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.
The past few decades have been characterized by an exponential increase in both the technology and resources devoted to efficient energy. It has been a true bright spot as nations work together in order to sever fossil fuel dependence and establish a maintainable source of energy. While these enhancements surely will change the landscape of the energy industry, the author uses arguments riddled with ambiguity and shortcomings.
The planning department released a memorandum related to potentially renovating or creating new operating plants. The author(s) are quoted saying "several recent surveys indicate that home owners are increasingly eager to conserve energy." This equivocal statement does not provide a valid reason to let it guide any decision. While it is beneficial to show that multiple surveys show the same results, the statement does nothing to show what the surveys are asking the recipients. The surveys could simply ask whether home owners would like to conserve more energy. Naturally, conserving energy is associated with cost-saving; who would oppose to saving more money? Further, want and action are inherently two unique things: "to want" is a statement of aspiration, and "to do" is a call to action. It is much easier for home owners to say they would like to conserve energy than to actually follow through and change their consumption habits. Without any assurance that the survey is asking cogent, insightful questions that provide accurate insights regarding consumers' energy consumption habits, it is unfair and unprofessional to allow such an assumption to guide the Company's business decisions.
Another egregious assumption the memorandum makes is by referencing manufacturers marketing trends. The Company states how marketing has been shifted towards new, more energy efficient models. While manufacturers may very well be marketing such products, the statement does nothing to reveal how the customer is reacting to it. For instance, manufacturers might be applying larger mark ups to energy efficient models that utilize newer technology. Concurrently, those same manufacturers might employ older models with antiquated technology at much lower prices. The statement simply shows what corporations are doing, not what the energy consumption trends are. The memo goes onto state how this same technology is much more readily available. This furthers the idea that we have made advances, but it does not correlate with consumption trends. For instance, Elon Musk holds "open patents" on all of Tesla's battery technology. This helps advance the industry and embolden the technology behind it. At the same time, US fossil fuel consumption has gone up. The two ideas are not directly correlated, and can not be the basis behind a rational business decision.
Perhaps the most questionable argument the memo makes is that demand for electricity will defininitevly not increase and might decrease. Such an aghastly one sided statement should be taken with a grain of salt. So many factors need to be taken into consideration: population growth, consumption trends and weather, among other things. Currently, California just overcame a 5-year drought. They now find themselves at a loss - their is consistent and torrential downpour - and the state does not have the resources to properly mitigate the damages. Weather is unpredictable and makes up just one factor that relates to energy consumption. Such a concrete statement is erroneous; to let it influence such a major decision would be an improper business practice.
"Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery." Energy trends have proven to be unpredictable over the years. To let such vague assumptions guide such a business decision would be mistake that the Company may not be able to overcome. It is imperative that the author elaborate on points and assure that the references are insightful and accurate.
Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
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2017-03-02 | lebronjames | 62 | view |
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- Practice test 16
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 428, Rule ID: THEIR_IS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'there'?
Suggestion: there
...t. They now find themselves at a loss - their is consistent and torrential downpour -...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, if, may, regarding, so, well, while, for instance
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 37.0 19.6327345309 188% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 16.0 12.9520958084 124% => OK
Conjunction : 19.0 11.1786427146 170% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 13.6137724551 88% => OK
Pronoun: 34.0 28.8173652695 118% => OK
Preposition: 61.0 55.5748502994 110% => OK
Nominalization: 27.0 16.3942115768 165% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3356.0 2260.96107784 148% => OK
No of words: 610.0 441.139720559 138% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.50163934426 5.12650576532 107% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.96972615649 4.56307096286 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.01897469524 2.78398813304 108% => OK
Unique words: 321.0 204.123752495 157% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.526229508197 0.468620217663 112% => OK
syllable_count: 1062.0 705.55239521 151% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 10.0 4.96107784431 202% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Interrogative: 1.0 0.471057884232 212% => OK
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 2.70958083832 111% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 8.0 4.22255489022 189% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 33.0 19.7664670659 167% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 22.8473053892 79% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 40.9123455495 57.8364921388 71% => OK
Chars per sentence: 101.696969697 119.503703932 85% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.4848484848 23.324526521 79% => OK
Discourse Markers: 1.93939393939 5.70786347227 34% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 18.0 8.20758483034 219% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 6.88822355289 102% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.67664670659 171% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.233872911551 0.218282227539 107% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0499064862457 0.0743258471296 67% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0587204163024 0.0701772020484 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.105131255471 0.128457276422 82% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0851648646359 0.0628817314937 135% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.7 14.3799401198 95% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 44.75 48.3550499002 93% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.62 12.5979740519 116% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.24 8.32208582834 111% => OK
difficult_words: 182.0 98.500998004 185% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.0 12.3882235529 105% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 11.1389221557 83% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Rates: 62.5 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.75 Out of 6 -- The score is based on the average performance of 20,000 argument essays. This e-grader is not smart enough to check on arguments.
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.