Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com on December 25, 2021

I am not an instructor but I will try to help.

This passage aims to advocate the involvement of local firms/governments in developing countries in order to make renewable energy more prevalent in all developing countries.

The passage uses two examples to support this argument. First Brazil. Brazil collaborated with US company to do a project to provide electricity in rural areas in Brazil. “Under the project's terms, . local utilities install, maintain, and own the systems, (30) and collect fees from users. Backers hoped the project . would attract enough private investment for substantial . expansion throughout Brazil.”

However, Brazilian project directors in charge of renewable energy expansion rejected the high bid of Brazilian companies to produce energy equipment of their own. “Thus, Brazil’s renewable energy expansion relied solely on costly foreign (US) expertise to manufacture all equipment necessary for the project.”

Not enough private investment is attracted using this infrastructure, as no local and other levels of Brazilian government/organizations are involved in rural Brazil’s electricity project. Brazil’s electricity project, in the end, can only generate enough income to cover maintenance but not expansion. Thus, Brazil’s electricity project failed due to lack of private investment attracted.

The passage then gives a successful example of energy expansion in developing countries. That is, India. The main difference between India and Brazil is that India allowed local firms in every step of equipment manufacture instead of Brazil’s heavy reliance on foreign expertise. By engaging local firms in India in the manufacture of equipment necessary for energy production in India, India’s energy project was able to attract substantial private investment. This is the quotation in support of this. “Indian firms . subsequently began manufacturing turbines and, as . more locally manufactured equipment became . available, Indian utilities were able to increase their use (55) of wind energy profitably. The success of these small . projects spurred enthusiasm; Indian utilities were soon . ordering more equipment and private investment in . wind energy surged.”

This is in sharp contrast to Brazil’s energy project, which failed because it couldn’t attract enough private investment. The lack of private investment is due to not enough local involvement in Brazil. India, on the other hand, had substantial local involvements in its energy expansion project. For example, Indian firms (Not Danish) manufactured the turbines necessary in the energy expansion projects. Thus, substantial local involvement in India was the key in attracting local Indian private investment.

The passage finally concludes that India’s energy project will remain profitable in the long run due to these ongoing local involvements. This is the quotation in support this forecast. “Because the Danish agency, . unlike its U.S. counterpart, recognized the importance (60) of local involvement at all levels, the project has a . good chance of remaining competitive and profitable . for the long run.

Now we have a rundown of the pertinent parts of this passage. We can then take a look at A) and D).

A) While some later efforts to implement renewable energy systems have and eventually halted by economic conflicts, early renewable energy projects relying more heavily on local involvement enjoyed a larger degree of success.

This is stating the facts of the two examples (Brazil and India) that the passage uses to support its main purpose. However, the passage is making an argument that local involvement is key to expansion of renewable energy source in developing countries. This passage involves more than just stating the facts of the two cases, Brazil and India. Thus, A) is wrong because it goes a bit off the main point of the passage. The main point of the passage is arguing that local involvements are key to energy expansion, not just stating the two scenarios, Brazil and India.

D) Though renewable energy sources represent a promising means for meeting the rising energy demands of certain countries, the exploitation of these resources is unlikely to succeed unless long–term, local participation at all levels is seen as integral to renewable energy projects.

This is the perfect match to the main point of the passage. As you can see, D) mentioned “Local participation at all levels” and called it “integral to renewable energy projects.” D) has more of the purpose of the passage. It argues that local participation is the key to successful implementations of renewable energy projects. Thus, D is a better match than A). Again, A) simply summarizes the two cases used to support the passage’s main argument and didn’t give us what the passage is arguing for.

Thank you. Please correct me if I am wrong. I hope that it helps.

Ravi on February 12, 2022

The main point of the passage is expressed in the last three lines of paragraph one and the last four lines of the final paragraph. The solution to the energy problem is to get local involvement in the implementation of a program to utilize renewable energy resources.

In looking at D, it matches our anticipation perfectly. Local involvement is essential in order to successfully use renewable resources.

With A, the problem with this answer choice is that the main point was not that some renewable energy systems are successful and others are not. A never touches upon the solution the author proposes, so we can get rid of this choice.