standard or Real time. Standard widgets could be the metric value reported as a number, Timeline that shows trends over time, Geomap showing locations, Tables, Pie or Bar.<br/><br/>Each widget is optionally predisposed towards a primary dimension. Metric has no primary dimension, Timeline has time dimension hierarchy, map has location hierarchy, Table has a slew of dimensions and allows a cross tabulation between two metrics, Pie uses a grouping dimension and bar can plot one metric grouped by a primary dimension and optionally pivoted by an optional dimension.<br/><br/><br/></div></div>awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-39109782740932503212013-04-27T08:28:00.001-07:002013-04-27T08:33:00.350-07:00Measuring the Green Economy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Measuring how green an economy is, is perhaps one of the toughest
aspects of understanding development trends that are going to affect
us in the future. Luckily, there are several places this can be
measured from. I recently read a book from OECD called <a href="http://amzn.to/VNfEJZ">Eco-Innovation
in Industry: Enabling Green Growth</a> that provided some excellent
thoughts on measuring the growth of the Green Economy. It gave the
following indicators for possible KPIs for growth of the Green
Economy.</div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;">
<colgroup><col width="85*"></col>
<col width="85*"></col>
<col width="85*"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid #000000; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0.1cm;" width="33%"><b>Operating Performance Indicator (OPI)</b></td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid #000000; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0.1cm;" width="33%"><b>Management Performance Indicator (MPI)</b></td>
<td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;" width="33%"><b>Environment Condition Indicator (ECI)</b></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Raw material used per unit of product (kg/unit)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Environmental costs or budget ($/year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Contaminant concentrations in ambient air (ug/m3)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Energy used annually per unit of product (MJ/ 1000/ product)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Percentage of Environmental Targets Achieved (%)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Frequency of photo chemical smogs (per year)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Energy Conserved (MJ)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of employees trained (% trained/ to be trained %)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Contaminant concentration in ground or surface water (mg/L)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of emergency events or unplanned shutdowns in a year</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of audit findings</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Change in groundwater level (m)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Hours of preventive maintenance (hours/ year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of audit findings addressed</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of coliform bacteria per liter of potable water</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Average fuel consumption of vehicle fleet (l/100km)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Time spent to correct audit findings (person hours)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Contaminant concentration in surface soil (mg/kg)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Hazardous waste generated per unit of product (kg/unit)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Time spent to respond to environmental incidents (person hours
per year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Area of contaminated land rehabilitation (hectares/ year)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Emissions of specific pollutants to air (tonnes CO<sub>2 </sub>/
year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of complaints from public or employees (per year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Population of a specific species of animals within a defined
area (per m<sup>2</sup>)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Wastewater discharged per unit of product (1000 litres/ unit)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of suppliers contacted for environmental management (per
year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of hospital admissions for asthma during smog season
(per year)</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Hazardous waste eliminated by pollution prevention (kg/year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Cost of pollution prevention projects ($/year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of fish deaths in a specific watercourse (per year)
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="TOP">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of days air emission limits were exceeded (days/ year)</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Number of management level staff with specific environmental
responsibilities</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="33%">Employee blood lead levels (<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">μ</span>g/
100 ml)</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In addition, the Economics and
Statistics Administration of the US Department of Commerce did some
interesting research on <a href="http://www.esa.doc.gov/Reports/measuring-green-economy">measuring
the green economy</a>. The report uses the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS codes) to identify green industry
service and products. The selected NAICS codes selected by the study are included in the
Annexures within the report.<br />
<br />
These can be used by government portals to also understand
trends in the green economy. These can also be used for developing Performance Metrics dashboards either within an organization or for a local, state of federal level government agency<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-87836587405978952602013-04-18T11:04:00.001-07:002013-04-19T15:56:19.337-07:00Focusing on what matters: the portfolio approach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
Recently I was thinking about which of my competing priorities should I be focused on to make sure it matters in the end. I was reminded of the BCG matrix that I had read about many years ago. <br />
<br />
I wanted to think about whether I should focus on the standard stuff or put more priority on new ideas which perhaps had a better future. The BCG (Boston Consulting Group) matrix as most people already know, is such a tool meant for organizations to decide on which products to fund. The matrix used to be popular, till people thought the recommendations made no sense and suggested an incorrect strategy. As I found out, not quite so.<br />
<br />
The matrix defined 4 project types based on the four cells in a 2X2 matrix. On the vertical axis was Growth Potential, and on the horizontal axis was Market share potential. The top left quadrant indicated the initiatives that provided high growth potential as well as high market share potential.<br />
<br />
To explain, each of the quadrants starting from top left and proceeding anti-clockwise were:<br />
<br />
1. Stars (top left) : These are projects/ products which have a high growth potential and a high market share. ( I would also add mind share within organizations)<br />
<br />
2. Cash cows (bottom left): These were products in high market share segments but low future growth potential. Think of these as things that are successful for today, but new investment may not produce new growth.<br />
<br />
3. Dogs (bottom right) : These are projects and products that are frankly not going anywhere. Also called cash traps.<br />
<br />
