Arugument type - The following appeared in a memorandum from the planning department of an electric power company. "Several recent surveys indicate that home owners are increasingly eager to conserve energy. At the same time, manufacturers are now marke

The following appeared in a memorandum from the planning department of an electric power company.

"Several recent surveys indicate that home owners are increasingly eager to conserve energy. At the same time, manufacturers are now marketing many home appliances, such as refrigerators and air conditioners, that are almost twice as energy efficient as those sold a decade ago. Also, new technologies for better home insulation and passive solar heating are readily available to reduce the energy needed for home heating. Therefore, the total demand for electricity in our area will not increase—and may decline slightly. Since our three electric generating plants in operation for the past twenty years have always met our needs, construction of new generating plants will not be necessary."

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

COMPOSITION:
The writer of the memorandum, who claims that construction of new generating plants will not be necessary, seems to offer a cogent argument. However, the writer makes a lot of tenable stated and unstated assumptions, even the superficial correlations are seemingly logical. And there is a list of the results of those assumptions above examined as follows, of which results reveals the fallacies in his/her reasoning.

First of all, the writer cites several recent surveys to reinforce his/her argument in that these surveys indicate that home owners are increasingly eager to conserve energy, with an obvious assumption that these surveys could also apply to their area, and also give the credit to these surveys. However, it is entirely possible that the home owner in their area is not eager to conserve energy, perhaps instead profusion on energy. And, perhaps these surveys are conducted by the manufacturers which produce home appliances with excellent energy efficiencies and have the purpose of inducing wide usage of energy efficient appliances, while the fact may be opposite. Thus, with the lack of evidence to support the assumptions, the writer cannot convince me that the total energy is going to decline.

Secondly, the writer assumes pontifically that the more energy efficient, the less energy consumption there will be. However, it is not always true. For example, it is also possible that the total energy consumption is rising with excellent efficiencies due to the augment in need of increasing in numbers of home appliances. Even if energy efficient ones do consume less energy than the older one, the writer also assumes unjustly that the most appliances in our area are made up of the energy-efficient appliances which the manufacturers are marketing. Nevertheless, it is possible that most appliances are still the older ones, which is not that efficient and cost less energy. Thus, it is unfair to conclude such a claim that the total demand for electricity in their area will not increase-and may decline, without checking the reliability of the assumptions above.
What's more, the writer also assumes that for the past twenty years have always met their needs doesn't necessarily means next year ,then the needs would also be able met as well. On one hand, considering the development of society, it is entirely possible that the energy would increase as more and more appliances come into everyone home. Anyway, it is natural that things would change with the time flies. On the other hand, what if the tendency of the demand of electricity in their area is increasing, and in the last year the demand just met the supply? Then it is natural to predict that in the next year the demand would likely to be over the supply.
Without careful evaluation of these dubious assumptions, the writer cannot convince me that the construction of new generating plants is not necessary.

All in all, without justification of the reliability of the survey he/she discussed, credibility of the assumption of proportional relationship between the efficiency and the consumption and the assumption of the tendency that the demand will not increase, the author cannot convince me that construction of new generating plant is unnecessary.

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