INTRO TO English for Science

Some examples of those new cleaner energy sources. In this lesson, we're going to talk about some new technologies. We'll start by looking at the different types of renewable energy. Then we'll look at some of their advantages and challenges of each. Finally, we'll introduce some advances in technology that may help increase the use of renewable energy in the future.

Let's start by explaining what renewable energy is. Renewable energy is energy from a source that is not depleted when used. Depleted means used up or emptied. Some of the most common examples are wind, water, or solar power.

What is renewable energy?

For example, if you get your energy from a windmill, you don't have to worry that someday you'll use up all the wind the same way that fossil fuels will someday be used up or depleted.

The main types of renewable energy sources are biomass energy, hydropower, geothermal energy, wind energy, solar energy.

Biomass energy is energy made from non-fossilized plant materials. In other words, plants that have not been turned into fossil fuels. Wood and wood waste are common forms of biomass energy.

In fact, a couple of hundred years ago, before the use of coal and oil became so important, wood supplied 90% of the energy needed in the United States. Another example of biomass is ethanol, which is a fuel made of corn.

For the most part, sources for biomass energy similar to fossil fuels have to be burned to release the energy. But there are other forms of renewable energy that are not burnt and do not release any greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Clean forms of Renewable Energy

Let's look at some types of clean renewable energy:

Hydropower is energy created by moving water.
Geothermal energy is energy taken from the hot interior of the Earth.
Wind energy is power from the wind.
Solar energy is power created by capturing the radiation of the Sun.

These types of energies are different because they are clean sources of renewable energy. This means they do not pollute our atmosphere with greenhouse gases.

Why don't we use renewable energy from clean sources that don't cause pollution?

You might be asking yourself, "why don't we use renewable energy from clean sources that don't cause pollution?" One challenge is these natural sources are not always available. There may be cloudy days or days with low winds that can decrease the power from solar or wind energy.

Another challenge, in the past, creating these types of energy has been more expensive than fossil fuels, so some countries that are developing quickly have chosen to use cheaper and easier methods to get fossil fuels to power their growth.

But, many scientists are working hard to create new ways to help increase the use of these clean renewable sources of energy.

For example, they are discovering ways to store the extra energy collected on extra sunny days, so it can be used later on cloudy days.

All of this research is paying off. In the United States, the amount of electricity produced by renewable energy increased from 13% in 2012 to 22% in 2013. It's predicted by 2020, 26% of the electricity in the US will be produced by renewable sources, and this increase is happening all over the world. One great example is Denmark. In 2015, Denmark produced over 40% of its power by wind energy.

Language Focus

a summary (n.)

A summary is a short overview of a text that highlights the main ideas and overall theme of that text.

Summaries often are short in length, highlight the main idea, include important examples to support the main idea, do not include unnecessary information, and are written in one's own words.

It's important to understand how to write a summary because it allows you to put things into your own words which helps you to be a better learner. It also helps you to explain the information that you have learned from others more clearly.

To start, we should first preview the text. Do you remember what it means to preview a text?

As a reminder, when we preview a text we quickly look through our source before we give it a full reading. This helps us learn what the text is about and improves our understanding.

We usually preview a text in four steps: 1) by looking at the title, 2) the pictures and captions, 3) subheadings, and 4) the first paragraph.

Let's look at an example together. Take a few minutes now to preview the article below. Look at the title, pictures and captions, subheadings, and first paragraph, and predict what the reading will be about. The rest of the text has been greyed out to help you focus.

Previewing Practice - U.S. renewables outpacing fossil fuels.pdf

Now that you've read the text, let's talk about two key points or details in the article that best support our main idea. The first detail that directly supports our main idea states, "These two sources", referring to wind and solar power, "accounted for two-thirds of new power generation in 2015, according to the US Department of Energy" (Darling & Lee, 2016).

This supports our main idea because it gives a specific example of two renewable energy sources, wind and solar power, that grew faster than fossil fuel energy projects in the US in a recent year.