4. Problem children or question marks (top right): Finally is the category of things that have a lot of growth potential, but are relatively nascent. They have low market and mind share currently.<br />
<br />
The traditional interpretation of this matrix, which was also surprisingly echoed by the author, Bruce Henderson, in his original writing was to kill the dogs, milk the cows to fund the stars.<br />
<br />
Essentially, it implies that people should take the benefit (cash flows) from the high market share and low growth initiatives, to fund high growth and and high market share potential initiatives. This of course people found objectionable after some time, as it meant to divert cash from low growth segments to high growth segments, almost like a parasitic existence of one on another. This was something that was not sustainable unless the cash outflows (read benefits) from the low growth segment was large enough to sustain the growth in the new segment.<br />
<br />
However, this needs to be interpreted in context of other equally important concepts presented by the same author in his other writings. With these in mind, he himself may have not explained himself fully.<br />
<br />
First, the author said that market share and not margins is the most important thing to focus on. The rationale was that in the author's view based on analysis of many companies in the late sixties and seventies, margins improve as the entity becomes more experienced in a certain market and product. However these margins are only sustained and improved as long as the company is able to maintain market share. In absence of market share, margins become impossible to defend. Putting it in perspective of the matrix, the left half of the quadrant is where one should focus.<br />
<br />
In a separate piece of writing, the author also said that building market share requires new investments to fund growth. In high growth segments, the market share cannot be sustained unless continuous investment is made. So there is a propensity for Stars to become Question marks unless funding can be sustained that is proportional to the growth of the market.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, projects that are deemed as pets (they don't have market share or growth potential ), should either be killed or should be invested in to such an extent that they become market leaders in terms of market share. Bottom line, according to the author, entities need to maintain market share at all costs, irrespective of growth potential of the market and let margins take care of themselves.<br />
<br />
These, in my personal humble opinion, are very important insights that apply equally to companies building product portfolios as well as individuals when deciding on where to focus.</div>
</div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-54705183480563216192013-04-13T04:35:00.000-07:002013-04-13T04:35:20.015-07:00What is Big Data?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Someone I know asked me what is Big
Data and if I could explain it the way they could understand it. Now
this person can understand traditional data architectures but does
not deal with technology on a day to day basis. Off late, they are
more into strategy consulting and business development for large
organizations.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h2 class="western">
The Big Problem</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I explained that Big Data was the
entire practice of handling large amounts of data that is growing
every minute in a fashion never experienced before. I gave the
example of Smart Meters that are being installed by electricity
distribution companies in our homes. A typical large electricity
distribution company that supplies power to around a million homes,
has a million meters sending status updates (consumption,
availability, etc.) every 15 minutes. That adds to (1 X 4 ) = 4
million new records an hour, (4 X 24)=96 million data points a day.
Multiply that by a year and you start seeing (365 X 96M) = 35.04B
data points in a year.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The above problem is still finite,
since we can predict by how much the data will grow between a certain
period of time. Look at the example of social media and we cannot
even predict the rate at which the data will grow. A certain event
can trigger a thousand tweets or blogs and no one can figure out what
they mean as an overall trend or sentiment.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Of course, eventually the question
becomes how do you make sense of this data? Most people are not even
able to handle these datasets in traditional data architectures. Why
this is the case, we need to understand why traditional database
architectures are not able to scale. Then, I will describe how the
new Big Data Architectures resolve these problems.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h2 class="western">
Limitations of Traditional Database Architectures
with Big Data</h2>
<h3 class="western" style="text-align: left;">
Out of date Indices and Query Plans</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Traditional databases were designed and
optimized for a certain size and growth for each entity. The science
was called Volumetrics. Based on the relative sizes of different
entities, distribution in variability of data, as well as type of
query to be performed, it was more efficient to perform one query
using a strategy that was different from another (called Query
plans). Database Indices were then designed that would return results
really fast, based on relative sizings of tables, variability in data
within each entity for queried or joined attributes, and ofcourse,
nature of analysis. In Big Data, the data is churning so fast, it is
impossible to keep re-analyzing indices, and coming up with different
query plans for fast analysis.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 class="western">
Computational overheads in Minimizing Storage on
Disk</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Another problem is storage of data. In
normalized models, data is made up of primary entities, look up
tables and link tables. Typically, the data entry forms in these
applications are designed such that upon data insert, the database
receives coded values from the data input forms. When this is not the
case, the application has to fire multiple database queries to
convert user inputs into coded values for lookup tables. These were
strategies to minimize the storage of data on disk.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
From a computational point of view, a
record insert, in traditional cases, would be made up of one insert,
with N number of index based database queries on lookup tables. In
cases where the user data forms are populated from pick lists that
the user chooses from, these are full table scan queries on lookup
tables. Ideally, an application can also cache these values upon
startup. However, where dimensional models are involved, there is a
concept of Slowly changing dimensions, where the lookup tables
themselves are getting updated and caches may need to be updated
eventually.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In Big Data scenarios, we are forced
with two problems. Firstly, when dealing with unstructured data, the
concept of lookup tables is just not possible. Secondly, for
structured data, we still need to trade-off the computational
overhead in performing lookups upon insertion, vs. our ability to
validate the lookup values as well as come up with a finite list of
lookups in the first place. If lookups is something that we want to
apply to structured and unstructured data, we need to introduce some
level of control on when to parse data, so that we can improve
storage, reduce computational overhead during pre-storage and improve
our chances of efficient retrieval eventually.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Re-emphasizing the same, the challenge
is to keep storing the data efficiently, such that it uses minimal
space on disk and ofcourse eventually, is available for analysis.
