T Transcripts
How is that possible? Well, greenhouse gases aren’t produced directly by electric cars, but they use electric batteries, and production of batteries leads to greenhouse gas emissions.
Finally, we have EOL – end of life. What are the end- of-life impacts of a product? Sometimes, the end-of-life impacts are very high because disposal is difficult or expensive. Let’s look at two examples. First of all, a nuclear power station. In its lifetime, nuclear power generation is clean in environmental terms. Firstly, it generates or produces energy. It doesn’t use fossil fuels. Next, it does not need lots of water. But, nuclear power generation has very high end-of-life costs. Why? Well, to start with, parts of the structure are radioactive, and we must deal with the radioactive material. In addition, the waste from nuclear power generation is a serious problem. Nuclear waste can get into the ground around the power station, and then into rivers and the sea. So pollution is a big problem with nuclear power generation.
110 Unit 9, Life cycles Exercise E
Listen to the last part of the talk. Check your ideas and add extra ones.
So, what happens after an LCA – a life cycle analysis? Engineers must do something with the information. They must look at stages with high energy use, or with high water use, or high waste or high pollution of water or air. And they must make some changes. What can they do? Let’s look at the stages and suggest some solutions.
To start with, extraction and processing. Engineers can use recycled materials in new products. Recycled materials don’t need extraction. They can go straight to the processing plant. And that’s not all. Recycled materials don’t need so much processing in many cases. So you don’t need as much energy at the processing stage. On top of that, recycling reduces the impact of disposal. Recycled materials are not burnt or buried in the ground. So there is no waste and no pollution of air or water.
Next, manufacturing. We heard about pollution from manufacturing. Unfortunately, a lot of manufacturing produces harmful materials. But pollution happens because control systems are not good. Engineers must control harmful gases and chemicals. They must make sure they do not escape from a factory, into the air or into the ground and the water around the factory.
OK. The next stage is operation – that’s use and maintenance. Sometimes engineers can use a different power source, for example, cars. Electric cars produce half as much CO2
Another idea is – make the power source more efficient. More efficient machines mean less energy.
Finally, EOL. Well, first of all, end of life is connected with beginning of life. Engineers must try to use recyclable materials in their products. Secondly, they must design products so that recycling is easy – I mean, so you can separate the different types of materials – plastic, metal and so on. In addition, they must make it easy to repair and replace components so we don’t throw so many things away. Finally, here’s a very new idea. Some people say that the producers of products should collect them from customers at end of life. On top of that, they say the producers should pay for disposal. They say – if the producers pay, they will be more careful about the materials in the product. What do you think? Should car manufacturers, for example, collect cars from customers at the end of their life and pay for disposal? Should the owners of nuclear power stations pay for the power stations to be demolished and the ground made safe?
111
Unit 9, Life cycles Grammar for listening: Recognizing passive sentences
Listen and check.
Products are made by manufacturing companies. Products are made from raw materials. Products are made in factories. Products are made for customers.
112
Unit 9, Life cycles Grammar for listening: Recognizing passive sentences
Listen to the beginnings of seven more sentences. Say a final noun phrase in each case.
1. Greenhouse gases aren’t produced by … 2. In Europe, 85% of the material in cars is … 3. Water is often used in … 4. In factories, CO2
is often …
5. Radioactive material is produced by … 6. In an oil refinery, ten litres of water are used to produce …
7. Recycled materials are not burnt or buried in the … 113
Unit 9, Cutting the cost of drying your hair Exercise B per kilometre as petrol cars. So the use
costs are reduced. In addition, electric cars do not need so much maintenance. So energy costs are reduced, too.
220
Listen and check. 1. body 2. fan 3. electric motor 4. heating element 5. power cord
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