While there is no guarantee that increased investment in achieving

Question

While there is no guarantee that increased investment in achieving energy independence will solve all of America’s unemployment problems, the results so far have demonstrated that it will definitely help the cause. Under President Obama's watch, such increased investment has so far created 1.5 million jobs and has demonstrated the potential to create many more.

After a four-decade decline in oil production, the U.S. is now producing enough oil to serve more than half of our oil needs. This has the potential to free us from our addiction to foreign-sourced barrels, particularly if we utilize our dramatically larger and cheaper reserves of natural gas, which now costs the equivalent of less than $15 per barrel, versus the $100-plus per barrel of oil we import from the Middle East. The money saved by the increased use of natural gas has helped in greater investments and has created more than 75,000 jobs domestically.

Moreover, the president’s policies have motivated companies to invest more in clean energy to the extent that American companies make over 75% of all venture investments in clean technologies. Overall, because of U.S. public and private investments in clean energy—including renewables, efficiency, transportation, and infrastructure—the clean economy grew by 8.3% from 2008 to 2009, even during the depths of the recession. Even though several technologies, such as solar power, are still not as cost-competitive as imported oil, expanding these clean-energy investments is good economics as they will help preserve and expand America's middle class, because energy investments are a particularly effective method of "insourcing" manufacturing jobs, which in turn spur jobs in invention, installation, and maintenance.   1

1.From the passage which of the following can be inferred about imported oil?

A. Most of the imported oil comes from the Middle East.
B. It is cheaper on a per barrel basis than natural gas.
C. It is not as cost competitive as solar energy.
D. Does not create the same number of jobs per unit of energy as solar power does.
E. Its unit price has increased over the past decade.

2 
2. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

A. Demonstrating that increased investment in achieving energy independence will create more jobs.
B. Proving that the upside of investing in achieving energy independence is not limited to creating jobs.
C. Advocating that America must invest in alternate renewable energy to attain Technology independence.
D. Proving that America can tackle unemployment by lowering the cost of foreign energy.
E. Lobbying for a greater proportion of GDP to be spent on achieving energy independence.

Nikhil · Answer

+1 kudos to the posts containing answer explanations of all questions

tarunanandani · Answer

1.From the passage which of the following can be inferred about imported oil?
A. Most of the imported oil comes from the Middle East.  Incorrect , the passage mentions about the price of oil from the Middle East and not about the quantity.
B. It is cheaper on a per barrel basis than natural gas.  Incorrect , opposite of this one is correct.
C. It is not as cost competitive as solar energy.  Incorrect , opposite of this one is correct.
D. Does not create the same number of jobs per unit of energy as solar power does.  Correct , by POE and as per the last few lines of the third paragraph.
E. Its unit price has increased over the past decade.  Incorrect , not mentioned in the passage.

2. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
A. Demonstrating that increased investment in achieving energy independence will create more jobs.  Correct , the choice aptly describes the gist of the passage.
B. Proving that the upside of investing in achieving energy independence is not limited to creating jobs.  Incorrect , the passage only talks about unemployment and creating jobs.
C. Advocating that America must invest in alternate renewable energy to attain Technology independence.  Incorrect , distortion of details. The passage advocates for investment to tackle unemployment and not to gain technological independence.
D. Proving that America can tackle unemployment by lowering the cost of foreign energy.  Incorrect , no such evidence has been presented in the passage. The passage talks about investment in clean energy and not about lowering the foreign energy cost.
E. Lobbying for a greater proportion of GDP to be spent on achieving energy independence.  Incorrect , GDP proportion has not been discussed.

proabhinav · Answer

1.From the passage which of the following can be inferred about imported oil?
A. Most of the imported oil comes from the Middle East.  Incorrect , the passage mentions about the price of oil from the Middle East and not about the quantity.
B. It is cheaper on a per barrel basis than natural gas.  Incorrect , opposite of this one is correct.
C. It is not as cost competitive as solar energy.  Incorrect , opposite of this one is correct.
D. Does not create the same number of jobs per unit of energy as solar power does.  Correct , by POE and as per the last few lines of the third paragraph.
E. Its unit price has increased over the past decade.  Incorrect , not mentioned in the passage.

Hi Tarun

Please can you further elaborate why D is correct ?

I didn't find evidence supporting the answer in the passage. Solar energy and imported oil are compared to say that solar is not as competitive yet with imported oil but no reference to job creation is mentioned ?

