Do the benefits of Canadian wind farms outweigh their costs?

¶ … WIND FARM IN CANDA OUTWEIGH ITS COSTS?" COMMENTS ON MY PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL ARE: -If choose a research project, a good research focus identified, 'Do benefits developing wind farms Canada outweigh costs?' You identify research method (case study suggested), explain suitable investigation More included explanation data collection methods primary secondary sources -table contents required PROJECT PURPOSE The objective project MBA students address issue strategic functional importance organisation, organisation choice entrepreneurial project.

Wind farm in Canada -- do the benefits outweigh the costs?

Environmental stability is an incrementally addressed issue among both theoreticians as well as practitioners. Efforts completed to create environmental stability are numerous, including the reduction of pollution, the reduction of natural resource consumption, recycling or the creation of alternative sources of energy. Wind farms are part of the greater strategy of creating environmental stability, yet they continue to be characterized by challenges which raise real barriers. In such a context then, a question is being posed relative to the overall worth of building the wind farm in Canada, through the lenses of a comparative analysis of the costs and benefits associated with such an endeavor. The current project represents the research proposal for a future endeavor which would be constructed with the aim of responding the previously posed question.

2. Focus of the study

As it has been mentioned throughout the introductory section, the focus of the future endeavor would be that of assessing the positive as well as the negative features of building a wind farm in Canada. At a more specific level, the problem statement would be formulated as follows:

Wind farms grow more popular as the global populations seek environmental stability. And Canada is a well-liked destination to open wind farms due to the windy weathers in the North American country. But aside from the natural climate which supports this endeavor, it must also be recognized that the construction of such a farm implies tremendous costs. In this context then, it is wondered whether or not it is worth to create such a wind farm in the country.

The problem statement would be addressed with the answering of the three research questions, revealed below:

Research question no. 1: What are the benefits of building a wind farm in Canada?

Research question no. 2: What are the costs of building a wind farm in Canada?

Research question no. 3: What is the final expected outcome of building such as farm in the country? Do the benefits outweigh the costs?

The proposed research endeavor is constructed on various previous research endeavors, focused on efforts made globe-wide in the scope of creating environmental sustainability. In such a context then, the project would be based on both the new research being conducted in its construction, but also on the previous expertise of the researcher, gained through previous research processes regarding environmental stability.

In terms of the significance of the project, this would be a twofold one, generating benefits for both the researchers as well as the practitioners. For the research community, the benefits would relate to the centralization of important information in the specialized literature linked to the topic discussed, combined with the creation of new findings. The topic of wind farms is of relative novelty and its case in Canada is a niche field of research, which would be further developed through the future project. In terms of the practitioners, the study would reveal the benefits of realistically presenting the situation of wind farms in Canada. It would as such provide information essential to understanding the costs and benefits of creating the wind farms in the country. To extrapolate, it could even constitute a starting point in the minimization of the barriers and the maximization of the benefits.

4. Expected outcomes and assumptions

The future research endeavor to be completed is expected to create the realization that the benefits of constructing the wind farms in Canada outweigh the costs incurred in the completion of such an endeavor.

In order to create and comprehend this result, several assumptions would be made. These refer to the following:

However the study is a qualitative one, the research is still able to note the different importance of specific variables (for instance, the financial cost is less important in comparison to the social and environmental gain of constructing the wind farms)

The future of renewable energy is expected to improve as environmental stability becomes the focus of populations, investors and politicians across the globe.

In terms of the future research endeavor, the nature of its structure is similar to that of the topics and the sources, in the meaning that it could suffer changes as the actual research process develops. Nonetheless however, the table of contents below represents a valid starting point:

1. Introduction

2. Study background and significance

3. Literature review

4. Research methodology

5. Data collection and analysis

6. Concluding remarks

7. Limitations of the study

5. Limitations of the study

The research process hereby proposed would be characterized by some limitations, all of which are nonetheless accepted and not believed to influence the final results of the project. In this order of ideas, the first of these limitations is represented by the fact that the findings drawn are based exclusively on information collected from secondary sources. The use of secondary sources of information creates a context in which the researcher does not experience the researched phenomenon first hand, but relies exclusively on the findings of others. And the findings of others could be unreliable due to the existence of bias. In order to reduce this limitation however, the study would be constructed on numerous sources of information, from peer reviewed sources and which integrate objective findings. Also, the findings collected from the sources would be verified and not integrated if they prove untrue.

The second limitation is represented by the fact that the study uses the qualitative research methodology, which retrieves findings specific only to the creation of the wind farm in Canada. Generally, the qualitative methodology sees that the results of the research process are only applicable to the selected sample. In the case of the quantitative methodology however, the results are based on figures and their statistical computations and they can as such be extrapolated to explain the behavior of the entire community, not just the sample.

Similar to the first limitation, this second limitation is accepted and not expected to influence the findings of the research project. Additionally, it is not believed to create any real strains for the research project, since this is especially created to assess and explain the costs and benefits of building a wind farm in Canada, and not in other locations as well.

References:

Burton, T., 2001, Wind energy: handbook, John Wiley and Sons, ISBN 0471489972

Rosano, M., 2009, On with the wind: wind energy in Canada timeline, Canadian Geographic Magazine, http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/jun09/wind_power_timeline.asp last accessed on July 4, 2011

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., Thornhill, A., 2009, Research methods for business students, Pearson Education, ISBN 0273716867

Soy, S., 2006, The case study as a research method, University of Texas at Austin, http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ssoy/usesusers/l391d1b.htm last accessed on July 4, 2011

1999, Ways of approaching research: quantitative designs, Fortune City, http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/grizzly/432/rra2.htm last accessed on July 1, 2011

2011, How much do wind turbines cost? Wind Industry, http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/jun09/wind_power_timeline.asp last accessed on July 4, 2011

2011, Canadian Wind Energy Association, http://www.canwea.ca last accessed on July 4, 2011

Building a wind farm, Canadian Wind Association, http://www.canwea.ca/images/uploads/File/NRCan_-_Fact_Sheets/10_building.pdf last accessed on July 4, 2011

Wind energy. Wind facts. What are the benefits?, Canadian Wind Association, http://www.canwea.ca/wind-energy/index7_e.php last accessed on July 4, 2011