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This project analyses water consumption data in residential college of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) by eliciting the main water metre reading from each residential college. The study found that the average water consumption per student in colleges ranged above 200 litres/day, much higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended level of 165 litres/day. The high water consumption could be related to irrational use of water among the students and staff as well as water loss due to leakage. To detect the water loss in a water network, the reading of water metre during minimum night flow (MNF) time was taken between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. From the study, it could be seen that most of the residential colleges recorded high MNF level (more than 0.97 litres/second), which indicates the presence of leakage within the water network in the college. The findings from this study indicated that the water consumption in UKM can be reduced by minimising the loss of non-revenue water and educating the people to use water moderately. Saving the water resources will help to reduce water utility bill and strengthen UKM against the threat of water crisis.

The challenges that propane companies face in maintaining a balance in inventories during the summer and winter months, and the factors that influence the residential propane demand were addressed. This chapter presents a forecasting model for propane consumption within the residential sector. Forecasting the propane demand helps to determine whether there will be a shortage of propane in the storage or distribution center, and is there a need for new distribution station or a storage facility, or vice-versa that there is an overabundance of propane, that is, far more than the demand and if there is a need to shut down few facilities. The dynamic behavior of different variables that affected the propane consumption was studied and using Base SAS we developed a forecasting model. The results indicated that the forecasting model provides a potentially useful forecast for residential propane consumption. This research has been limited to forecasting for normal periods, that is periods without irregularities in demand caused by holidays or festivals. The forecasts developed were useful in improving the inventory balance for a local propane company during different months.

The logic of the economic system under which the world operates is predicated on an assumption that development is possible and that the pricing system mediates the acquisition of the additional resources required for that development. The chapter investigates where those resources are and focuses particularly on the BRIC counties. These countries have access to a large proportion of the remaining natural resources of the world while also having large populations and therefore great scope for rapid economic growth. These four countries contain a significant proportion of the world’s reserves of raw materials, but they are also rapidly developing countries with that development fuelled by their raw materials. One consequence of this is that the resources available to other countries in the developed world are constrained by this rising demand, with a number of possible consequences. The discourse in the developed world is towards the conservation of resources and towards energy efficiency. This is reflected in both manufacturing resources and consumer purchasing decisions. So it is generally accepted that resource depletion will affect the economic environment. It is not yet fully recognised, however, that development in other parts of the world will exacerbate this pressure and lead to a greater need to compete for the available resources. This competition will be economic but could also become physical as the world adjusts to a new geopolitical environment. This is an important topic not being addressed elsewhere.