SECTION 2 - Unit 1 Biomass : Let’s See the World on Fire

SECTION 2 - Unit 1 Biomass : Let’s See the World on Fire

• BEFORE YOU READ

  Discuss the following questions

1.What do you understand by the term ’global warming’, ‘alternative energies’?
2. What are considered to be the main causes of global warming? What actions can, or should, be taken to further address this issue either globally or in your country?
3. Name some types of alternative energies. How can the use of these energies help in addressing the issue of global warming?

• IDENTIFYING FACT VERSUS OPINION

   Being able to distinguish between fact and opinion is an important reading skill as much of what we read can be a mixture of both. Using this skill can help you to better understand a reading, become a more critical reader, and put the information you have read to good use.

A) Read each of the following statements. Write F if you think the statement expresses a fact, or O if you think it expresses an opinion. Underline the words that helped you determine your answer. 

 1. Fossil fuels are getting harder to find.
 2. Nuclear power has proved to be prohibitively expensive.
 3. Solar panels require eight years of use to replace the conventional energy used to manufacture them.
 4. In time, the fossil fuel waves may come to be seen as something of a historical blip.
 5. Power generation produces twice as much heat as electricity.
 6. Bioenergy power stations could be located near the settlements they would serve.
 7. Farmers could transform themselves into energy heroes by changing their crop.
 8. Ravaged rural economies would be boosted by the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs in forestry, transportation and power plant operation.

    Scan through the passage to find where the information in each statement above is mentioned, and check your answers.

Answer Key: Soan: VNS 4 gui 8249  (2k/sms)

B) Read through the passage and complete the comprehension exercise that follows. Pick out any other facts and opinions you find as you are reading. 

    If coal, oil and gas are just the residues of plants that once lived above ground, then why not burn plants on the surface? With ready access to abundant sources of food in many countries of the world, there is a smaller need to devote vast territories of farmland to food production. In contrast, the demand for energy has no limits.

    The fossil fuels on which we have come to depend are growing harder to find , and therefore more expensive. The latest findings on global warming suggest that the diversion of the Gulf Stream and the melting of polar ice caps may be among the least of the environmental problems ahead of us. Once methane bubbles up from the sea and the forests catch fire, releasing yet more carbon instead of absorbing it, warming may increase to a level at which human life will become impossible, anywhere on the planet.

    We know we must replace coal, oil, and gas with renewable sources of energy. But how? The answer used to be ‘go nuclear,’ but nuclear power has proved prohibitively expensive. Hydropower sound cleans, but you have to flood entire valleys for it to work. Much is heard of wind, wave, and solar power.

    Unfortunately, intermittent energy sources need to be backed up by conventional power, for the wind does not always blow, and the sun does not always shine. Even more problematic is the manufacture of the hardware that such sources of power require. This can use up almost as much energy as they generate. Put a solar panel on your roof, and it will take the first eight years of its use to replace the conventional energy that was needed to make the panel.

    The hard truth is that since humans first discovered fire, we have found no energy source that begins to measure up to nature’s hydrocarbons. Yet coal, oil, and gas are formed from the mineral residue of plants that once lived above ground. Suppose that, instead of extracting and burning fossil fuels, we burned plants growing on the surface. And suppose we constantly replanted the areas from which we harvested this living fuel, and then burned the replacement plants. Suddenly things would be very different. Scarcity would disappear, as fuel became endlessly renewable. So, too, would the threat to the climate. Carbon would be released when the first plants burned, but an equivalent amount of carbon would be reabsorbed by the replacement plants. In effect, the same carbon would go around and around, as we extracted the energy we need by burning it over and over again.

    What a good idea! And it is the same good idea that humanity relied upon until quite recently. In time, the fossil fuel waves – first coal, then oil, and now gas – may come to be seen as something of a historical blip, just like so many other twentieth-century phenomena. But could we really meet our energy needs today by burning plants? We could.

    A ton of straw, when biologically converted from cellulose to bioethanol, will produce 300 litres of vehicle fuel. Two tons of dry wood will produce as much electricity as one ton of coal, oil or gas. Not as good, you may think, but there is more to the story. Power generation produces twice as much heat as electricity. At present, however, electricity is produced in huge power stations sited for easy access to fossil fuel supplies. These stations cannot use the heat that they produce so it is simply wasted. Up to 20 percent of the electricity these stations produce is also wasted through overproduction to meet demand peaks, and friction during the long distance journeys around grids.

    Plants, however, can grow anywhere, so bioenergy power stations could be located near the settlements they would serve. Biofuel could be fed into furnaces as demand required. Numerous small generating stations could capture the heat they gave off and pipe it to surrounding communities. Power plants such as these can burn any kind of biomass. Wood produced from the short-rotation cutting back of fast-growing trees works best, but long grasses will also do. All you need is the land to grow the plants. Where would that come from?

    Before the era of mass fossil fuel use, Britain devoted about one-third of its land surface to growing fuel. Recovery of that land, together with existing woodland, for biomass production could enable Britain to meet its entire electricity needs, and much of its heat energy besides. The fiscal restructuring of its energy market would swiftly direct energy distributors toward the new fuel of choice.

    Farmers could transform themselves into energy heroes merely by changing their crop. Conservationists would see tree cover in places like Britain, currently lower than almost anywhere else in Europe, return at last to respectable levels. The ravaged rural economies in many countries would be boosted by the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs in forestry, transportation, and power plant operation.

    Will it happen? Saving the world may not be a priority among nations, but it should be.

Answer Key: Soan: VNS 5 gui 8249  (2k/sms)

C) Complete the following statements using information you have read. 

1. Human now have ready access to  sources of food .
2. Fossil fuels are becoming  to find and, as a result, more .
3. In the future,  may increase to a level at which human life will become impossible.
4. Coal, oil, and gas are formed from the  of plants that once lived above ground.
5. The author believes that by harvesting, burning, and replanting plants growing on the earth’s surface we will have an endlessly  source of fuel.
6. Up to 20 percent of electricity produced in power stations is wasted through  and .
7. At one time in the past, Britain devoted about  of its land surface to growing .
8. The author believes that biomass production could turn farmers into and boost rural .

Answer Key: Soan: VNS 6 gui 8249   (2k/sms)

D) Fill in the blanks in the paragraph below using the words from the reading. 

residues         devote         absorbing         intermittent         measure up to scarcity          blip             era                 swiftly                ravaged

Building Environmental Awareness

    We are living in an (1)  when environmental issues such as global warming are of great concern. The burning of fossil fuels extracted from the Earth has resulted in huge amounts of carbon being released into the atmosphere. At the same time, forests are being (2)  by fires, meaning there are fewer trees available to (3)  the carbon and recycle it into oxygen. In addition, our waterways are constantly being polluted by chemical (4)  from industry, and household detergents. The future safety of our water supply is uncertain and some countries may soon be faced with a (5)  of clean water.

    Some people believe this is just a climatic (6)  in the history of the earth; others believe that people around the world need to (7)  more time and energy to environmental awareness. They believe that (8) solutions are not the answer and that governments need to act (9) , and work continuously, to encourage people everywhere to take responsibility for the future of our planet. One obvious way to start cleaning up the planet would be to find alternative sources of fuel that (10)  the reliability of the fossil fuels we have become so dependent on.

Answer Key: Soan: VNS 7 gui 8249  (2k/sms)