PRE-IELTS

Lesson 12a
Energy Crisis

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Official Partnership with IDP Vietnam

Answer the questions in this quiz.
• You decide to fly to an island 5,000 miles away for a holiday. How many trees would you need to plant to offset or make up for the
CO2 emissions produced by the flight?
A 0.2 B. 20 C.2

• Which is the most environmentally friendly way to clean your clothes?

A. Hand-wash the clothes in hot water. B. Take them to the dry cleaners.
C. Machine-wash the clothes in cold water.

• You are tidying up your house in the evening, going back and forth between the bedroom, kitchen and living room, spending five
to ten minutes in each room as you sort out the clutter. What is the best way to make sure your lights aren't needlessly wasting
energy?
A. Keep the lights on as you go from room to room until the job is done.
B. Turn the lights off every time you leave a room and then on again when you return.

• You decide to cook a baked potato for lunch. Which is the most energy-efficient way of cooking the potato?
A. Put it in an electric oven to cook slowly for an hour.
B. Quickly zap it in the microwave.

• You want to really make a significant contribution to the reduction of CO emissions. Which of these would be ofthe most benefit
over the course of a year?
A. Taking the train instead of driving a car.
B. Hanging your washing out to dry rather than using the tumble dryer.
C. Working from home one day a week.
If we want to (1) ________ energy then we need to change the way we behave. We
need to buy appliances that are more energy (2) ________ and limit the amount of
time we use them. To reduce the (3)________ the greenhouse gases have on our (4)
________ we should plant more trees. Trees can (5) ________ carbondioxide and so
they help to (6) ________ the fumes produced by our cars. Turning off lights even for
a few minutes can (7) ________ the negative effects of turning them on again later.
Read the text and then answer the questions below.
The future of energy
CO2 plays a critical role in maintaining the balance in the Earth's atmosphere and the air that we breathe. It isalso a waste
product of the fossil fuels that almost every person on the planet uses for transport and other energy requirements. Because we
create COy every time we drive a car, cook a meal or turn on a light, and because the gas lasts around a century in the
atmosphere, the proportion of CO in the atmosphere is rapidly increasing.

The best evidence indicates that we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70 per cent by 2050. If you own a four-wheel-
drive car and replace it with a hybrid car - a car that is powered by a combination of electricity and petrol - or a smaller standard-
fuel car, you can achieve a reduction of that magnitude in a day rather than half acentury. Unfortunately, our past history of
change is considerably slower than this. Samuel Bowser first invented the petrol pump in 1885 but it wasn’t until 1988 that all
new cars manufactured in the UK were required to use unleaded petrol only.

Not only do fossil fuels pose an environmental hazard but there is also a pressing need to find an alternative energy source that
is renewable. Opinions as to how much oil remains vary considerably. Some say that the Earth has produced only 18 per cent of
its potential yield of oil; others say supplies may run out as early as 2015. Many countries are exploring alternative energy
sources such as solar energy or wind power, which uses large turbines to capture the energy of the wind.
How do you write CO2 in full? _________

What do we call fuels such as coal and oil? _________

What are two names for the substance that comes out of the exhaust of a car? _________

What do we call fuels that can be produced at anytime? _________

Name two types of alternative energy. _________ and _________

What is a turbine most similar to?

A. a large engine B. a windmill C. a car
Complete the text with words from the box.

Alternative converting eco-friendly emit engine fuel fumes

Greenhouse gases plant solar

Fueling our cars

Our love of the fuel-burning car with its poisonous exhaust (1) ________ has had a devastating effect both on our environment and
on oil supplies. It is unlikely we will abandon our cars in large enough numbers to resolve this problem, so there is a pressing need
to find an (2) ________ fuel. Many car companies are exploring (3) ________ Energy sources. Hybrid cars were first developed in
1997 and these are likely to become more common place in the future. Hydrogen vehicles that use (4) ________ Panels to extract
hydrogen from water are also likely to be readily available in the near future. These vehicles (5) ________ only water vapour and so
do not contribute to (6) ________ However, critics say that building a network of felling stations and (7) ________ Existing petrol
stations to hydrogen will prove too costly and will limit this vehicle’s potential.
Nevertheless, countries such as the US, Germany, Japan and Iceland already have ambitious hydrogen plans.

Others believe that biofuels are the future. These fuels are based on (8) ________ oils and so can be grown.The concept of using
vegetable oil as a (9) ________ dates back to 1895 when Dr Rudolf Diesel developed the first diesel (10) ________ to run on
vegetable oil. He demonstrated his engine at the World Exhibitionin Paris in 1900 and described an experiment using peanut oil as
fuel in his engine. In 1912, Diesel said, 'The useof vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may
become in the course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.'
Decide whether these sentences are true or false. Underline the parts of the text that gave you your answer.
1. Cars that run on electricity and petrol appeared in 1997.
2. Water is produced from the exhausts of hydrogen cars.
3. It will be relatively inexpensive to change current petrol stations for hydrogen cars.
4. Biofuels are non-renewable.
5. In 1912 diesel was seen as an important fuel source.

Which is the odd one out? Try to explain why.

1. Curb / limit / promote / restrict
2. electricity / nuclear energy / solar energy / wind power
3. economical / effective / efficient / emission.
4. carbon / fuel / gas / petrol
5. emit / discharge / release / retain
6. Renewable / disposable / rechargeable
7. diminish / dwindle / deplete / drastic
8. consume / extend / exhaust / expend
9. conserve / preserve / reserve / save