Watch and Listen
1. Watch the video. Write T (true) or F (false), or DNS (does not say) next to the statements below. Correct the false statements.
___ 1 A country that achieves carbon neutrality will have no carbon emissions.
___ 2 The South Korean island of Jeju wants to achieve zero emissions.
___ 3 Jeju is famous for its natural beauty.
___ 4 Jeju island will be the first community in Asia to be carbon-fee.
___ 5 Only electric cars are permitted on Jeju Island at the moment.
___ 6 Jeju hopes to attract eco-tourists.
2. Watch again. Complete the summary with words from the box.
zero balance charge solar neutrality
2030 electric emissions trees wind
Countries that signed the Paris Climate Agreement are trying to reduce their carbon 1__________. Many are trying to achieve carbon 2__________. In other words, they hope to 3__________ their emissions with other actions, for example, planting 4__________. Jeju is going further; it is trying to achieve 5__________ emissions by the year 6__________. To accomplish this, the government is promoting three types of alternative energy, all from renewable sources: (1) 7__________ power, (2) 8__________ power, and (3) 9__________ vehicles. Jeju is the perfect place for electric cars because you can drive around the whole island on only one 10__________.
3. Write T next to the statements that are true according to the video.
___ 1 Most countries will reach their carbon emission goals by 2030.
___ 2 The continued use of fossil fuels could spoil Jeju’s natural beauty.
___ 3 The South Korean government hopes that its action to help the environment will promote tourism.
___ 4 Without help from the government, people on Jeju might not buy solar panels or electric cars.
___ 5 Solar and wind power will provide more energy for the island than traditional energy sources.
Answers
1
1 F; A country that achieves carbon neutrality will balance its carbon emissions with other actions.
2 T 3 T 4 DNS
5 F; Jeju Island plans to have only electric vehicles by 2030. 6 T
2
1 emissions 2 neutrality 3 balance 4 trees 5 zero
6 2030 7 wind 8 solar 9 electric 10 charge
3
2, 3 and 4 are true.
Audioscripts
Jeju Island goes carbon-free
Narrator: Most countries in the world are trying to reduce their carbon emissions, in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement, the international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases. Some countries and communities are aiming for carbon neutrality, that is, their goal is to balance their carbon emissions with other actions that will reduce carbon in the atmosphere, for example, by planting trees.
Some communities are going even further, however. Their aim is not just neutrality; it’s zero emissions. They want to be carbon-free. One such community is the South Korean island of Jeju. A United Nations Natural Heritage site, it’s often called the Hawaii of South Korea.
Jeju is located at the southern tip of the country, has 600,000 residents and is known for its stunning natural beauty. Fifteen million visitors come every year, mostly from the Korean mainland, to enjoy the island’s lovely beaches, sparkling waterfalls and lush forests.
Both the island’s residents and the South Korean government would like to preserve Jeju’s beauty, so they’ve created a plan to make the island carbon-free by 2030. Residents and visitors will use only renewable energy sources – wind and solar power. And only electric vehicles will be permitted on the island.
There’s been progress towards these goals, but there’s still some way to go. In 2015, there were just 3,319 electric vehicles on Jeju; in 2017 that number had doubled. By 2030, there will be 300,000, if all goes according to plan. To encourage people to use renewable energy and electric vehicles, the government is helping residents pay for solar panels on their homes and for electric vehicles. Jeju is the ideal size for electric vehicles because you can drive all the way around the island on just one charge. But that won’t be necessary. There are already 8,000 charging station on Jeju and that number is increasing every year.
South Korea hopes that Jeju will be a model that other cities and even countries can learn from. The government also hopes that ‘The Island without Carbon’ will attract not just visitors from the Korean mainland, but also international eco-tourists to enjoy the island’s natural beauty.
Listening 1
1. Listen to the radio interview about El Hierro. Choose the ending for each sentence.
1 The people of El Hierro …
a need to buy all of their oil.
b need to buy 30% of their oil.
c don’t need to buy any oil.
2 El Hierro’s energy is provided by …
a wind and hydroelectric power.
b solar and wind power and imported oil.
c solar and hydroelectric power.
3 The system also provides water for …
a a small lake filled with fish.
b a water park.
c drinking and agriculture.
Answers
1 c 2 a 3 c
Audioscripts
Reporter: This is Andrew Thompson, reporting from the Spanish island of El Hierro, about 400 kilometres off the coast of Africa. It’s pretty far from Madrid, which is about 2,000 kilometres away. Today, we’re going to talk to two of the 11,000 people who live here, to find out what’s so special about the island. First, this is Pedro Rodriguez, who owns a seafood restaurant on the island. Hello, Pedro.
