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Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.
(1).
„Why do batteries matter? Look at all your electronic devices: from laptops to
smartphones to Kindles or iPads, even your watch. Those electronics are getting more
energy-efficient and require less energy than they used to. But as they do, people get
greedy and want their capabilities to increase. The battery, or how much energy you can
05 store in a given volume and weight, is the defining factor in this whole field.
Then there are electric cars. If we can make batteries with double the "energy TR2Z
density of today's and drive the price below $200 per "kilowatt-hour (versus $300 to $800
today, depending on type and weight), we could have a car with a 300-mile range, even
with the air conditioner or heater turned up, that would sell for $25,000 to $30,000. The
10 Department of Energy's goal is to get batteries to $150 per kilowatt-hour by the year
2020.
01
Finally, there are the "utility-scale batteries, which are very important for renewable TR28
energy. Wind and solar power are going to become more common. Wind is already the
second-cheapest form of new energy, after shale gas, and it will become the cheapest
15
15 within a decade. Right now "utility companies get about 4 percent of their power from
renewable sources other than "hydro- and that 4 percent is roughly all from wind. We
may see a day when renewables make up 50, 60, 70 percent of the total supply of energy.
Utility companies will need batteries to stabilize the flow of renewable energy into the
*grid, and also require a better electrical control system to (3)do the switching. People
20 may have these batteries at their homes instead of generators.
All of this would create a huge market. But the effects would be more profound. T
There are mountainous places even in the U.S., like western Alaska, that will never be
connected to the electric grid. There aren't enough people, and the distances are too
great. There are many parts of South Asia like this, too. But they will have solar and
25 wind power -
which, in 10 or 15 years, are going to be as cheap as any other form of
energy, or cheaper. Once you have "storage systems, you can put a little "solar
installation on your roof or "a plot of land, and then you will have your electric supply! It
will be like cellphones' "leapfrogging the "land-line era. It will transform the prosperity
of the world.
【Notes】 energy density エネルギー密度 (ここでは電池の容量を意味する)
kilowatt-hour キロワット時 (1キロワットの機器を1時間使ったときの消費電力量)
utility-scale 電力供給に使う規模の
hydro
utility company
t
storage 貯蔵 (ここでは電気を蓄えておくことを意味する)
grid
solar installation
a plot of land 一画の土地
land-line 地上 (の電話) 線 by a factor of two (増減の幅が)2倍で
(50pts.)
leapfrog 〜を一足跳びにする
