Electric Bus Assessment
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Table of Contents:
Introduction:
This was a semester-long project for a Professional Development course, where my team worked on researching a developing technology to improve a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) to provide an education recommendation of use in alignment with ethical viewpoints and impacts on key stakeholders. My team chose to explore UNSDG Goal 11.6 which aims to minimize the negative impact of air quality and municipal waste in cities. Then, we conducted an ethical and stakeholder analysis on electric public transport as a means to reach Goal 11.6.
Goal: This project was divided into three sections:
Assess the current state of air quality and define improvements needed.
Analyze the impact of electric buses as a developing technology on improving urban air quality.
Conduct a stakeholder and ethical analysis to provide recommendations on adopting electric bus technology.
Key Questions:
What is the environmental and social impact of electric public transport on urban air quality?
How do various stakeholders (urban dwellers, public transport workers, oil companies) react to the shift toward electric buses?
What are the ethical considerations in balancing environmental benefits with economic and social impacts?
Process:
Tools: Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, and Excel for data visualization and documentation.
Methodology: Applied elements of the Kanban framework, breaking down tasks into manageable parts and tracking progress throughout the semester.
Personal Contributions:
Led team meetings twice a week, ensuring all team members’ opinions were considered and discussed.
Conducted thorough research on the impact of electric buses using academic journals and articles.
Created annotated bibliographies for each source used, building a robust foundation for our findings.
Developed a graph in Excel to display numerical data in a user-friendly way for the audience, a small choice that made information easier to digest.
Prepared and delivered three presentations over the course of the semester with my team, each accompanied by comprehensive research papers.
Results:
Our team earned an A for the course, and I received strong peer feedback on my leadership and organizational skills. In addition, our data collection and research-based analysis yielded the following results:
Key stakeholders, including urban residents and transport users, would benefit from improved air quality, but lower-income populations could face higher transport costs.
Oil companies and workers would be negatively affected, with job losses anticipated as demand for oil decreases.
The overall recommendation supported the adoption of electric buses, as the environmental and health benefits outweighed economic drawbacks.
To address upfront costs of transforming fleet to electric buses, these costs should be paid by government subsidies and grants rather than civilians.
As for oil workers who lose their jobs, compensations and/or assistance should be provided while they find a new source of income.
Insights:
Electric public transport has significant benefits for urban environments but poses ethical dilemmas, particularly for lower-income groups and workers in the oil industry.
Conducting stakeholder analysis allowed for a deeper understanding of the broader implications of technology adoption.
Learnings:
Improved leadership skills through organizing meetings, delegating tasks, and ensuring a cohesive team environment.
Enhanced ability to conduct stakeholder and ethical analyses, critical in evaluating the adoption of new technologies.
Developed my written and verbal communication skills tremendously along with my research abilities.
Gained confidence in public speaking and presenting complex ideas to an audience.