Pedro: Hello, Andrew.
Reporter: So, how long have you lived on El Hierro?
Pedro: I haven’t lived here for very long. I came from Madrid about five years ago.
Reporter: You don’t like it here, then?
Pedro: I love it here! I wish I had come a lot sooner than I did. I spent a lot of my life in Madrid.
Reporter: City life can be tough. I suppose island life is rather more relaxing?
Pedro: Exactly. El Hierro is my home now.
Reporter: So, what’s so great about El Hierro?
Pedro: In the city, everyone hurries everywhere. You are surrounded by traffic, and you never feel like you can really relax. What’s more, my career was in banking, which is a particularly stressful job.
I love the sound of the sea. I love the peace and quiet, and I feel free here. City life was never like that. When I was living in the city, I worked in banking, as I said. It paid well and I was able to buy my restaurant, but I should have left the city when I was a much younger man.
Reporter: So you love the quiet life on El Hierro, but is there anything else that makes El Hierro special?
Pedro: Well, another thing is, El Hierro is completely energy independent!
Reporter: Energy independent?
Pedro: Yes. In the past, the power on the island was produced by oil. A lot of money was paid to ship 40,000 barrels of oil over from the mainland every year. It cost the island over 1.7 million euros a year. Now, all our energy is created right here on the island.
Reporter: And for more about that, we’ll now talk to engineer Sofia Martinez.
Sofia: Hello, Andrew.
Reporter: I wonder if you could tell us about the way you generate energy here on El Hierro.
Sofia: Well, if you’ve spent a day or two here, you may have noticed we have a lot of wind.
Reporter: Yes. In fact, it’s blowing pretty hard outside right now.
Sofia: Well, for about 3,000 hours, or for about 35% of the year, the wind here blows hard enough to turn wind turbines, which can provide electricity.
Reporter: Does El Hierro rely completely on wind to power the island?
Sofia: No. The island’s wind turbines have a capacity of about 11 megawatts, about enough to power 3,500 homes, but it’s only one element. The bigger problem is that the wind doesn’t blow all the time, so the power source isn’t consistent.
Reporter: So you need another energy source on windless days?
Sofia: That was the challenge: to create an energy generation system, or a network of systems, that could supply enough energy for the island all the time. And the solution was hydroelectric power.
Reporter: What is hydroelectric power exactly?
Sofia: Hydroelectric power is when energy is converted into another form, such as electricity. The initial source of this energy is from water.
Reporter: But doesn’t hydroelectric power require a river and a dam? Isn’t El Hierro too small for a river?
Sofia: A river with a dam is the usual way of producing hydroelectric power, but really, all you need is water that can move from a high place to a lower place to get energy from the water.
Reporter: OK …
Sofia: At the centre of El Hierro is a dormant volcano – a volcano that is no longer active. In the middle of the volcano, we built a reservoir that holds over 500,000 cubic metres of water, at a height of 700 metres above sea level. So that’s our water in a high place.
Reporter: But you don’t get much rain here. What happens when all of the water runs out of the reservoir?
Sofia: Well, I mentioned the wind turbines. The wind power and the hydroelectric power are in a network together. When the wind is blowing, energy from the wind turbines pumps water up into the reservoir.
Reporter: So the wind turbines power the pumping station?
Sofia: Right. We also use the wind power for all of our electrical needs, when it blows. Then when the wind stops, we let water run out of the reservoir and through some turbines. The turbines turn generators and we have hydroelectric power we can access.
Reporter: So the water flows in a cycle – it’s pumped up the hill by the wind power, then it’s released when it’s needed.
Sofia: Yes, that’s right. What’s more, the system also provides our drinking water and water for use in agriculture.
Reporter: But where does the water come from?
Sofia: We use seawater.
Reporter: But you can’t drink saltwater …
Sofia: We have a desalination plant to take the salt out of the seawater so it can be used in agriculture and as drinking water. We’re constantly adding new water and taking stored water out of the cycle as we need to use it. In fact, I’ve just come from the desalination plant, where we’re having some problems today.
Something isn’t working properly and the replacement parts haven’t arrived yet. We’re a long way from the mainland, so delivery of anything takes at least a few days. If they don’t come soon, we may have to ask people to use less water for a few days.
Reporter: You’re a long way from everything out here, aren’t you? It must be difficult sometimes.
