Environment Does Matter
Speaking:
 What is the most serious environmental problem that threatens our planet?
 What are the major causes of global warming?
 What are the results of global warming?
Complete the following diagram with : flooding/smokes/ thermal blanket/fumes/ drought/ warms up.
(2) greenhouse gases
built
Up and act like -----------------(2)-----
(3)
The thermal blanket
(1)Factories and traffic
release ----------------------
thickens and the
Earth
and -------------------.
world -----------------
(4)→it will mean
more
freak weather, --------and -------------------What can we do to help saving our planet?
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Reading:
Read the following text and say how it relates to our theme.
It need no longer be grim up north. Massive reserves of geothermal energy have been found in rocks deep
under Britain, with the north and the southwest potentially containing enough heat to generate power for
millions of homes. Drilling boreholes to extract heat energy from the ground have always been as too
expensive compared with other sources of renewable energy but now a geological study suggests Britain has
enough accessible underground heat to generate up to 20% of its electricity and provide warmth for homes.
`` we have found hotspots under Cheshire ,Weardale, the lake District and the southwest, where rock
temperatures can reach 200c _ hot enough to generate electricity `` said Tim Jackson, a geothermal engineer
at Sinclair Knight Merz, the consultancy that produced the report. The heat is generated largely by the rock`s
own radioactivity. It keeps replenishing (restocking) itself, so the warmth is inexhaustible.
``There are many other areas under East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Worcester, Dorset, Hampshire and
Northern Ireland _ which are not so hot but still warm enough to extract heat to warm homes and
businesses``, Jackson said. Most of the hotspots they found were under the north of Britain, including one
under the Lake District, one west of Stoke-on-Trent and others near Newcastle and also Southampton. This
later is the only city in Britain that already exploits geothermal energy on a large scale.
The survey showed the enormous potential of deep geothermal energy. Tim Smit , who is planning to build
a £32m geothermal heat and power station at the Eden Project said that the energy could be as much as 20%
of Britain`s power needs but we are ignoring it. Extracting enough heat to provide up to a fifth of Britain`s
energy is very feasible but it would need thousands of boreholes. That is a big investment but once in place
the heat would keep regenerating indefinitely..
The Sunday Times
May 2012
Answer the following questions:
1. Choose an appropriate title for the text.
- Hot rocks threaten our homes.
- Hot rocks may heat our homes.
2. According to this geological study what is the underground heat used for?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3. How long can this underground heat last?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4. Correct the following statements:
A- Extracting heat energy from the ground doesn`t cost too much.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------B- Many cities in Britain already use geothermal energy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5. Do you know other renewable energy sources that man can exploit?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6. Find synonyms to the following words:
Unlimited/ endless = ---------------------Reachable/ available= -------------------------