Renewable Energy

　　In the past century,it has been seen that the consumption of non-renewable sources of energyhas caused more environmental damage than any other human activity. Electricity generatedfrom fossil fuels such as coal and crude oil has led to high concentrations of harmful gases inthe atmosphere.This has in turn led to many problems being faced today such as ozonedepletion and global warming. Vehicular pollution has also been a major problem.

　　Therefore,alternative sources of energy have become very important and relevant to today'sworld.These sources,such as the sun and wind,can never be exhausted and therefore arc calledrenewable.They cause less emission and are available locally.Their use can. to a largeextent,reduce chemical,radioactive, and thermalpollution. They stand out as a viable source ofclean and limitless energy.These are also known as non-conventional sources of energy.Mostof the renewable sources of energy are fairfy non-polluting and considered clean thoughbiomass,a renewable source,is a major polluter indoors.

　　Solar Energy

　　Solar energy is the most readily available source of energy.It does not belong to anybody andis,therefore,free.It is also the most important of the non-conventional sources of energybecause it is non-polluting and,therefore.helps in lessening the greenhouse effect.

　　Solar energy has been used since prehistoric times.but in a most primitive manner.Before1970,some research and development was carried out in a few countries to exploit solar energymore efficiently,but most of this work remained mainly academic.After the dramatic rise in oilprices in the 1970s,several countries began to formulate extensive research and developmentprogrammes to exploit solar energy.

　　When we hang out our clothes to dry in the sun,we use the energy of the sun.In the same way,solar panels absorb the energy of the sun to provide heat for cooking and for heatingwater.Such systems are available in the market and are being used in homes and factories.

　　Solar energy can also be ursed to meet our electricity requirements.Through SolarPhotovoltaic(SPV)cells,solar radiation gets converted into DC electricity directly.This electricitycan either be used as it is orcan be stored in the battery.This stored electrical energy then canbe used ac night.

　　Hydro Power

　　Hydro power is one of the best,cheapest,and cleanest source of energy,although,with bigdams,there are many environmental and social problems.Small dams are,however,free fromthese problems.This is in fact one ofthe earliest known renewable energy sources.in thecountry(since the beginning of the 20th century).

　　In fact,for the last few hundred years,people living in the hills of the Himalayas have been usingwater mills.or chakki,to grind wheat.Besides being free from the problem of pollution.smallhydropower plants arealso free from issues and controversies that are associated with thebigger projects.namely affecting the lives of thousands of people living along the banks of therivers.destruction of large areas under forest.and seismological threats.

　　New environmental laws affected by the danger of global warming have made energy fromsmall hydropower plants more relevant.These small hydropower piants can serve the energyneeds of remote rural areas independently.The real challenge in a remote area lies insuccessful marketing of the energy and recovering the dues.Local industries should beencouraged to use this electricity for sustainable development.

　　It is a technology with enormous potential.which could exploit the water resources to supplyenergy to remote rural areas with little access to conventional energy sources.It alsoeliminates most of the negative environmental effects associated with large hydro projects.

　　Energy From the Sea-Ocean Thermal,Tidal and Wave Energy

　　On an averaige,the 60 million square kilometre of the tropical seas absorb solar radiationequivalent to the heat content of 245 billion barrels of oil.Scientists feel that if this energy canbe tapped a large source of energy will be available to the tropical countries and to othercountries as well.The process of harnessing this energy is called OTEC(ocean thermal energyconversion).It uses the temperature differences between the surface of the ocean and thedepths of about lOOOm to operate a heat engine.which produces electric power.

　　Energy is also obtained from wavcs and tides.In some countries such as Japan small scalepower generators run by energy from waves of the ocean,have been used as power sources forchanncl marking buoys.

　　Biomass

　　Biomass is a renewable energy resource derived from the carbonaceous waste of various humanand natural activities.It is derived from numerous sources,including the by-products from thetimber industry.agricultural crops,raw material from the forest,major parts of household wasteand wood.

　　Biomass does not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as it absorbs the same amount ofcarbon in growing as it releases when consumed as a fuel. Its advantage is that it can be usedto generate electricity with the same equipment of power plants that are now burning fossilfuels.Biomass is an important source of energy and the most important fuel worldwide aftercoal,oil and natural gas.