Sofia: Yes, it’s a real challenge living here. On the other hand, we all love it. It can be a hard life, but I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
2. Listen to the first part of the radio interview again. Complete the student’s notes about Pedro Rodriguez with the missing details.
Pedro Rodriguez
– owns a 1___________
– has lived there 2___________
– lived in 3___________ for a lot of his life
– city life is 4___________; island life is 5___________
What’s great about El Hierro
– sound of 6___________
– peace and 7___________
– in the city, everyone hurries everywhere
– you are surrounded by 8___________, can never relax
– career was in 9___________
– energy 10___________
– before, power came from 11___________
– shipped over 12___________ barrels from the 13___________ every year
– cost 14___________ a year
Answers
1 seafood restaurant 2 five years 3 Madrid
4 tough 5 relaxing 6 the sea 7 quiet 8 traffic
9 banking 10 independent 11 oil 12 40,000
13 mainland 14 over 1.7 million euros
Audioscripts
Reporter: This is Andrew Thompson, reporting from the Spanish island of El Hierro, about 400 kilometres off the coast of Africa. It’s pretty far from Madrid, which is about 2,000 kilometres away. Today, we’re going to talk to two of the 11,000 people who live here, to find out what’s so special about the island. First, this is Pedro Rodriguez, who owns a seafood restaurant on the island. Hello, Pedro.
Pedro: Hello, Andrew.
Reporter: So, how long have you lived on El Hierro?
Pedro: I haven’t lived here for very long. I came from Madrid about five years ago.
Reporter: You don’t like it here, then?
Pedro: I love it here! I wish I had come a lot sooner than I did. I spent a lot of my life in Madrid.
Reporter: City life can be tough. I suppose island life is rather more relaxing?
Pedro: Exactly. El Hierro is my home now.
Reporter: So, what’s so great about El Hierro?
Pedro: In the city, everyone hurries everywhere. You are surrounded by traffic, and you never feel like you can really relax. What’s more, my career was in banking, which is a particularly stressful job.
I love the sound of the sea. I love the peace and quiet, and I feel free here. City life was never like that. When I was living in the city, I worked in banking, as I said. It paid well and I was able to buy my restaurant, but I should have left the city when I was a much younger man.
Reporter: So you love the quiet life on El Hierro, but is there anything else that makes El Hierro special?
Pedro: Well, another thing is, El Hierro is completely energy independent!
Reporter: Energy independent?
Pedro: Yes. In the past, the power on the island was produced by oil. A lot of money was paid to ship 40,000 barrels of oil over from the mainland every year. It cost the island over 1.7 million euros a year. Now, all our energy is created right here on the island.
3. Now listen to the second part of the radio interview again. Complete the student’s notes about wind and hydroelectric power with the missing details.
Wind power
– wind blows 1___________ hours a year
– 2___________ % of the year
– generate energy by using wind 3___________
– capacity of 4___________ megawatts
– enough to power 5___________ homes
Hydroelectric power
– when energy of moving 6___________ is converted into electricity
– usually from a river with a 7___________
– theirs is from a reservoir inside a 8___________
– reservoir holds over 9___________ cubic metres
– is 700 metres above 10___________
– water flows in a 11___________
– pumped up the 12___________ by the wind power
– released when it’s needed
– provides 13___________ water
– provides water for 14___________
– comes from 15___________
– desalination plant
– parts come from 16___________
Answers
1 3,000 2 35 3 turbines 4 11 5 3,500 6 water
7 dam 8 volcano 9 500,000 10 sea level 11 cycle
12 hill 13 drinking 14 agriculture 15 seawater
16 mainland
Audioscripts
Reporter: And for more about that, we’ll now talk to engineer Sofia Martinez.
Sofia: Hello, Andrew.
Reporter: I wonder if you could tell us about the way you generate energy here on El Hierro.
Sofia: Well, if you’ve spent a day or two here, you may have noticed we have a lot of wind.
Reporter: Yes. In fact, it’s blowing pretty hard outside right now.
Sofia: Well, for about 3,000 hours, or for about 35% of the year, the wind here blows hard enough to turn wind turbines, which can provide electricity.
Reporter: Does El Hierro rely completely on wind to power the island?
Sofia: No. The island’s wind turbines have a capacity of about 11 megawatts, about enough to power 3,500 homes, but it’s only one element. The bigger problem is that the wind doesn’t blow all the time, so the power source isn’t consistent.
Reporter: So you need another energy source on windless days?
Sofia: That was the challenge: to create an energy generation system, or a network of systems, that could supply enough energy for the island all the time. And the solution was hydroelectric power.
