首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Green Power You’ve insulated the attic, installed triple-glazed windows, and bought high-efficiency appliances. Can you make you
Green Power You’ve insulated the attic, installed triple-glazed windows, and bought high-efficiency appliances. Can you make you
admin
2013-08-12
49
问题
Green Power
You’ve
insulated
the attic, installed triple-glazed windows, and bought high-efficiency appliances. Can you make your home any more eco-friendly? For an increasing number of Americans, the answer is yes. You can let nature help cut your utility bill. It may be as simple as replacing outdoor lights with solar-powered fixtures or signing up for your utility’s "green power" program. Thanks to rapid improving technology and government subsidies, thousands of Americans living in remote locations are finding it can be cheaper to use the sun and wind than fossil fuels.
However, don’t cut your ties to the local utility just yet.(A)
While renewable energy won’t replace coal and natural gas soon(or ever, critics contend), consumers have more choices in their energy mix than ever before.(B)
And they’re not at all whole-bran environmentalists: Roldan Montalvo runs a gas station here in Hebbronville, Texas.(C)
But when he wanted to bring electricity to his cabin eight miles out of town, he went solar. The reason was simple. The utility company wanted $ 100 000 to extend its electric line to his cabin.(D)
Mr. Montalvo paid less than $ 8 000 for his solar system, "It’s all right so far," he says, looking up at the three solar panels that run a few lights, a fan, and a TV inside. "I can run power tools. "
Others, of course, take a more enthusiastic line. "There is a new focus on renewable. " says Thomas White, chairman and chief executive of Enron Renewable Energy Corporation, which has completed the world’s largest wind farm in Minnesota. "My feeling is that we are at the point in time where the personal computer was in the late 70s," adds Mac Moore, Director of Business Development for BP Solar, one of the largest manufacturers and marketers of solar electric systems in the world. "Over the next 10 years, if things go well, there’s going to be a revolutionary change in the way that we obtain power. "
Wind power represents an even more compelling argument for remote homeowners. Turbines have become so much more efficient over the past decades that homeowners a quarter mile from a utility line may find it cheaper to put up a wind turbine than to pay the utility to extend its service. But for most consumers,
barriers
remain. For one thing, renewable energy systems are expensive to install and require more than a decade before consumers see a payback.
Even a good deal on solar panels in a high-sun area would still cost a typical homeowner 30 cents a kilowatt hour, explains the CEO of Strategy Unlimited, a technology-research firm in Mountain View, Calif. That’s far above the 6 to 15 cents that Americans typically pay their local utility, he adds. Small-scale wind turbines are much more competitive—anywhere from 8 to 15 cents a kilowatt-hour, says Mike Bergey, President of Bergey Windpower in Norman, Oklahoma. But they still require a $ 30 000 to $ 35 000 investment up front and it would take most homeowners 15 to 20 years before they’d see any payback.
There are other drawbacks. Since these systems only produce energy intermittently, there’s no guarantee homeowners can store enough energy to run their homes when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. Then there’s
. Will the neighbor accept those solar panels on your roof? Do you want a 100-foot-high wind turbine humming in your backyard like a muffled helicopter? That’s why companies like Bergey Windpower are targeting rural residents in the United States—especially those in states such as California, where the government will pay up to half the cost of installing renewable-energy systems.
The word
aesthetics
in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to______.
选项
A、appreciation of beauty
B、depiction of an image
C、feature of an object
D、structure of a house
答案
A
解析
本题为词汇题,主要考查考生根据上下文对单词aesthetics的理解。屋顶上装了太阳仪表板,多少会影响房子的美观。选项A(审美)是对该词的解释,所以选A。选项B(形象描述)、选项C(物体特性)和选项D(房屋结构)都不符合原文。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/LofO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.AdultLearners"WeekNocostbutmustmake(7
Matchthephobicstateintheboxtothesymptomsbelow.ChooseyouranswersfromtheboxandwritethelettersA-Dnexttoq
"ResearchMethodology"Closescientificmethodbasedonempiricalevidence(=(21))Findaresearchproblemorques
"ResearchMethodology"Closescientificmethodbasedonempiricalevidence(=(21))Findaresearchproblemorques
"ResearchMethodology"Closescientificmethodbasedonempiricalevidence(=(21))Findaresearchproblemorques
HowlikelyareThomasandNadiatovisitthefollowingattractions?Writethecorrectletter,A,BorCnexttoquestions6-1
Questions18-20Completethesentencesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.BowelCoachingCourseCoachingisforpeople
IsTessaavailableforworkatthetimeslistedbelow?Writethecorrectletter,A,BorC,nexttoquestions7-10.A.Sh
Manyorganisationswillpayforthecostofavolunteer’s______toAfrica.Theemploymentof______ispreferredbyorganisat
随机试题
主动脉弓的分支有
热痉挛病人最突出的临床表现是
患者,男性,72岁。吸烟指数1200,近半年有咳嗽,痰中带血丝,近2个月出现声嘶。查体:右锁骨上窝触及一肿大淋巴结,质硬,无压痛。则可能的诊断为
脾的功能是肺的功能是
海关的任务不包括()
网点机构营销渠道不包含()。
甲公司预计2015年度持有的以公允价值进行后续计量的资产的公允价值将大幅度下降,为减少公允价值大幅度波动对公司损益的影响,甲公司决定进行如下会计政策变更。(1)2015年1月1日,甲公司将所持有乙公司股票从交易性金融资产重分类为可供出售金融资产,并将其作
Napogaisa12-year-oldgirlinGhana,Africa.Itishardforherfamilytogetcleanwater.Everymorning,sheleaveshomeat
ThefollowingisaJobAdvertisement.Afterreadingit,youshouldgivebriefanswerstothe5questions(No.56throughNo.60)
A、WaterB、CropsC、MoneyD、TreesB此题考查听细节的能力。此题并不难,对话中的暗示很多,只要考生抓住了thefarmersdon’thavearearealproblemwiththeelephants
最新回复
(
0
)