Динозавр повертається

Україна другий рік поспіль отримала звання "динозавра". Її позиції, за словами координатора програми із зміни клімату Національного екологічного центру Христини Рудницької, з 2009 року суттєво не змінилися.

Представники уряду, як і раніше, наполягали на збереженні 1990 року як базового за рівнем викидів та зменшенні їх об'єму на 20% до 2020 року, що фактично означає зростання на 75% від сьогоднішнього рівня.

Це обіцяє гарні прибутки для важкої промисловості, яка може торгувати невикористаними квотами. Згідно з Кіотським протоколом, Україна може викинути 922 мільйони тонн вуглецю на рік. Насправді ж, за даними центру, рівень викидів в Україні наполовину менший. Отже, можна продати 450 мільйонів тонн викидів на рік.

Деякі українські підприємства уже впроваджують енергозберігаючі технології для скорочення кількості викидів, щоб можна було торгувати кіотськими квотами та окупити власні витрати на енергозбереження.

Серед таких проектів - утилізація шахтного метану, комбіноване виробництво тепла і струму, енергозбереження, розвиток альтернативних джерел енергії, збір метану з полігонів твердих побутових відходів, зміна технології виробництва цементу.

UNIT 4

“SMART” TECHNOLOGY

SMART GRIDS

CLEVER, BUT UNPRINCIPLED

PRE-LISTENING SECTION

Exercise 1. Discuss the following issues. Be guided by the information below.

• Can you define the meaning of the words TECHNOPHOBIA and TECHNOPHILIA? What’s your attitude to people with such anomalies?

• What do you know about SMART GRIDS? What are their goals?

Technophobia is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. The term is generally used in the sense of an irrational fear, but others contend fears are justified. It is the opposite of technophilia. First receiving widespread notice during the Industrial Revolution, technophobia has been observed to affect various societies and communities throughout the world. This has caused some groups to take stances against some modern technological developments in order to preserve their ideologies. In some of these cases, the new technologies conflict with established beliefs, such as personal values in simplicity and modest lifestyles.

A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way digital technology to control appliances at consumers' homes to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability and transparency. It overlays the electricity distribution grid with an information and net metering system.

Such a modernized electricity network is being promoted by many governments as a way of addressing energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience issues. Smart meters may be part of a smart grid, but alone do not constitute a smart grid.

A smart grid includes an intelligent monitoring system that keeps track of all electricity flowing in the system. It also incorporates the use of superconductive transmission lines for less power loss, as well as the capability of integrating renewable electricity such as solar and wind. When power is least expensive the user can allow the smart grid to turn on selected home appliances such as washing machines or factory processes that can run at arbitrary hours. At peak times it could turn off selected appliances to reduce demand.

In principle, the smart grid is a simple upgrade of 20th century power grids which generally "broadcast" power from a few central power generators to a large number of users, to instead be capable of routing power in more optimal ways to respond to a very wide range of conditions, and to charge a premium to those that use energy at peak hour.

Exercise 2. Match these words and phrases to their definitions or synonyms. Translate them into your native language.

1	ardent advocate	a	confirmed; extreme or unchanging in attitude, opinion, etc.
2	dyed-in-the-wool	b	occurring occasionally or at regular or irregular intervals; periodic
3	alacrity	c	stickler
4	encompass	d	Avert danger
5	snap	e	briskness, cheerful readiness
6	intermittent	f	continuously
7	surge	g	a cutoff of electrical power, especially as a result of a shortage, a mechanical failure, or overuse by consumers
8	ward off	h	obstacle, obstruction
9	seamlessly	i	pull apart or break with a snapping sound
10	notch	j	an environmentalist, especially one who supports the preservation of forested land and the restriction of logging
11	mundane	k	a level or degree
12	blackout	l	everyday, routine
13	frugal	m	a motivating influence; stimulus
14	tree-hugger	n	thrifty, sparing, economical
15	impediment	o	include, involve, cover
16	incentive	p	a sudden, transient increase or oscillation in electric current or voltage or an instability in the power output of an engine

Exercise 3. Explain the meaning of the following proper names:

GE, Siemens, Cisco Systems, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Al Gore, T. Boone, Stimulus Bill.

Translate them into Ukrainian.

Be guided by the information below.

The General Electric Company, or GE (NYSE: GE), is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in the State of New York. In 2010, Forbes ranked GE as the world's second largest company, based on a formula that compared the total sales, profits, assets, and market value of several multinational companies. The company has 304,000 employees around the world.