Reporter: What is hydroelectric power exactly?
Sofia: Hydroelectric power is when energy is converted into another form, such as electricity. The initial source of this energy is from water.
Reporter: But doesn’t hydroelectric power require a river and a dam? Isn’t El Hierro too small for a river?
Sofia: A river with a dam is the usual way of producing hydroelectric power, but really, all you need is water that can move from a high place to a lower place to get energy from the water.
Reporter: OK …
Sofia: At the centre of El Hierro is a dormant volcano – a volcano that is no longer active. In the middle of the volcano, we built a reservoir that holds over 500,000 cubic metres of water, at a height of 700 metres above sea level. So that’s our water in a high place.
Reporter: But you don’t get much rain here. What happens when all of the water runs out of the reservoir?
Sofia: Well, I mentioned the wind turbines. The wind power and the hydroelectric power are in a network together. When the wind is blowing, energy from the wind turbines pumps water up into the reservoir.
Reporter: So the wind turbines power the pumping station?
Sofia: Right. We also use the wind power for all of our electrical needs, when it blows. Then when the wind stops, we let water run out of the reservoir and through some turbines. The turbines turn generators and we have hydroelectric power we can access.
Reporter: So the water flows in a cycle – it’s pumped up the hill by the wind power, then it’s released when it’s needed.
Sofia: Yes, that’s right. What’s more, the system also provides our drinking water and water for use in agriculture.
Reporter: But where does the water come from?
Sofia: We use seawater.
Reporter: But you can’t drink saltwater …
Sofia: We have a desalination plant to take the salt out of the seawater so it can be used in agriculture and as drinking water. We’re constantly adding new water and taking stored water out of the cycle as we need to use it. In fact, I’ve just come from the desalination plant, where we’re having some problems today.
Something isn’t working properly and the replacement parts haven’t arrived yet. We’re a long way from the mainland, so delivery of anything takes at least a few days. If they don’t come soon, we may have to ask people to use less water for a few days.
Reporter: You’re a long way from everything out here, aren’t you? It must be difficult sometimes.
Sofia: Yes, it’s a real challenge living here. On the other hand, we all love it. It can be a hard life, but I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
Listening 2
1. Listen to a meeting about saving energy at an office. Complete the notes on the speakers’ proposed solutions to the office energy problem. Tick (✓) the ideas that the speakers identify as ‘large-scale’.
|
speaker |
proposed solutions |
large-scale |
|
Zara |
Install 1________ on the roof |
|
|
Allen |
Change to 2________ lightbulbs |
|
|
Abdul |
Clean dirty windows to get more 3________ Turn off 4________ when get up from desk |
|
|
Zara |
Turn off 5________ when it isn’t hot Get rid of one 6________ Install a solar 7________ heating system |
|
2. Listen to the meeting again. Complete the sentences with the words or phrases you hear.
1 One alternative energy source is to install ___________ on the roof.
2 Energy-efficient lightbulbs pay for themselves ___________.
3 ___________ the windows will let more natural light in.
4 They don’t really need ___________ photocopiers.
5 They could also turn off computer screens and ___________.
6 ___________ is a problem, and they would need to pay an engineer to do repairs.
7 They could market themselves as a ___________ business.
8 They want to immediately start making ___________ changes and look into more complex changes later.
3. Choose the correct answer.
1 Energy-efficient bulbs are / aren’t hugely expensive to install.
2 Energy-efficient bulbs are expensive / inexpensive.
3 Being a green business would be good / bad publicity.
4 They can get rid of one / both of their photocopiers.
5 The solar energy system will have a low / high operating cost.
6 If the solar energy system doesn’t produce a lot of power, it could cost / save money.
Answers
1
1 solar panels (large scale) 2 low-energy 3 natural light
4 computer screens 5 air conditioning 6 photocopier
7 water (large-scale)
2
1 solar panels 2 quickly 3 Cleaning 4 two
5 air conditioning 6 Maintenance 7 green 8 simple
3
1 aren’t 2 expensive 3 good 4 one 5 low 6 cost
Audioscripts
Jane: As you all know, there’s been a proposal that we should try to reduce our energy consumption here in the office, both to save money for the business and to help the environment. The function of this meeting today is to get your ideas on how to do this and hopefully to come up with a plan to take forward. Would anyone like to start? What are your views? Yes, Zara.
Zara: Well, if we really want to do something to save on electricity costs long-term, why don’t we consider an alternative energy source?
