Halli Hallo, wer kann mir helfen? (eins gleich vorab: ich bin nicht zu faul fürs ausarbeiten nur TOTAL IM STRESS! (Abitur Vorbereitung) Muss mehrere English Texte dieser Art zusammenfassen. Unter anderen auch "Sources of Energy" (siehe unten) Muß den Text anhand der gestelten Fragen zusammenfassen. Wer kann mir helfen...
Danke im Voraus
Lola
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Read the basic text (unten)
Study the vocabulary and prepare a summary of the basic text
Focus on the following points
· Discuss the problems connected with the use of coal and oil
· Why did people start looking for inexhaustable sources of energy ?
· What do you know about them ? ( pros and cons )
· Which of them are used in Austria ? Which not ? Why ?
· Describe the change in people's attitude towards nuclear power
· What do you know about the disaster in Chernobyl ?
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SOURCES OF ENERGY
At the beginning of the 20th century coal was the most important source of energy and its resources will not be fully exhausted for the next 1000 years. We know, however, that the use of coal is a problematical one, as coal-burning power plants pump thousands of tons of sulphur Oxydes into the air. They pollute our environment and are known to cause acid rain.
Another source of energy is oil, which was widely used until the member-states of the OPEC ( Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries ) raised the prices for oil at the beginning of the 70's ( oil-shock ). Only then did we realize that oil was too valuable and expensive to generste electric power. People found out that our natura) resources - coal, oil and gas - would soon be used up . They tried to reduce energy consumption and began to search for alternative sources of energy that are inexhaustible, such as water-power, solar radiation , wind energy , nuclear fission and fusion. The exploitation of water-power was regarded as a clean source of energy, but more and more negative effects an the ecological system were realized. The ground water level falls, wildlife and plants are threatened and so animal species die out. In Austria we haue water-power stations an big rivers ( they work continuously ) and storage-power stations in the mountains ( they produce energy at times of peak demand)
Prospects for using solar energy are more favourable in the tropics where the bulk of the world's population lives in the least developed countries. In these countries solar energy might be used as a cheap , reliable means of cooking food, lighting homes and perhaps of powering small factories.
Solar powered vehicles haue already been designed, that can resch a speed of 40 m/h , a speed that meets the typical city-driving requirements.
More and more houses haue solar panels mounted an their roofs.
Geothermal energy sources such as geysers and volcanic vapours haue been successfully used for the production of electric power in New Zealand, Japan and Iceland.
Also wind-energy can be used as an additional source of energy in some countries. At first scientists were too optimistic about nuclear energy . They thought nuclear energy would provide an unlimited source of energy, that it would be very cheap and they did not consider the various dangers of atomic power.
What were the main factors why nuclear energy was not as successful as scientists had thought ?
Constructing a nuclear power plant was more difficult than scientists had thought. Costs for safety equipment added millions to the planned operating costs and so electricity prices rose. Projects were forced into legal battles by environmentalists and so they were delayed for months, sometimes for years, or they had to be given up. The antinuclear movement became more and more active. People were informed about the dangers of atomic energy. The public was shocked by the numerous accidents in nuclear power plants ( Three Mile Island 1979, Chernobyl 1986 ). The unseen radiation which leaked out is known to cause cancer and genetic damages. People became aware of the problem of storing the nuclear waste ( the fuel rods ) which is radioactive for thousands of years due to the Jong half-lives of radioactive substances. So far the problem of storing the nuclear waste has not been solved yet.
Besides that, a general change in the attitudes of many people towards our industrialized society, towards eonomic growth and the existing dangers to our environment are slowly having an effect an our governments' energy programs.