Pregunta de Inglês #019f69c6
(Q8) A deep freeze this week in the Lone Star state, which relies on electricity to heat many homes, is causing power demand to skyrocket. At the same time, natural gas, coal, wind and nuclear facilities in Texas have been knocked offline by the unthinkably low temperatures.
“The extreme cold is causing the entire system to freeze up,” said Jason Bordoff, director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “All sources of energy are underperforming in the extreme cold because they’re not designed to handle these unusual conditions.”
The ripple effects are being felt around the nation as Texas’ prolific oil-and-gas industry stumbles.
It’s striking that these power outages are happening in a state with abundant energy resources. Texas produces more electricity than any other US state — generating almost twice as much as Florida, the next-closest, according to federal statistics.
Wind power is also booming in Texas, which produced about 28% of all the US wind-powered electricity in 2019, the EIA said. But the problem is that not only is Texas an energy superpower, it tends to be an above-average temperature state. That means its infrastructure is ill-prepared for the cold spell currently wreaking havoc. And the consequences are being felt by millions.
Critics of renewable energy have pointed out that wind turbines have frozen or needed to be shut down due to the extreme weather.
Even though other places with colder weather (like Iowa and Denmark) rely on wind for even larger shares of power, experts said the turbines in Texas were not winterized for the unexpected freeze.
But this is not just about wind turbines going down. Natural gas and coal-fired power plants need water to stay online. Yet those water facilities froze in the cold temperatures and others lost access to the electricity they require to operate.
It’s too early to definitively say what went wrong in Texas and how to prevent similar outages. More information will need to be released by state authorities. Still, some experts say the criticism of wind power appears overdone already. “In terms of the blame game, the focus on wind is a red herring. It’s more of a political issue than what is causing the power problems on the grid,” said Dan Cohan, associate professor of environmental engineering at Rice University.
The energy crisis in Texas raises also questions about the nature of the state’s deregulated and decentralized electric grid. Unlike other states, Texas has made a conscious decision to isolate its grid from the rest of the country.
That means that when things are running smoothly, Texas can’t export excess power to neighboring states. And in the current crisis, it can’t import power either.
The text points to the lack of wind as the primary cause for a dip in the production of wind energy during the period described.
Certo
Errado
Explicación Oficial / Explicaciones de la Comunidad
A questão propõe um julgamento sobre uma afirmação tipicamente extraída de textos de compreensão leitora em inglês de concursos públicos (comumente no estilo do Cebraspe).
O item afirma que o texto aponta a "falta de vento" (lack of wind) como a "causa primária" (primary cause) para uma queda (dip) na produção de energia eólica durante o período descrito.
Por que o gabarito é Errado (E)?
- Generalizações e Absolutismos: Em questões de interpretação de língua inglesa, termos categóricos e absolutos como "lack of wind" (ausência/falta total de vento) e "primary cause" (causa primária/única) costumam tornar o item incorreto. Textos jornalísticos e técnicos geralmente tratam de flutuações sazonais, ventos abaixo da média (lower wind speeds ou below-average wind speeds) ou uma combinação de fatores técnicos e climáticos, e não de uma "falta de vento" absoluta e isolada.
- Diferença Semântica: Há uma diferença crucial entre "ventos mais fracos do que o normal" (fenômeno comum que gera redução na produção) e a "falta completa de vento" (lack of wind). A produção de energia eólica cai quando os ventos estão abaixo do limite ideal, mas isso não significa que o vento deixou de existir completamente.
Portanto, a afirmação extrapola ou distorce as informações comuns a esse tipo de texto técnico, tornando o item Errado.