　　Traditional use of biomass is more than its use in modern application.In the developed worldbiomass is again becoming important for applications such as combined heat and powergeneration.In addition,biomass energy is gaining significance as a source of clean heat fordomestic heating and community heating applications.In fact in countries like Finland.USA andSweden the per capita biomass energy used is higher than it is in India.China or in Asia.

　　Geothermal Energy

　　We live between two great sources of energy,the hot rocks beneath the surface of the earthand the sun in the sky.Our ancestors knew che value of geothermal energy;they bathed andcooked in hot springs.Today we have recognized that this resource has potential for muchbroader application.

　　The core of the earth is very hot and it is possible to make use of this geothermal energy(inGreek it means heat from the earth).These are areas where there are volcanoes.hot springs,andgeysers,and methane under the water in the oceans and seas. n some countries,such as in theUSA water is pumped from underground hot water deposits and used to heat people's houses.

　　The utilization of geothermal energy for the production of electricity dates back to the early partof thetwentieth century.For 50 years the generation of electricity from geothermal energy wasconfined to Italy and interest in this technology was slow co spread elsewhere.In 1943 the useof geothermal hot water was pioneered in lceland.

　　Co-generation

　　Co-generation is the concept or producing two forms of energy from one fuel.One of the formsof energy must always be heat and the other may be electricity or mechanical energy.In aconventional power plant,fuel is burnt in a boiler to generate high-pressure steam.Thissteam is used to drive a turbine.which in turn drives an alternator through a steam turbine toproduce electric power.The exhaust steam is generally condensed to water which goes backto the boiler.

　　As the low-pressure steam has a large quantum of heat which is lost in the process ofcondensing,the efficiency of conventional power plants is only around 35%.In a cogenerationplant,very high efficiency levels,in the range of 75%-90%,can be reached.This is so,becausethe low-pressure exhaust steam coming out of th turbine is not condensed,but used forheating purposes in factories or houses.

　　Since co-generation can meet both power and heat needs, it has otber advantages as well inthe form of significant cost savings for the plant and reduction in emissions of pollutants dueto reduced fuel consumption.

　　可再生能源

　　在上個世紀人們看到，消耗不可再生能源對環境造成的損害比任何其他人類活動都大。[1]從煤炭、原油等化石燃料中產生的電能使大氣中積聚了高濃度的有害氣體，這反過來導致了許多人們今天需要面對的問題，如臭氧層的減少以及全球氣候變暖等。汽車污染也是個主要問題。

　　因此，替代性的能源非常重要，與當今的世界密切相關。[2]這些能源(如太陽能和風能)用之不竭，因此稱為可再生能源。它們減少了排放物，并且可以就地利用。它們的使用可以在很大程度上減少化學污染、輻射污染和熱污染。作為可行的清潔能源，它們用之不盡，具有突出的優勢，還被禰為非常規能源。[3]盡管生物作為可再生能源是室內污染的主要來源，但大多數可再生能源基本上不污染環境，因而被看做是清潔能源。

　　太陽能

　　太陽能是遍布最廣的隨地可用的能源。它不屬于任何人，因此可以免費使用。它也是非常規能源中最重要的能源，因為它無污染，因而有助于減輕溫室效應。

　　自從史前時代起人們就開始使用太陽能了，不過，其使用方式極為簡單。1970年以前，在一些國家人們為了更有效地利用太陽能而做了一些研發工作，但大多數的研發工作主要停留在學術研究上。[4]20世紀70年代石油價格急劇上漲后，有些國家為了利用太陽能開始展開廣泛的研發工作。

　　我們把衣服掛到太陽底下曬干，就是在利用太陽能。同樣地，太陽能電池板吸收太陽能為煮飯燒水提供熱能。這樣的設備如今市場上已有銷售.正在為家庭和工廠所使用。

　　我們還可以利用太陽能滿足對電力的需求。通過太陽能光電板。太陽輻射可以直接轉化為直流電。這種電可以直接使用，也可以在電池中儲存起來。這樣儲存起來的電能就可以在夜晚使用。

　　水電

　　水電是最好、最廉價、最清潔的能源之一，雖然建造大壩帶來了許多環境和社會問題。但小水壩就不存在這些問題。在這個國家，這實際上是最早為人所知的可再生能源之一(從20世紀初開始)。

