Thực hành giải IELTS Academic Reading Sample 102 - Wind Power giúp các bạn củng cố lại kiến thức và thử sức mình trước kỳ thi. Hi vọng luyện tập với nội dung đề thi sẽ giúp các bạn đạt kết quả cao trong kì thi sắp tới. Chúc các bạn thi tốt! | Wind Power The power of the wind has been used for centuries to directly drive various machines to perform such tasks as grinding wheat or pumping water. Recently however the wind has joined other natural forces such as water and steam as a viable method of generating electricity. Traditional means of electricity generation using coal or oil-fueled plants have two major drawbacks they pollute the environment and the fuels they use are inefficient and non- renewable. In response to growing environmental awareness there have been calls for a greener alternative. Nuclear power while more efficient and less polluting is seen by many people as unacceptable because of the danger of accidents such as those that happened at Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. Wind power however is clean renewable and with modern advances surprisingly efficient. In the 1970s Britain was in the forefront of research into wind power. The interest in wind diminished in the 1980s due to cheap North Sea oil a strong pro-nuclear lobby and pricing structures that made it uneconomical to set up wind farms. Britain the windiest country in Europe had to wait until 1991 for its first wind farm. Located at Delabole in Cornwall the farm was originally the idea of locals who opposed the construction of a nuclear power plant nearby and decided to set up a private company to generate power for the area using the wind. They had to fight opposition from local government and other local residents who thought the turbines would be noisy and might interfere with television signals but eventually after showing local officials working wind farms in Denmark they won and now there are 10 huge white wind turbines on the Delabole hills. It is in Germany and Denmark that the greatest advances in wind power have come. Germany alone produces half of the wind generated electricity in Europe. Every year Germany adds 400 Megawatts Mw of capacity. In 2000 alone capacity expanded by 1669 Mw. Denmark now produces 30 of its .