Siemens AG is Europe's largest engineering conglomerate. Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin, Munich and Erlangen, Germany. The company has three main business sectors: Industry, Energy and Healthcare; with a total of 15 divisions. Worldwide Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 420,800 people in nearly 190 countries and reported global revenue of 76 651 billion euros for the year of 2009. Siemens AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since March 12, 2001.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, SEHK: 4333) is an American multinational corporation that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking and communications technology and services. Headquartered in California, Cisco has more than 65,000 employees and annual revenue of US$36.11 billion as of 2009. The stock was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8, 2009, and is also included in the S&P 500 Index the Russell 1000 Index, NASDAQ100 Index and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock Index. Cisco is one of the world's biggest technology corporations.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, FWB: GGQ1) is a multinational public cloud computing, Internet search, and advertising technologies corporation. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program. The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, often dubbed the "Google Guys", while the two were attending Stanford University as Ph.D. candidates. It was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, with its initial public offering to follow on August 19, 2004. The company's stated mission from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", and the company's unofficial slogan – coined by Google engineer Paul Buchheit – is Don't be evil. In 2006, the company moved to their current headquarters in Mountain View, California. Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world, and processes over one billion search requests and twenty petabytes of user-generated data every day. Google's rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond the company's core search engine. Because of its popularity and numerous products, Alexa lists Google as the Internet's most visited website.

International Business Machines (IBM) (NYSE: IBM) is a multinational computer, technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, North Castle, New York, United States. IBM is the world's fourth largest technology company and the second most valuable by global brand (after Coca-Cola). IBM is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software (with a focus on the latter), and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKEX: 4338) is a public multinational corporation based in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions.

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party nominee for President in the 2000 United States presidential election. Gore is currently an author, businessperson, and environmental activist.

Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. (born May 22, 1928), known as T. Boone Pickens, is an American financier who chairs the hedge fund BP Capital Management. He was a well-known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1980s. With an estimated current net worth of about $3 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 117th-richest person in America and ranked 880th in the world.

The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 (enacted February 13, 2008) was an Act of Congress providing for several kinds of economic stimuli intended to boost the United States economy in 2008 and to avert a recession, or ameliorate economic conditions. The stimulus package was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 29, 2008, and in a slightly different version by the U.S. Senate on February 7, 2008. The Senate version was then approved in the House the same day.It was signed into law on February 13, 2008 by President Bush with the support of a majority of Democratic lawmakers, as well as a minority of Republicans. The total cost of this bill was projected at $152 billion for 2008.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009. The Act followed other economic recovery legislation passed in the final year of the Bush presidency including the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which created the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

LISTENING SECTION

Exercise 1. Decide if the following statements are true or false according to the recording, prove your opinion.

1. Surveys suggest that consumers would embrace smart grids enthusiastically.

2. The main function of smart grids is to make power transmission more reliable, flexible and convenient.

3. Smart grids are various devices (e.g. meters that send in readings automatically, software that detects snapped cables and reroutes power supplies around them).

4. The biggest impediment to the spread of renewables in most countries is an antiquated grid.

5. The biggest impediments to the spread of renewables in most countries is the lack of a price on carbon.

6. The main drawbacks of increasing the grid’s IQ is making blackouts more often and helping terrorists to disrupt things.

7. Smarter meters could encourage conservation by letting customers know just how much power they are using.

8. The technology can be used to deliver not just clean renewable energy more efficiently, but also the grubby coal-fired sort.

9. When it comes to greening the world’s energy supply, technology is a substitute for policy.

Exercise 2. Listen again and answer the questions with the grounds provided.

1. What does the term “smart grid” encompass?

2. What are the benefits of smart grids?

3. What is the main reason for the consumers to waste power?

4. How should the energy policy be regulated?

DISCUSSION SECTION

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.

1. Do you approve of the idea of spending lots of money on smart grids?

2. What are the prospects of increasing the grid’s IQ in Ukraine? What are the negative aspects of the problem?

TRANSLATION SECTION

Exercise 1. Make the transcript of the recording and translate it into your native language.

Exercise 2. Present a translation-oriented analysis of the text.

Exercise 3. Translate the information below into Ukrainian and analyze the basic transformations.

Electric grid stakeholders representing utilities, technology providers, researchers, policymakers, and consumers have worked together to define the functions of a smart grid. Through regional meetings convened under the Modern Grid Strategy project of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), these stakeholders have identified the following characteristics or performance features of a smart grid:

• Self-healing from power disturbance events

• Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response

• Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack

• Providing power quality for 21st century needs

• Accommodating all generation and storage options

• Enabling new products, services, and markets

• Optimizing assets and operating efficiently

Exercise 4. Give the sight translation of the information into English, expand on the ideas expressed.