2018考研英语二阅读Text 2真题源文（新东方版）
2018考研初试12月23日至25日进行，新东方网考研频道时刻关注2018考研初试情况(点击查看》》2018考研初试真题及答案解析专题)，并第一时间为考生提供考研真题答案及答案解析内容，同时新东方考研名师将为考生提供视频直播解析。敬请关注新东方网考研频道为您带来的精彩内容。名师解析专区|考研真题答案专区|考研历年真题Commentary The Monitor's View The Monitor's View
Renewable energy at a ‘tipping point’
A shift in thought
Washington may be showing less interest in alternative fuels, but the
worldwide picture is dramatically different.
June 26, 2017 —Should the world promote economic growth or fight climate
change? That model of “either/or” thinking may be losing its validity faster
than even some experts have imagined.
While fossil fuels – coal, oil, gas – still generate roughly 85 percent of
the world’s energy supply, it’s clearer than ever that the future belongs to
renewable sources such as wind and solar.
The move to renewables is picking up momentum around the world: They now
account for more than half of new power sources going on line.
Some growth stems from a commitment by governments and farsighted
businesses to fund cleaner energy sources. But increasingly the story is about
the plummeting prices of renewables, especially wind and solar. The cost of
solar panels has dropped by 80 percent and the cost of wind turbines by close to
one-third in the past eight years, reports the International Renewable Energy
Agency.
In many parts of the world renewable energy is already a principal energy
source. In Scotland, for example, wind turbines provide enough electricity to
power 95 percent of homes.
While the rest of the world takes the lead, notably China and Europe, the
United States is also seeing a remarkable shift. In March, for the first time,
wind and solar power accounted for more than 10 percent of the power generated
in the US, reported the US Energy Information Administration.
President Trump has underlined fossil fuels – especially coal – as the path
to economic growth. In a recent speech in Iowa, a state he won easily in 2016,
he dismissed wind power as an unreliable energy source.
But that message did not play well with many in the Hawkeye State, where
wind turbines dot the fields and provide 36 percent of the state’s electricity
generation – and where tech giants such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Google are
being attracted by the availability of clean energy to power their data
centers.
Prominent Republican politicians in Iowa are backing the growing industry.
The state’s senior senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, has pledged his strong
commitment to wind power, as has the new GOP governor, Kim Reynolds. Other red
states in the heartland, such as Kansas, the Dakotas, and Texas, are
experiencing a wind-powered boom as well.
The question “what happens when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t
shine?” has provided a quick put-down for skeptics. But a boost in the storage
capacity of batteries, and a dramatic drop in their cost, is making their
ability to keep power flowing around the clock more likely.
The advance is driven in part by vehicle manufacturers, who are placing big
bets on battery-powered electric vehicles. Although electric cars are still a
rarity on roads in 2017, this massive investment could change the picture
rapidly in coming years. China, whose cities are choked by air pollution, may
lead the way.
“Renewables have reached a tipping point globally,” sums up Simon Virley,
who studies the world’s energy markets for the international accounting firm
KPMG. He sees renewables competing on price with fossil fuels in more and more
places around the world.
“I think happening much faster than most
well-educated business people in America understand,” adds British investor
Jeremy Grantham, cofounder of the Boston-based asset manager firm GMO, in
Britain’s Financial Times recently.
While there’s a long way to go, the trend lines for renewables are spiking.
The the pace of change in energy sources appears to be speeding up – perhaps
just in time to have a meaningful effect in slowing climate change.
What Washington does – or doesn’t do – to promote alternative energy may
mean less and less at a time of a global shift in thought.
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2017/0626/Renewable-energy-at-a-tipping-point
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