9. Give a short monologue about energy sources. Use the plan.

Listening

Listen to the text and answer the following questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBTnVoEIb98

1. What are the synonyms of renewable energy?

2. What does solar power do?

3. For how many years will the Sun continue to produce energy?

4. What does the Earth's core constantly produce?

5. What kind of energy does wind power turn into electricity?

6. What are the synonyms of fossil fuels?

7. What are the three major fossil fuels we use as energy sourses?

8. Are fossil fuels nonrenewable? Why?

9. What is renewable energy? Give the definition.

10. What are fossil fuels? Give the definition.

B. Types of power stations lead-in

• H ow many power stations are there in Chelyabinsk?

• What types of power stations do you know?

• What is the oldest power station in Chelyabinsk?

• What building can you see in this picture?

• Where is it situated?

• Match the following words to make the essential terms of the unit. Practice their pronunciation.

base (intermediate, peak)	fuels
electricity	load
energy	heating
fossil	equipment
power	production
district	emissions
state-of-the-art	mix
harmful	station
environmental	problems
installed	capacity
company	policy

• Match the terms with their definitions.

district heating	the generation of electrical power
power station	energy sources such as gas, oil, and coal, but not water and wind
company policy	the power level at which basic demand and consumption is covered
energy mix	apparatus of the latest technological level
state-of-the-art equipment	the different primary fuels and sources used for energy production
base load	a plan of action chosen by a business or firm
fossil fuels	a plant in which electricity is produced
electricity production	a system of distributing heat in one centralized location, often linked to a power plant

2. Text 2

You are a journalist “listening” to the presentation about WorldProm's Energy Mix made by Anna Miller, public relations officer of the WorldProm Company.

WorldProm's Energy Mix

“Let me once more welcome you to the 15th International Forum for Energy. I'm going to be covering a number of issues in my talk, but please don't hesitate to interrupt me if you have any questions.

Let's start with some general information about WorldProm's energy mix.

Firstly, WorldProm is the largest European and Asian utility, we have a number of fossil fuels which we use for electricity production – we mostly burn lignite and gas. Our lignite-fired plants are used for base load while the gas-fired ones cater for the intermediate, medium and peak load ranges.

Secondly, we have a number of gas plants which are combined heat and power plants; we use them to generate electricity and also to supply district heating systems.

Thirdly, we also have some nuclear plants which are also needed for base load.

Let me move on to the issue of emissions. The burning of fossil fuels produces harmful emissions and environmental problems that people of course are very much aware of these days. We take this issue very seriously indeed. All our plants are fitted with state-of-the-art equipment to reduce harmful effects on the environment. It's one of the most important issues of our company policy.

Now I'd like you to look at this graph. As you can see, the largest power station in terms of installed capacity is Mayak-2, near Chelyabinsk. It has five 400-megawatt units and can produce enough electricity to meet the needs of more than two million people. It is relatively old, it was commissioned in 1970, but it's been retrofitted since then. Most of our other plants came on line in 1980s and 1990s.

Of course, I cannot but mention wind power stations. We are building more wind power stations all over the world, although they are still quite controversial. It can be difficult to get planning permission in some countries. People don't like them as they say wind power stations spoil the countryside and create too much noise if you live near them. But we believe these claims to be exaggerated.

That completes my overview, and I'd now like to go into the various questions in more detail....”