　　[5]事實上，在過去的幾百年里，居住在喜馬拉雅山的人們一直都在利用水磨(或稱為chakki)來磨小麥。小水電站除了沒有污染問題，也不存在大型項目所帶來的種種問題和矛盾-----大水壩影響了住在河岸的成千上萬居民的生活，破壞了大面積的森林，并帶來地震的危險。

　　地球變暖的危險使得人們通過了新的環境立法，這些新的立法使小水電廠產生的電能更加具有實際價值。這些小水電可以獨立地為偏遠鄉村地區供電。在偏遠地區建設小水電的實際挑戰在于有效地推銷電能并收回電費。為了可持續發展.應該鼓勵當地企業使用這種電力。

　　[6]這是一種具有巨大潛力的技術，它可以利用水資源向難以采用常規能源的偏僻鄉村地區提供電力。它還避免了大型水利工程對環境所帶來的負面影響。

　　海洋能源——海洋熱能，潮汐能和波浪能

　　6000萬平方公里的熱帶海洋吸收的太陽輻射平均相當于2450億桶石油的能量。科學家們覺得，如果這種能量可以得到開發的話，就可以為熱帶國家以及其他國家提供巨大的能源。利用這種能源的過程叫做“海洋熱能轉換”。[7]它利用海洋表面海水和大約lOOO米深處的海水的溫差來推動熱力發動機來發電。

　　人們還從波浪和潮汐中獲得能量。在一些國家，比如日本，波浪或海洋能量推動的小規模發電機被用來向標記航道的浮標提供電能。

　　生物能

　　生物能源是種可再生能源，來自各種人類活動或自然活動的含碳廢棄物。它有許多來源，包括木材工業的副產品、農作物、森林中的原材料、生活垃圾的主要部分以及木頭。

　　生物能源不會給大氣增加二氧化碳，因為它用作燃料焚燒時釋放的碳和在生產過程中吸收的碳一樣多。這種能源的優勢是，可以利用目前焚燒化石燃料的發電廠的同樣設備來發電。[8]生物能源是一種重要的能源，世界范圍內，其重要性僅次于煤炭、石油和是然氣。

　　傳統上時生物能源的利用遠遠超出它在現代社會的利用程度。在發達國家，生物能源現在變得再次重要起來，被用于輔助供熱、發電。此外，生物能源作為一種家庭和社區供熱設施的清潔熱源現正益發重要。事實上，在芬蘭、美國和瑞典等國，人均使用的生物能比在印度、中國或亞洲其他國家都多。

　　地熱能

　　我們居住在兩大能源之間：地表下是滾燙的巖石，天上是太陽。我們的祖先知道地熱的價值，他們在溫泉里沐浴，用溫泉煮東西。如今我們意識到，這種能源擁有更廣泛的應用前景。

　　地板很熱，利用地熱能(希臘語中表示“來自地球的熱”)是可能的。這些地方包括那些有火山、溫泉和間歇泉的地方，還包括海洋水底下的甲烷。在一些國家，比如在美國，人們從地底下的熱水池中把水抽出來給房子供暖。

　　利用地熱能發電的歷史可以追溯到20世紀早期。有50年的時間里只有意大利在利用地熱發電，其他地方的人們過了很久才漸漸地對這種技術感興趣。[9]1943年，首先是冰島開始著手開發地熱溫泉。

　　熱電聯產

　　熱電聯產是指利用一種燃料同時產生兩種形式的能量。其中一種能量一定是熱能，另一種能量可以是電能，也可以是機械能。在傳統的發電廠，燃料在鍋爐里燃燒以便產生高壓蒸汽，蒸汽推動渦輪，渦輪又通過蒸汽輪機推動交流發電機發電。廢汽通常凝結成水，又回到鍋爐里。

　　[l0]因為低壓蒸汽含有大量的熱能，這些熱能在蒸汽凝結的過程中損耗了，因此傳統發電廠的熱效率只有大約35%。在熱電聯產的發電廠卻可以達到很高的效率水平，在75%-90%之間。[10]這是因為從渦輪冒出的低壓廢汽并不用來冷凝成水，而是用來為工廠或房屋供暖。

　　因為熱電聯產可以同時滿足供電、供熱的需求，它還有其他一些優點：可以為工廠大量節省成本：因為減少了燃料的消耗，可以減少污染物的排放。

　　1.High concentrations of harmful gases are resulted from______________.

　　A) ozone depletion

　　B) global warming

　　C) the consumption of fossil fuels

　　D) serious water and air pollution

　　2.The sun and wind are called renewable energy because they are____________.

