Conversações diárias: o custo e os benefícios da energia limpa

Seis estudantes de diferentes partes do mundo se encontram. O que eles têm em comum? São todos intercambistas estudando em uma universidade americana durante um semestre. Ao longo do semestre, eles aprendem mais inglês, conhecem sobre a cultura americana e ficam sabendo mais sobre suas áreas de estudo. Esta série Conversações Diárias* é sobre seis estudantes e suas experiências durante um semestre em uma universidade nos EUA. Essas conversas são para alunos de inglês de nível intermediário ou superior.

A série Conversações Diárias é uma ótima maneira de melhorar seu inglês. Os leitores de nível mais avançado podem aprender ainda mais rápido revendo este post original na íntegra em inglês.

Students (Akinyi, Lee and Peter) look at Lee’s photos from a trip. In the photos are wind turbines, devices that convert the movement of air into electricity. The three students talk about the advantages of wind power.

Akinyi: Where were these pictures taken, Lee?

Lee: Which ones? Oh, those pictures are from a trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden. One of my classes went there to see the wind turbines.

Peter: There are wind turbines at the botanical garden?

Lee: It surprised me too. They’re small ones. Unfortunately, they only offset a small portion of the facility’s energy use. But putting small turbines on the rooftops of buildings is an interesting idea that is gaining popularity.

Akinyi: Interesting. But do they generate enough power to offset the cost of building them?

Peter: I really like how you’re always thinking like a businessperson!

Lee: No one knows for sure yet. It’s a fairly new endeavor in the wind energy field. At least now more people are looking at renewable energy.

Akinyi: This seems like a great field for entrepreneurs to enter. But it seems like the upfront costs would be huge, and the payback would take a long time.

Lee: Yes, that’s why some people think it’s important to have government subsidies to encourage clean energy use. But remember, the payback to society in the long run is huge!

Agora vamos rever o vocabulário.

A wind turbine [turbina eólica] is a rotating device that converts the movement of air into electricity.

A botanical garden [jardim botânico] is a place where plants are grown for the public to view and sometimes for scientific study.

To offset [compensar; reduzir o efeito de algo] means to cancel or reduce the effect of something or to create an equal balance between two things.

The verb generate [gerar] means to produce something.

An endeavor [esforço; empenho; empreendimento] is an effort or attempt to do something.

Renewable energy [energia renovável] is energy that comes from things that will not run out. It is energy that is naturally replenished. “To replenish” means to replace what has been used.

An entrepreneur [empreendedor] is a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money.

An upfront cost [custo inicial] is money paid before receiving a good or service. In this context, the upfront cost of purchasing the turbine means the money paid for the turbine before receiving any energy produced by the turbine.

Payback [retorno] is the money or reward one receives after investing in something. In this context, the payback of the turbine is low-cost and clean energy.

A subsidy (plural: subsidies) [subsídio] is money paid by the government or other organization to lower the cost of a product or service.

In the long run [no longo prazo] means eventually, or after a long period of time.

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