Thanks
Abhinav

tarunanandani · Answer

Hi  proabhinav ,

Lets have a look at the last lines of the third paragraph:

Moreover, the president’s policies have motivated companies to invest more in clean energy to the extent that American companies make over 75% of all venture investments in clean technologies. Overall, because of U.S. public and private investments in clean energy—including renewables, efficiency, transportation, and infrastructure—the clean economy grew by 8.3% from 2008 to 2009, even during the depths of the recession.  Even though  several technologies, such as solar power , are still not as cost-competitive as imported oil, expanding these clean- energy investments is good economics  as they will help preserve and expand America's middle class, because  energy investments are a particularly effective method of "insourcing" manufacturing jobs , which in turn spur jobs in invention, installation, and maintenance .

Notice that how author compares 'solar energy' with imported oil in terms of cost and continues the comparison by providing justification to invest in clean energy, such as solar, because it can spur jobs in invention, installation, and maintenance. Now, in question 1, we need to draw an inference and although the passage doesn't actually talks about job creation ratio per unit of energy, it does mention that investment in clean energy, such as solar, will bring more jobs. Thus, we can infer that imported oil doesn't create more jobs than solar power does.
Moreover, we can also arrive at option D by eliminating the other four; though option D doesn't look like a perfect answer, it sure is the best among the lot.

Hope this helps!

tapasgupta · Answer

1.From the passage which of the following can be inferred about imported oil?
A.  Most of the imported oil comes from the Middle East.  - Inconsistent with the passage 
B.  It is cheaper on a per barrel basis than natural gas.  - opposite
C.  It is not as cost competitive as solar energy.  - opposite
D.  Does not create the same number of jobs per unit of energy as solar power does.  - concluded from the last para
E.  Its unit price has increased over the past decade.  - nowhere is given about this.

2. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
A.  Demonstrating that increased investment in achieving energy independence will create more jobs.  - overall summary
B.  Proving that the upside of investing in achieving energy independence is not limited to creating jobs.  - inconsistent
C.  Advocating that America must invest in alternate renewable energy to attain Technology independence.  - extreme
D.  Proving that America can tackle unemployment by lowering the cost of foreign energy.  - inconsistent
E.  Lobbying for a greater proportion of GDP to be spent on achieving energy independence.  - inconsistent

Skyline393 · Answer

Hi,
For question 1, I refer to this " This has the potential to free us from our addiction to foreign-sourced barrels, particularly if we utilize our dramatically larger and cheaper reserves of natural gas, which now costs the equivalent of less than $15 per barrel, versus the $100-plus per barrel of oil we import from the Middle East. " => It means imported oil would be more expensive compared to the domestic, so why E is wrong?
For Question 2, could you please explain why B is inconsistent since I think A & B have the same intent. So I am very confused between these options.

Thank you.

tapasgupta · Answer

Hi Skyline393,

In question 1, the passage gives the comparison between the price of oil and natural gas. Then can we say that price of oil has increased? No 
And how can we be sure about the past decade. It can also increase 2 years back. There is no way we can conclude this.

In question 2 - go over first word of every answer choice. See the tone of the passage. The author is not proving. He just telling that it can create more jobs. That means he is talking about the future and that is the main summary. The tone of the passage will give the answer of such questions.

Hope it helps.

penco · Answer

Hey Can anyone help me with the 2nd question.
I went with B because along with jobs, the passage also says, it has potential to free from addiction to foreign barrel (2nd para) and also empowering middle class( Para 3 ). I though the passage want to say Increased investment will help america multifariously.
Can anyone help to see where I went wrong?

bM22 · Answer

Hi  penco ,

We need to understand the complete context of this sentence: "This has the potential to free us from our addiction to foreign-sourced barrels," as author further mentions : "particularly if we utilize our dramatically larger and cheaper reserves of natural gas, which now costs the equivalent of less than $15 per barrel, versus the $100-plus per barrel of oil we import from the Middle East.  The money saved by the increased use of natural gas has helped in greater investments and has created more than 75,000 jobs domestically. ", implying that the amount saved by reducing the dependency on foreign-sourced barrels has helped increase more than 75k jobs.

Then w.r.t empowering middle class, author mentions: "...expand America's middle class, because energy investments are a particularly effective method of "insourcing" manufacturing jobs, which in turn spur jobs in invention, installation, and maintenance." again that middle class can most benefit by the increase in the number of jobs.

Basically everything is revolving around how the increased investment in achieving energy independence will in turn create more jobs for the Americans,  thus A is the more accurate answer.

Hope This Helps.
Thanks.

VerbalBot · Answer

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