Tag: basic problems of an economy

Resources are assets that are used by the living systems for the survival and development.

Mere presence of a thing in certain quantity do not make a resource. But it should have a utility, value and quality by the people.

 Abiotic resources are non-living while biotic resources are living. Soils, rocks and minerals are abiotic but plants and animals are biotic resources. 

An important source of methane emissions is from enteric fermentation in farm animals. This creates 27% of human methane emissions. Animals like cows, sheep and goats are examples of ruminant animals. During their normal digestion process they create large amounts of methane. Enteric fermentation occurs because of microorganisms in the stomach of these animals. This creates methane as a by-product that is either exhaled by the animal or released via flatus.

Because humans raise these animals for food, their emissions are human-related. This is why the meat that we eat everyday has a huge impact on total methane emissions. Livestock farming creates 90 million tonnes of methane per year.

The Green Index was developed by the World Bank's Environmentally Sustainable Development division to measure the environmental impact of economic activities.

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. It is mostly used to light home, buildings and heat water.

In economics, resources are generally defined as things that are scarce and have a cost. Air, water, and sunlight are typically considered free goods (non-economic resources) because they are abundant and do not have a price in their natural state.

An economy must allocate resources between current consumption and investment (saving) to ensure future growth. Spending all resources on current consumption would leave nothing for capital formation, which is unsustainable.

The economic problem arises because human wants are unlimited while resources are limited. Even if resources were abundant, the problem of choice would persist as long as wants remain unsatisfied.

Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative foregone. This concept only applies when resources are limited, forcing a choice between competing uses.