In the United States, imports have dropped by half in the past couple of years. Domestic production is up, and consumption is do

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问题     In the United States, imports have dropped by half in the past couple of years. Domestic production is up, and consumption is down. The administration uses this improvement to buttress its case for dissolving the Energy Department. But the appearance of less vulnerability to supply interruptions is deceptive and dangerous.
    Some important changes in U.S. energy use have occurred. The price of oil has been decontrolled, the strategic petroleum reserve is finally being filed, industry is using energy much more efficiently and the gas guzzler is an endangered species. But the price of natural gas is still artificially low, consumers still have no reliable source of help for reducing energy use in their homes, mass transit compared with of other advanced nations is terrible, and the lack of a substantial gasoline tax keeps that unchanged.
    Nevertheless, the Reagan administration argues that higher energy prices have led to energy conservation and that there is therefore no reason for further federal support of research and other conservation programs. But the real issue is how much of what would be economically beneficial is not happening, and will not happen, under current policies. Do most types of energy use technologies for supply and distribution, consumer information, manufacturing processes and the rest-reflect the reality of expensive energy or the history of cheap energy? The answer varies by sector. Large businesses with access to expertise and capital have adjusted well. Most other sectors have not in residential and commercial buildings, which consume a quarter of all the energy used in America. Only a tiny fraction of the economically desirable savings is being captured.
    In short, a good beginning has been made, but it is only a beginning. To abandon conservation programs and dismantle research efforts now is to save small amounts of federal dollars at a very large longer-range cost to the economy. And hopeful talk about the end of the energy crisis ignores the painful lessons of the past decade.

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答案 由于情况有了改善,政府就振振有词地主张撤销能源部。从表面上看,供应中断造成危害的可能性的确减少了,但是,这只是一种危险的假象。 石油价格管制取消了,战略石油储备终趋于完成,工业中的能源利用率大大提高,耗油过多的汽车已濒于绝迹。但是,天然气价格仍然被人为地压低,消费者在住宅节能方面仍然得不到稳妥的帮助,公共交通同其他先进国家相比糟糕透顶,而且,由于缺乏大量的汽油税,情况至今仍无改变。 大多数利用能源的环节——供应和分配技术、消费者信息、制造工艺等——的现状又怎样呢?究竟是反映了能源昂贵的现实呢,还是反映了能源低廉的历史呢?答案视不同部门而定。拥有技术人才和资本的大企业已经做了妥善的调整。大多数其他部门还没有适应这种现实。居民住宅和商业建筑所消耗的能源占美国全部能源消耗量的四分之一。这些地方实行节约,在经济上是可取的,可是现已实现的节约却微乎其微,还大有潜力可挖。 总之,我们已经有了一个良好的开端,但这也仅仅是开始而已。现在就放弃节能计划,停止能源研究工作,可以给联邦政府节省少量开支,但从比较长远的观点来看,只能使经济蒙受重大损失。那种能源危机已经过去的乐观论调,只能是对过去十年的痛苦教训的忽视。

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