Also, challenge is how do you do this efficiently, when you are not
able to utilize traditional constructs like lookup tables, for
ensuring referential integrity as well as index based searches.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Re-stating the problem</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In a nutshell, Big Data is the entire
practice around storage, retrieval, query and analysis of large
volume datasets that are growing with time making traditional
database architectures inefficient and obsolete.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h2 class="western">
The Big Data architecture</h2>
<h3 class="western">
Storage and Retrieval using hashcode</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The primary tactics is to look for
approaches that allow a dataset to index itself, or atleast become
more efficient in handling itself. Now programmers have long dealt
with this problem. Most programming languages have native data
structures for handling multiple data elements in memory. These
include Arrays (a data structure in which we can store N elements for
each dimension), Lists (single dimensional arrays that can grow as we
add new elements), Maps (a list in which elements are accessed
through a key rather than an element index) and Sets (lists
containing unique values) that grow and sometimes sort themselves.
Most of these constructs rely on a generation of an integer number
called a hashcode.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A hashcode is an integer value, that is
computed for each entry. More importantly, two values that are
supposed to be equal should return the same hashcode. So, if we say
that the text “Orange” is the same as “orange” and “ORANGE”,
these should all return the same hashcode. The computation of
hashcode helps in comparing, ordering, sorting and indexing values
inside hashcode based data structures. More importantly hashcode
computation is light-weight and lends itself to many algorithmic
implementations.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 class="western">
Introducing Immutability</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Another important benefit of hashcode
based data structures is the ability to promote the concept of
immutability. Immutability essentially implies that the system will
never discard or overwrite (mutate) any value. So, if the system
encounters a certain value, it will fill a position in the memory
with that value, and never overwrite it. If you wrote a function in
an application, that said let A=99.17, let B = 0.83, and then compute
A=A+B, an Immutability based architecture will not discard the old A,
which was 99.17. It will keep that in memory. It will actually create
three values in memory, say X= 99.17, Y = 0.83 and Z = 100.0. At the
beginning of your little function, it will assign A= X = 99.17 and at
the end, it will re-assign A to Z, implying A=Z=100.0. The advantage
of such an architecture, eventually is that if your application
encounters hundreds of millions of rows of data (that contain one
field value that ranges for example, from Excellent to Poor), the
actual memory utilization will be much less than the actual number of
rows and equal to the distribution of actual values (from Excellent
to Poor). Compare this to lookup tables in traditional database, and
you will understand the benefits.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Big Data Architectures are
primarily made up of data structures that can store simply values or
Key-Value pairs based on hashcodes and immutability.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Computation and Analysis</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Now, to perform computations and
analysis on this new data paradigm, users of Big data needed a new
construct. This was needed more so that the computation of large data
could leverage large scale computation clusters where traditional
index based models could not be rolled out. The invention was a Java
based SDK that could receive a computation task and distribute it
among a large scale deployment. Ofcourse, it had to make use of
existing constructs of hashing based data structures. Apache Hadoop
donated by Google, was perhaps the most important implementation that
can take a problem, distribute it among a large processing node and
collect the results in a way it makes sense. The framework is called
MapReduce, where any problem is broken up into as many parallel
computation tasks as the size of the computation cluster and then
distributed over the cluster. Once the results are computed, the
results are combined and reduced to generate the final result. It is
important to note that MapReduce algorithms will only out perform
index based architectures of yesteryear as long as the data is
changing so fast that maintaining index based data warehouses is not
feasible.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The challenge in implementing
MapReduce, is that it is a programming API and one will need to write
programs for performing any sort of calculation.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Simplified Hadoop Programming Models</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Apache Hive, donated to Apache by
Facebook, is a data warehousing software that is built on top of
Hadoop. What this means is that users can write SQL like scripts for
declaring data structures, and analyzing data that is residing on
distributed file systems over large scale clusters. Under the hood,
