IELTS Academic Reading

Wind Power in the US Prompted by the oil crises of the 1970s, a wind-power industry flourished briefly in the United Sta tes. But then world oil prices dropped, and funding for research into renewable energy was cut. B y the mid 1980s US interest in wind energy as a large-scale source of energy had almost disappe ared. The development of wind power at this time suffered not only from badly designed equipme nt, but also from poor long-term planning, economic projections that were too optimistic and the difficulty of finding suitable locations for the wind turbines. Only now are technological advances beginning to offer hope that wind power will come to be acc epted as a reliable and important source of electricity. There have been significant successes in C alifornia, in particular, where wind farms now have a capacity of 1500 megawatts, comparable to a large nuclear or fossil-fuelled power station, and produce 1.5 per cent of the states electricity. Nevertheless, in the US, the image of wind power is still distorted by early failures. One of the mo st persistent criticisms is that wind power is not a significant energy resource. Researchers at the Battelle Northwest Laboratory, however, estimate that today wind turbine technology could suppl y 20 per cent of the electrical power the country needs. As a local resource, wind power has even greater potential. Minnesotas energy commission calculates that a wind farm on one of the state s south western ridges could supply almost all that states electricity. North Dakota alone has eno ugh sites suitable for wind farms to supply more than a third of all electricity consumed in the con tinental US. The prevailing notion that wind power is too costly results largely from early research which focus ed on turbines with huge blades that stood hundreds of metres tall. These machines were not des igned for ease of production or maintenance, and they were enormously expensive. Because the major factors influencing the overall cost of wind power are the cost of the turbine and its support ing systems, including land, as well as operating and maintenance costs, it is hardly surprising th at it was thought at the time that wind energy could not be supplied at a commercially competitiv e price. More recent developments such as those seen on California wind farms have dramatically change d the economic picture for wind energy. These systems, like installations in Hawaii and several Eu ropean countries, have benefited from the economies of scale that come through standardised m anufacturing and purchasing. The result has been a dramatic drop in capital costs: the installed c ost of new wind turbines stood at $1000 per kilowatt in 1993, down from about $4000 per kilowat t in 1980, and continues to fall. Design improvements and more efficient maintenance programs for large numbers of turbines ha ve reduced operating costs as well. The cost of electricity delivered by wind farm turbines has de creased from about 30 cents per kilowatt-hour to between 7 and 9 cents, which is generally less t han the cost of electricity from conventional power stations. Reliability has also improved dramati cally. The latest turbines run more than 95 per cent of the time, compared with around 60 per ce nt in the early 1980s. Another misconception is that improved designs are needed to make wind power feasible. Out of the numerous wind turbine designs proposed or built by inventors or developers, the propeller-bl ade type, which is based on detailed analytical models as well as extensive experimental data, ha s emerged as predominant among the more than 20,000 machines now in commercial operation world-wide. Like the gas-driven turbines that power jet aircraft, these are sophisticated pieces of r

otating machinery. They are already highly efficient, and there is no reason to believe that other configurations will produce major benefits. Like other ways of generating electricity, wind power does not leave the environment entirely unh armed. There are many potential problems, ranging from interference with telecommunications t o impact on wildlife and natural habitats. But these effects must be balanced against those associ ated with other forms of electricity generation. Conventional power stations impose hidden costs on society, such as the control of air pollution, the management of nuclear waste and global war ming. As wind power has been ignored in the US over the past few years, expertise and commercial exp loitation in the field have shifted to Europe. The European Union spends 10 times as much as the US government on research and development of wind energy. It estimates that at least 10 per ce nt of Europes electrical power could be supplied by land-based wind-turbines using current techn ology. Indeed, according to the American Wind Energy Association, an independent organisation based in Washington, Denmark, Britain, Spain and the Netherlands will each surpass the US in th e generating capacity of wind turbines installed during the rest of the decade. Glossary fossil fuel: coal, oil and natural gas kilowatt: 1,000 watts; a watt is a unit of power kilowatt-hour: one kilowatt for a period of one hour megawatt: one million watts wind farm: a group of wind turbines in one location producing a large amount of electricity wind turbine: a machine which produces energy when the wind turns its blades Questions 1 - 5 Complete the summary below. Choose your answers from the box below the summary and write them in boxes 1-5 on your answ er sheet. NB There are more words or phrases than you will need to fill the gaps. You may use any word or phrase more than once.

Example The failure during the late 1970s and early 1980s of an attempt to establish a widespread wind power industry in the United States resulted largely from the ...(1) ... in oil prices during this period. The industry is now experiencing a steady ...(2)... due to improvem ents in technology and an increased awareness of the potential in the power of wind. The wind tu rbines that are now being made, based in part on the ...(3)... of wide-ranging research in Europe, are easier to manufacture and maintain than their predecessors. This has led wind-turbine maker s to be able to standardise and thus minimise ...(4)... . There has been growing ...(5)... of the impo rtance of wind power as an energy source. criticism success design costs production costs failure stability operating costs fall growth recognition

scepticism decisions effects decline results Questions 6 - 10 Look at the following list of issues (Questions 6-10) and implications (A-C). Match each issue with one implication. Write the appropriate letters A-C in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet. Example Answer The current price of one wind-generated kilowatt... A

6. The recent installation of systems taking advantage of economies of scale ... 7. The potential of meeting one fifth of current US energy requirements by wind power ... 8. The level of acceptance of current wind turbine technology ... 9. A comparison of costs between conventional and wind power sources ... 10. The view of wind power in the European Union ...

IMPLICATIONS A provides evidence against claims that electricity produced from wind power is relatively expens ive. B supports claims that wind power is an important source of energy. C opposes the view that wind power technology requires further development