| If it were not for X ... we would ... | ßêáè íå Õ, ìè á ... |
| If it were not for hope, the heart would break. | ßêáè íå íàä³ÿ, ñåðöå á ðîç³ðâàëîñü. (Íàä³ÿ âìèðຠîñòàííüîþ.) |
². Decide which of these statements are true and which are false.
1. Energy balance depends on heat level. 2. GHGs can not cause the rise in the level of the Earth’s energy balance. 3. The average temperature on Earth is about 18° Celsius. 4. The best temperature for climate is 3° F.
²². Answer the following questions.
1. What is an energy balance? 2. What error information is spread all over the world? 3. What is the difference between a greenhouse effect and a global warming? 4. Is there any danger in the greenhouse effect?
Text 17. Essential “Green” Metals are being Thrown Away
Active Vocabulary:
| cellhpone | ìîá³ëüíèé òåëåôîí | solar cell | ñîíÿ÷íà áàòàðåÿ |
| recycling | âòîðèííà ïåðåðîáêà | crucial | âèð³øàëüíèé, êðèòè÷íèé |
| UN (United Nations) | Îðãàí³çàö³ÿ îá’ºäíàíèõ íàö³é | decade | äåñÿòèð³÷÷ÿ |
| rare | ð³äê³ñíèé | rely (on) | çàëåæàòè (â³ä) |
| essential | âàæëèâèé | hoarding | íàêîïè÷åííÿ |
| gadget | ïðèñòð³é; òåõí³÷íà íîâèíêà | to update | ìîäåðí³çóâàòè |
That old cellphone gathering dust in your cupboard could help the economy go green, if only you could get round to recycling it. A UN report published last week says that too many of the rare metals that are essential for green technologies are locked up in old gadgets we throw away or forget about.
The report, from the United Nations Environment Programme, examined the recycling rates of 60 metals. Globally, 34 of them have recycling rates below 1 per cent, while only 18 have rates above 50 per cent. Among the least-recycled metals are tellurium and gallium – which are used in solar cells – and lithium, a key component of the batteries in electric cars – which is also found in cellphone batteries.
These metals are not yet in heavy use, but will be crucial over the next few decades. While we are unlikely to run out of them in the near future, recycling those already in use is less energy-intensive than mining, offering a way to make the green technologies that rely on the metals even greener.
“Most metals can be used over and over again,” says leading author Thomas Graedel of Yale University. But this doesn’t happen, partly because electronic devices are not designed with recycling in mind, and partly because people hang onto their old gadgets for years. This hoarding mentality may be influenced by privacy concerns associated with selling or recycling old electronics that store personal information.
Part of the solution is to collect more metals for recycling, but Graedel says we also need to update our recycling technology. At the moment, about 70 per cent of the metal sent for recycling gets lost during the process.