Break-even-time

Example 6.7 In Example 6.1, the required plant capacity is 218 kW and the running time is 2000 h/year at an electricity cost of 5 p/ (kW h) and a motor efficiency of 75%. In order to achieve the condensing temperature of 85°F (29.4°C) the condenser would cost 7250, while a smaller condenser for a temperature of 100°F (37.8°C) would cost 4600. (Prices of evaporative condensers at April 1987.) Estimate the break-even time if the larger condenser is fitted. 

It was claimed Popular Science, p. 26, Aug. 1976) that a 20 ft diameter, three blade, high-speed rotor designed by the National Research Council of Canada would develop 23,000 kWh over one year on Block Island, where the mean wind velocity is 18 mph, and the cost of electricity was 0.145 /kWh. If the initial cost of the unit was 10,000, estimate the break-even time in years. Assume the maintenance cost per year to be 1,000, and the salvage value to be zero. 

The related argument here is that of break-even time rather than the break-even volumes discussed in Chapter 3. Traditional break-even analysis focuses on the volume of product needed to be moved before the investment pays off. Given shortening times-to-market and compressed product life cycles (e.g. from 6 months to 45 days of shelf-life for Nike footwear) the analysis shifts towards the question how long before break-even is reached Figure 5.1 illustrates the point. 

As product life cycles shrink, so the time window of opportunity for making profits also shrinks. This consideration means that a new product must achieve its break-even time more quickly. 

Payback time. Payback time is the time that elapses from the start of the project. A, to the break-even point, F. The shorter the payback time, the more attractive is the project. 

High temperature is an important requirement for the attainment of fusion reactions in a plasma. The conditions necessary for extracting as much energy from the plasma as went into it is the Lawson criterion, which states that the product of the ion density and the confinement or reaction time must exceed 10 s/cm in the most favorable cases (173). If the coUisions are sufficiently violent, the Lawson criterion specifies how many of them must occur to break even. Conventional magnetic confinement involves fields of as much as 10 T (10 G) with large (1 m ) plasmas of low densities (<10 particles/cm ) and volumes and reaction times of about 1 s. If the magnetic flux can be compressed to values above 100 T (10 G), then a few cm ... 

Much of the driver energy goes into ablation, or blowing-off the surface of the sphere of fuel to force the compression (implosion) by the rocket effect. As a result, the ntT needed for scientific break-even for inertial confinement is around twenty times higher than for magnetic confinement. 

The two most common designs of break-even charts are shown in Figures 61.9 and 61.10. In both cases the y (vertical) axis is used for sales (output) and costs while the X (horizontal) axis is used for volumes, capacity or time. 

The economics of the heat pump are dependent on the relative costs of the drive power and heat energy from other sources. In the UK, where electricity is currently about three times the price of natural gas, the electric drive heat pump needs to have a COP of 3 to break even, and 4 or more to be competitive. This price ratio will change as fossil fuels run out in the next century. 

If we dean and reuse a reusable ceramic cup x times, we can calculate the value of x (the break-even ooinf) at which the energy used becomes the same for ... 

Point D is known as the break-even point and the time to reach the break-even point is called the pay-back time. In a different context, the term break-even point is used for the percentage of plant capacity at which the income equals the cost for production. 

In general, one or more of three methods are used to justify major expenditures. The first, payback, is a measure of the time it will take for cumulative benefits to equal cumulative costs (time to break even). This, by itself, may not be sufficient to compare alternative investments and projects competing for the same limited resources so one of two other methods may be used. These methods, Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return, consider the earning power of money in making comparisons. Because investments earn compound interest, a dollar to be gained in the future has less present value than one gained today. The NPV is computed by estimating the yearly... 

Payback period (PBP)—how long a project must operate to break even ignores the time value of money. 

It is possible to define different indexes to understand whether a venture will be profitable [13]. Here we consider the discounted break-even period [14]. This index is defined as the time that must elapse after start-up until the discounted cumulative cash-flow repays the fixed capital investment. The discounted cumulative cash-flow is the sum of expenses and gains sustained or earned in the lifetime of a chemical plant. All these sums of money need to be discounted to their present value. 

In hot weather, evaporation pans lose up to one-half inch of water per day. Vineyards with cover crops lose up to 75 percent of evaporation pan losses. Up to 25 percent of the irrigation water can be lost through wind drift and evaporation. This results in a situation that is within 4 percent of a theoretical break-even input and output. To accomplish this break-even situation requires constant, twenty-four hour a day irrigation. While this concern is yet to be tested, past history with other crops has proved eminently successful. In 1978, 500 acres of V. vinifera grapes were planted under center-pivot irrigation. Since that time, an additional 1500 acres have been planted under center-pivot systems, so that today 2000 of the state s estimated 4500 acres of V. vinifera are utilizing center-pivot irrigation. 

Break-even, the market size size needed for revenues to cover ongoing fixed costs, is not the same as the payback period, the time required for cash flow to cover an investment. Break-even deals with steady state issues and is measured in either units of money or product volume payback period deals with the cash flow transient and is measured in units of time. 

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