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  3. Doug Morrell had already installed solar panels on his house in Coopersville, Mich. , but he was eager to get a little bit green

Doug Morrell had already installed solar panels on his house in Coopersville, Mich. , but he was eager to get a little bit green

admin2013-07-02  85
问题     Doug Morrell had already installed solar panels on his house in Coopersville, Mich. , but he was eager to get a little bit greener. So the 52-year-old Navy veteran bought something that might seem more at home in the Dutch countryside than in a small town in western Michigan: a personal wind turbine(涡轮机). Turbines like Morrell’s convert the energy of the wind to electricity, while old windmills are geared for mechanical power, like pulling water from a well.

    On days with decent wind — which occur frequently enough, since he can feel the breeze from Lake Michigan — the $ 16,000 Swift wind turbine can generate 1.5 kilowatts(kW)an hour, i. e., enough to power the average lightbulb for 15 hours. Together with his solar array, that’s enough to take care of much of his electricity bill.
    Thanks in part to a new tax credit put into place by Congress in October, owning your own wind turbine could be the next green trend. While it’s true that wind power has taken off in the U. S. — adding more in new capacity to the electrical grid last year than any other power source — most of that increase comes from utility wind farms, vast fields of turbines more than 300 ft.(90 m)tall. For homeowners seeking renewable-energy sources, however, better-known solar power has always dominated. Home solar power currently generates 12 times as much energy as small wind power, which is defined as turbines that have a capacity of 100 kW or less(though most household turbines will produce 10 kW at most). That’s partly because residential wind turbines require space and sky — at least half an acre of open land — to get access to consistent winds. Still, according to the American Wind Energy Association(AWEA), some 15 million homes in the U. S. fit that definition, and small turbines, unlike large wind farms, can be productive in weaker breezes, which puts more of the country into play, though the best areas are still windy spots like the Midwest or West Texas.
    What’s really held back residential wind power has been the lack of federal subsidies, which have fed the growth of other renewables like solar and large-scale wind.
    But when Congress passed the bailout(紧急援助)bill this fall, it added a 30% tax credit for small-wind projects, which Stimmel believes will enable the industry to grow 40% next year, even in a down market.
    In other words, small wind may not be small potatoes for much longer. And that could be a boost for domestic green businesses as well; U. S. firms control 98% of the small-wind market, in contrast to large-scale wind and solar, in which foreign manufacturers dominate. " Since the tax credit, our phone has been ringing off the hook," says Andy Kruse, a co-founder of Southwest Windpower, a major small-scale-turbine producer in Flagstaff, Ariz. "It’s really exciting to see the market coming to us. "
What is said of America’s use of green powers?
选项 A、Wind power hasn’t been widely used in households.
B、Wind power hasn’t been used to generate electricity in U. S.
C、Solar power will sooner or later be replaced by wind power.
D、Other green powers haven’t been developed except wind and solar.
答案A
解析 推理判断题。第二段开头提到由于国会在十月制定的新的税收抵免政策，拥有自己的风力涡轮机可能成为下一个绿色潮流，由此可以推断出风力发电在居民家中的使用还不是很广泛，故[A]项正确，另外下文也提到对于寻求可再生能源的房主来说，太阳能发电一直占主导地位，进一步证实了风力发电在居民家中还不是很广泛。原文提到“it’s true that wind power has taken off in the U．s．”，说明美国已经应用风力发电，故[B]项错误。原文说使用个人的涡轮机可能会成为下一个绿色潮流，但不是说太阳能迟早被风能取代，[C]项是对原文的错误理解。原文只是谈到了风能和太阳能，但不是说除了这二者，还没有开发其他绿色能源，比如水能是人们旱已开发的绿色能源，故[D]项错误。
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