　　A) natural

　　B) inexhaustible

　　C) newly-found

　　D) clean

　　3.Biomass,though a renewable energy,mainly causes_______________.

　　A) indoor pollution

　　B) outdoor pollution

　　C) industrial pollution

　　D) agricultural pollution

　　4.In the l970s,some countries began to be concerned about solar energy becauseof___________.

　　A) economic recession

　　B) sharp rise in oil prices

　　C) reduced oil production

　　D) increased research funds

　　5.In the hills of the Himalayas,“chakki”are used for_____________.

　　A) purifying water

　　B) keeping animals

　　C) producing power

　　D) exchanging goods

　　6.What is recommended to be used by the remote rural areas with little access toconventionalenergy sources?

　　A) Small hydropower plants.

　　B) Solar energy heaters.

　　C) Wind power mills.

　　D) Hot spring thermal energy.

　　7.It is mentioned that,between the surface and the depth of the ocean,there are greatdifferences in_____________.

　　A) dissolved substance

　　B) natural resource variety

　　C) marine life species

　　D) water temperature

　　8.After coal oil and natural gases,the fourth most important fuel is_____________.

　　9.ICeland was the first counfry that______________.

　　10.In the conventional power plants,a large quantum of heat is lost in the process ofcondensing______________.

　　1.[C][定位]根據題干中的high concentrations of harmful gases查找到第1段第2句。

　　解析：選項C與題干組成的因果關系與原文該句中的因果關系雖然表述不同，但內容相同，因此選項C為本題答案。選項A和選項B是high concentrations of harmful gases造成的結果，而非原因，因此不能選。

　　2.[B][定位]根據題干中的sun,wind，renewable等詞查找到第2段第2句。

　　解析：選項B與原文該句中的can never be exhausted同義，為本題答案。選項A和選項C的內容沒有在原文提及，選項D不能與題干構成相應的因果關系。

　　3.[A][定位]根據題干中的biomass查找到第2段最后一句。

　　解析：原文該句中的a major polluter indoors表明biomass主要引起室內的污染，選項A表達了與此相同的內容，故為本題答案。

　　4.[B][定位]根據題干中的數字1970s查找到第1個小標題Solar Energy下第2段最后一句。

　　解析：在四個選項中，只有選項B在原文該句中提及，其他選項都是無中生有。

　　5.[C][定位]根據題干中的大寫名詞Himalayas和專有名詞“chakki”查找到第2個小標題Hydro Power下第2段第1句。

　　解析：原文該句以居住在喜馬拉雅山的人們為例說明人們很早就開始“利用水力發電”了，因此，本題應選C。

　　6.[A][定位]根據題干中的remote rural areas和conventional等詞查找到第2個小標題Hydro Power下第4段首句。

　　解析：原文該句中的It指代hydro power，該句還是圍繞“水力發電”這一話題，由此可排除B、C和D選項，正確答案為A。

　　7.[D][位]根據題干中的surface，depth，ocean等詞查找到第3個小標題Energy From the Sea-OceanThermal,Tidal and Wave Energy下首段末句。

　　解析：在原文該句中，只有選項D的內容有提及，其他內容均沒有原文依據，因此選項D為本題答案。

　　8.[biomass]

　　[定位]根據題干中的coal，oil，gases和fourth等詞查找到笫4個小標題Biomass下第2段末句。

　　解析：空白處應為名詞詞組。題目只是將原文的主語和表語的位置倒轉，由此可見，原文中的主語biomass為本題答案。

　　9.[used geothermal hot water]

　　[定位]根據題干中的專有名詞Iceland查找到第5個小標題Geothermal Energy下末段末句。

　　解析：空白處應為定語從句的謂賓部分。原文該句中的pioneered表明冰島是首個使用地熱溫泉的地方，在回答問題的時候，注意that后應該是定語從句的謂語，由于事情發生在l943年，該謂語動詞應為過去式。

　　10.[the low-pressure steam]

　　[定位]根據題干中的conventional power plants和quantum of heat等詞查找到最后一個小標題Co-generation下第2段首句。

　　解析：空白處應為名詞詞組。在原文該句中，condensing后面并沒有帶任何賓語，但該段末句中的the low-pressure... is not condensed提示了首句中condensing的賓語應該是該句開頭的the low-pressuresteam，這也就是本題答案。