We could install some solar panels on the roof. That would generate plenty of environmentally friendly electricity.
Jane: That’s not a bad idea. Would anyone like to add to Zara’s comments? Allen?
Allen: It’s true that we could go for a big solution like solar power generation. Even so, I think we could consider some rather simpler, smaller-scale ideas too, like changing to low-energy lightbulbs. There’s a lot of potential to save energy there.
Jane: I think that’s a great point, Allen. Abdul, would you like to expand on that?
Abdul: Yes. Allen’s lightbulb idea is a really good one. Energy-efficient bulbs aren’t hugely expensive to install. In addition, they pay for themselves quickly.
Jane: Pay for themselves?
Abdul: They don’t use much energy, so they’re cheap to run. It means they will soon save us more money than the cost of the new bulbs. Although these energy-efficient bulbs are expensive, we would save enough money in one year to pay for them.
Jane: I see. Do you have any other ideas?
Abdul: Yes. Some of the ideas are very simple: cleaning our dirty windows, for example. As a result of that, we’ll allow more natural light in. Furthermore, we can turn off our computer screens when we get up from our desks.
Jane: Yes, Zara.
Zara: We could also consider turning off the air conditioning when it isn’t too hot, so we can use less energy.
Jane: Great idea.
Zara: We could get rid of one of our photocopiers, as we don’t really need two. The current machines use energy even when they’re on standby.
Jane: Also a good plan. Now, I’d like to go back to Abdul. Abdul, you said we should consider smaller-scale solutions to our energy consumption here. Are you saying you’re against installing a solar energy system?
Abdul: No, I really like that idea because once it’s installed, the system will have a low operating cost, and it’s an environmentally friendly way to generate electricity, which are two big positive points; but there are other considerations. For example, we’d have to look at the generating capacity of the system. It’s very expensive to buy and install, and if it doesn’t produce a lot of power, it’ll end up costing rather than saving us money, at least for the first few years. The challenge is to choose ways of saving energy that also save money right now.
Allen: Yes, I agree with that. The other real environmental problem we have here in the office is rubbish. Most of us buy our lunch in plastic containers that have to be thrown away. It’s a disgrace. We really should try to reduce the volume of rubbish we create here in the office.
Jane: Sorry, but that’s not really what we’re discussing right now. We can deal with waste and recycling later. Right now we’re talking specifically about energy use.
Allen: Okay, fine. Sorry about that.
Zara: So, we were talking about turning off computer screens and turning off the air conditioning, but I don’t think we should forget about installing solar panels, or a solar water-heating system.
Jane: But there are some drawbacks to that, such as installation cost, which Abdul mentioned.
Abdul: Right, and there’s also the problem of –
Simon: Can I just say, by the way –
Jane: Sorry, but could you hold that thought until Abdul has finished, please?
Simon: Sure. Sorry.
Abdul: The fact is, both systems Zara mentioned are technically complex and expensive to install. There’s also the problem of maintenance; we’d need to pay an engineer to come to do repairs if anything went wrong and for expensive parts that needed to be replaced. There could be a real decline in the amount of money we save if we ran into operational problems.
Jane: Can I just clarify something here? Abdul, is this experimental technology, or have alternative-energy generation systems been successful in other office environments?
Abdul: Well, every small-scale system is different because every building is different. The technology would have to be specially designed for our building in order to be efficient.
Allen: I can’t help but feel that a solar energy project would be too ambitious. There would probably be technical limitations about the sort of system we could install on the office roof. I’m not sure it’s even possible, or if the local government would let us.
Jane: I can assure you that the company wouldn’t do anything unsafe or illegal.
Zara: It could be good publicity, though. We could market ourselves as a complete green business.
Simon: Maybe we should have some of our marketing people look at that. I think –
Jane: We’re getting sidetracked. Can we stick to the main points of the meeting? We should probably move on to the next part of the agenda, so I’d just like to summarize the key points so far. First of all, we want to immediately start making the simple energy-saving changes mentioned, such as cleaning the windows, turning off computer screens and installing energy-saving lightbulbs. Second, we want to look into possible larger-scale alternative-energy systems such as solar panels or a solar water-heating system. However, we need to do a lot of research in that area to see if we could get permission to install a system on the roof. A positive to installing a larger-scale project would be that it could generate good publicity for the company. Have I missed anything?
Abdul: You didn’t mention …
Related Posts
- Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Possibilities
- Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Discoveries
- Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Dilemmas
- Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – City living
- Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Around the globe
- Practice English Listening B2 Exercises – Chance