Hive uses Hadoop and Hadoop compatible distributed file systems.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And finally, Pigs, an ETL like platform
uses a programming language called Pig Latin and has inbuilt
transformers that can read from multiple formats and can perform
Hadoop MapReduce computations using an ETL like construct.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There are many more Hadoop frameworks,
and new ones are coming up each day. I have perhaps only described
the two that are the most popular.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Summary</h2>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To summarize, my take of Big Data is
Architectures that allow storage, retrieval, query and analysis of
large volume rapidly changing data using large scale distributed
clusters. In the real world, there are only a limited (though
growing) class of problems that can be resolved using Big Data
architectures, and one will still need the traditional relational
architectures for a long time to come.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-85174935815985526922013-03-27T06:51:00.001-07:002013-05-19T07:14:17.584-07:00Planting trees rather than crops<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As I thought about the million things each of us has to worry about, I realized that many things that I have initiated, perhaps needs a different approach to management. I need to move to a model where things can grow on their own without needing constant supervision.<br />
<br />
In the short term, we tend to go about initiatives that we can initiate, cultivate, grow and harvest. The problem is that there are only so many things one can handle this way. This is akin to planting crops that we need to farm and tend to everyday. The bigger problem is that once harvested, you have to start all over again. This provides quicker gratification, but you are caught in an endless cycle of planting, growing and harvesting.<br />
<br />
In comparison, planting trees is a different model. You plant the seed, water it and give it space to flourish. The payback is not immediate but once the tree has flourished, you can reap the rewards. More importantly, they live longer and provide benefits for a much longer time.<br />
<br />
Now the task of figuring out, which trees to plant.........</div>
</div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-27478199558321272122013-03-22T06:39:00.001-07:002013-03-22T19:46:27.653-07:00Top 3 new demands for a professional<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div>
I have been thinking about the role of a professional and how it has changed from the past and how it will continue to change in the future. This was something that I ofcourse have to think about every now and then. And, it is based on how my own role fits into the equation.<br />
<br />
I will state these in a reverse order from the least important to the most important.<br />
<br />
<b><u>#3 : Skill is still very important</u></b><br />
In every profession, the key difference between an amateur and a pro was and still is skill. How well to do a job is still very important and perhaps more important now. This is because, in today's world of transactional relationships, if you cannot do your job, you will not get compensated.<br />
<br />
<b><u>#2: Attribution is important.</u></b><br />
In today's age of copy paste freedom heaven, it is important that people know who did the job. Whether it is by having your name on your work, or making sure everyone knows through word of mouth, attribution is important than ever before.<br />
<br />
<b><u>#1 Defining what needs to be done for yourself and for others.</u></b><br />
This is perhaps the most important job. Everyone is struggling today to define their work. If you can do that not only for yourself, but also for others, that is leadership. People should be able to understand their own work based on your actions, thought processes and outputs.<br />
<br />
Let me know what you think .....</div>
</div>
</div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3111437560124092370.post-73026629691637898512013-03-15T19:17:00.000-07:002013-03-22T19:42:52.385-07:00Design Patterns Oversold<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When Christopher Alexander wrote the book "A Pattern Language" in 1977, it was a part of a 2 volume series, that tried to understand the sophistication of design in everyday buildings. It was trying to capture something that had been learnt over centuries, if not millenia.<br />
<br />
He would not have understood the passion with which software engineering discipline embraced and then took over the conversation. Today, software engineers have carried design patterns to the extreme.<br />
<br />
Somewhere along the way the meaning or rather the semantics of the word was altered from something that had been observed, to something that is closer in meaning to a blueprint or reference architecture. <br />
<br />
Rather than capturing the underlying structure and beauty of a solution that is perfected over time by many generations of designers, and further repeated without formal training, and handed down from practitioner to practitioner, and finally discovered and rationalized by the master; it has been substituted to mean the opposite.<br />
<br />
Design patterns in software now means something that is created by ivory tower architects and handed down to practitioners for consumption, to prevent others from doing the unthinkable, Think for themselves.</div>
</div>
awachshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595316907100242542noreply@blogger.com0