Africa does have easy access to a potential gamechanger, though: the sun. For years, solar panels were really expensive. But falling prices have made them a reasonable option.Why did the author include this passage?A.To convince the reader that solar power is not efficient enough to be a reliable energy sourceB.To explain why there is renewed interest in finding ways to use solar power for electricityC.To provide the reader with a reason for the dropping cost of solar panels over the past decadeD.To show how the cost of solar panels has continued to make electricity unattainable

What is this Article primarily about?A.Off-grid solar power is changing lives in remote areas of Africa by bringing electricity to places where it was once thought unattainable.B.Customers of the Uganda-based company Fenix are allowed to pay a fee upfront for their kits and then make small payments until the debt is paid off.C.Only 30 percent of the more than 50 million people in Kenya have a television, so walking miles to watch the news on TV is a common practice.D.The company Green Village Energy installed 126 solar panels in Bisanti, Nigeria, powering the entire town.

Read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage:In a low-carbon world, renewable energy technologies are hot business. For investors looking to redirect funds, wind turbines and solar panels, among other technologies, seem a straightforward choice. But renewables need to be further scrutinized before being championed as forging a path toward a low-carbon future. Both the direct and indirect impacts of renewable energy must be examined to ensure that a climate-smart future does not intensify social and environmental harm. As renewable energy production requires land, water, and labor, among other inputs, it imposes costs on people and the environment.Hydropower projects, for instance, have led to community dispossession and exclusion . . .Renewable energy supply chains are also intertwined with mining, and their technologies contribute to growing levels of electronic waste . . . Furthermore, although renewable energy can be produced and distributed through small-scale, local systems, such an approach might not generate the high returns on investment needed to attract capital.Although an emerging sector, renewables are enmeshed in long-standing resource extraction through their dependence on minerals and metals . . . Scholars document the negative consequences of mining . . . even for mining operations that commit to socially responsible practices: “many of the world’s largest reservoirs of minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earth minerals”—the ones needed for renewable technologies—“are found in fragile states and under communities of marginalized peoples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.” Since the demand for metals and minerals will increase substantially in a renewable-powered future . . . this intensification could exacerbate the existing consequences of extractive activities.Among the connections between climate change and waste, O’Neill . . . highlights that “devices developed to reduce our carbon footprint, such as lithium batteries for hybrid and electric cars or solar panels, become potentially dangerous electronic waste at the end of their productive life.” The disposal of toxic waste has long perpetuated social injustice through the flows of waste to the Global South and to marginalized communities in the Global North . ..While renewable energy is a more recent addition to financial portfolios, investments in the sector must be considered in light of our understanding of capital accumulation. As agricultural finance reveals, the concentration of control of corporate activity facilitates profit generation. For some climate activists, the promise of renewables rests on their ability not only to reduce emissions but also to provide distributed, democratized access to energy . . .But Burke and Stephens . . . caution that “renewable energy systems offer a possibility but not a certainty for more democratic energy futures.” Small-scale, distributed forms of energy are only highly profitable to institutional investors if control is consolidated somewhere in the financial chain. Renewable energy can be produced at the household or neighborhood level. However, such small-scale, localized production is unlikely to generate high returns for investors. For financial growth to be sustained and expanded by the renewable sector, production and trade in renewable energy technologies will need to be highly concentrated, and large asset management firms will likely drive those developments.Based on the passage, we can infer that the author would be most supportive of which one of the following practices?Please select your Answer.The localized, small-scale development of renewable energy systems.More stringent global policies and regulations to ensure a more just system of toxic waste disposal.Encouragement for the development of more environment-friendly carbon-based fuels.The study of the coexistence of marginalized people with their environments.

anecdote about Africa's economic challenges

Which statements about solar electricity are true?Multiple select question.Solar electricity is the least expensive way to generate electricity in sunny locations.Most of the United States now relies primarily on solar electricity.Falling solar-electricity prices are providing a strong incentive to move toward electric vehicles.The cost per watt of producing solar electricity has risen by about 10% per year since the late 1970s.

You are serving as an expert witness for the city council of a community. The council is exploring the concept of providing the electrical needs of the community by building a facility with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight to electric potential energy. But they are facing resistance from members of the community, who claim that there is not enough open land in the community to build such a facility. The opposition is building toward a lawsuit, which the city council wants to avoid. The community requires 2.00 MW of power, and the best photovoltaic cells on the market at the time have an efficiency of 30.0%. In your community, an average intensity of sunlight during the day is 1,120 W/m2. The council members have no idea how much land is needed, so they have asked you to estimate the area of land (in m2) that must be found to construct this facility. (Assume the given average intensity of sunlight is only available for eight hours a day.)