A second detail from the text that directly supports our main idea, states: "And for the second straight year, the US has invested more in renewable energy projects than those that rely on fossil fuel" (Buchanan, 2016). This supports our main idea because it shows that the US is investing more money and focus on the growth of renewable energy projects, instead of fossil fuel projects.

Now that we have the main idea of our text and two supporting details, we are ready to move on to part two and write our summary.

The main elements of a good summary paragraph which includes a topic sentence, key supporting details, and a conclusion.

Let's review what a summary is and why it is important. A summary is a short overview of a text that highlights the main ideas and overall theme of that text. It's important that you understand how to write a summary because it allows you to put things into your own words, which helps you to be a better learner. It also helps you to explain the information that you have learned to others more clearly. Now, that we have reviewed the importance of a summary, let's start to develop our own summary paragraph. Let's begin by talking about topic sentences.

Step 1: Write your topic sentence

A topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph that states the main idea of the paragraph. So if we look at the example from the previous lesson, what would be the main idea we want to express in our summary?

Yes, it would be the main idea of the text. As a reminder, we said that the main idea of the text was:

"The US is creating renewable energy sources at a faster rate than fossil fuel project development."

This would be our topic sentence.

Step 2: Include key supporting details

Now, that we have our topic sentence, we need to include key points or details from the text that support this idea. In the previous lesson, we found two main details from the text that supported this idea. Let's look at each one individually and rewrite them in our own words.

The first detail we found that directly supports our main ideas states:

"These two sources referring to wind and solar power accounted for two-thirds of new power generation in 2015, according to the US Department of Energy."

So, how can we say this in our own words? To put it in our own words, we need to change the grammatical structure and vocabulary. For example, we could say,

"In 2015, the US created new wind and solar power energy sources, which contributed to two-thirds of new energy sources that year."

Now, let's move on to the next detail we found in the text, and do the same thing. The second detail states:

"For the second straight year, the US has invested more in renewable energy projects than those that rely on fossil fuel."

Now you try. Try to put this in your own words like we did with the previous example. Your sentence might look something like this.

"In addition, the US has given more money to renewable energy projects over fossil fuel projects for the second year in a row."

Step 3: Write a conclusion

Great, we are almost finished with our summary. So far, we have a topic sentence, and two key supporting details written in our own words. The last thing we need to do is write our conclusion. A conclusion reviews the main idea and leaves the reader with a final thought.

So in our conclusion, we want to restate our main idea in a meaningful way. We might say something like:

"The US is changing the way it powers its country and is relying on renewable energy sources to do the job."

Try writing your own conclusion.

Step 4: Put your pieces into a paragraph

Finally, we are ready to put it all together. To write our summary, we just need to put each of the pieces we developed into a paragraph. Therefore, our summary would look like this.

In 2015, the US created new wind and solar power energy sources, which contributed to two-thirds of new energy sources that year. In 2015, the US created new wind and solar power energy sources, which contributed to two-thirds of new energy sources that year. For the second straight year, the US invested more in renewable energy projects than those that rely on fossil fuel. The US is changing the way it powers its country and is relying on renewable energy sources to do the job. (Buchanan 2016)

As you can see, it includes our a) topic sentence, b) two supporting key details, and our c) conclusion.

Image Credits:

Windmill: "untitled image " by Peter Dargatz via Pixabay under Pixabay license .

Biomass Energy: This work is a derivative of untitled image by Moses, untitled image by couleur , untitled image by Bru-nO via Pixabay under Pixabay license , and "Collection of microalgae cultures in CSIRO's lab" by CSIRO under CC BY 3.0. This derivative is licensed under CC BY by FHI 360 for use in the OPEN program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and administered by FHI 360.

Clean Renewable Energy: This work is a derivative of untitled image by Destiny419 , untitled image by falco , untitled image by bianca-stock-photos , untitled image by blickpixel via Pixabay under Pixabay license . This derivative is licensed under CC BY by FHI 360 for use in the OPEN program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and administered by FHI 360.

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