READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40
Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage
3 below.
Carbon Capture and Storage
High coal dependence
Renewable energy is much discussed, but coal still plays the greatest role in the generation of
electricity, with recent figures from the International Energy Agency showing that China relies
on it for 79% of its power, Australia for 78%, and the US for 45%. Germany has less reliance at
41%, which is also the global average. Furthermore, many countries have large, easily
accessible deposits of coal, and numerous highly skilled miners, chemists, and engineers.
Meanwhile, 70% of the world’s steel production requires coal, and plastic and rayon are usually
coal derivatives.
Currently, coal-fired power plants fed voracious appetites, but they produce carbon dioxide
(CO2) in staggering amounts. Urbanites may grumble about an average monthly electricity bill
of $113, yet they steadfastly ignore the fact that they are not billed for the 6-7 million metric
tons of CO2 their local plant belches out, which contribute to the 44% of global CO2 levels
from fossil-fuel emissions. Yet, as skies fill with smog and temperatures soar, people crave
clean air and cheap power.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that advises the United Nations has testified
that the threshold of serious harm to the Earth’s temperature is a mere 2° Celsius above current
levels, so it is essential to reduce carbon emissions by 80% over the next 30 years, even as
demand for energy will rise by 50%, and one proposal for this is the adoption of carbon capture
and storage (CCS).
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