Affordable and Clean Energy: https://sdg-tracker.org/energy 

1. What does “renewable” mean, when you refer to “renewable energy”?

Video Viewing

Watch the video with the playback speed of 0.75 to 1.00. View 2 or 3 times.

今視聴したビデオについて、下記の記述の正誤を確かめてみよう。

(1) Electric power is essential for modern life.       T/F

(2) A Japanese engineer, Sumino, invented an ultra-small waterpower generator.    T/F

(3) Sumino’s generator is not environmentally friendly.                 T/F

 動画を使ってディクテーションをしてみましょう。

It's not just the lights that brighten our city streets at night. Electric power is so _________ today (that) it's hard to imagine life without it. Electricity is ________ by a number of methods, (with) one of them being hydroelectric generation. Conventionally, a dam is built to hold a large reservoir of water. The ________ created by water falling from high to low levels turns the blades of a turbine. This rotates a generator to produce electricity. Recently, there's been a growing __________ in smaller scale methods using slight differences in the levels of flowing water. Underneath this bridge over a river in Tokyo a small-scale hydroelectric generator has been installed. Although the water drop is just one meter, this generates ________ power to light the bridge. Ena is a city in Gifu in central Japan. Masaya Sumino, an engineer at a metalworking factory here, has ___________ a revolutionary waterpower generator that's gaining international attention. This is Sumino's ultra-small waterpower generator. A 1-meter-by-28-centimeter casing encloses the spiral blades of the turbine. “All flowing water has energy and I always thought it was a shame that we weren't fully using this resource. That's what _________ me to come up with this concept for utilizing unused energy from nature.” Weighing just 18 kilograms, this is the first ever generator of its kind that can be easily carried by one person. It's already being used in roadside irrigation channels to ________ streetlights and for electrifying fences to protect farmland. To spread his message about waterpower, Sumino often gives presentations to primary school children like these.   Today he'll show them how to generate electricity from a small river in their school grounds.  “Okay, now I'm going to put it in the water.”  His ___________ works even with the gentle flow of this tiny stream.  The spiral blades are angled so they rise slightly towards the upstream side.  A 15-centimeter-high metal plate blocks the stream.  This makes the water run over the top of the plate and flow down through the _______ blades.  The force of the water on the blades turns the turbine to generate electricity. This concept works anywhere (with) this flowing water, even if it's very sharp.  “Three, two, one, now!”  “That was _________! Such a small machine and it made electricity!”  In Japan schools are often used as evacuation shelters during disasters.  This device could provide emergency power. Sumino’s generator promises to transform life in remote areas of the world that still _______ power.  “There are many places where individuals or whole areas have no access to electricity. If we can provide them with the means to make their own power, they'll be able to change their lives.”  That's my _______. An ultra-small generator that could provide environmentally friendly electricity for any place on earth where there's even a slight flow of water.

ディクテーションの後、もう一度最初から聞いてみましょう。

1. ペアを組んで、「水力発電はどのように機能するか」について考えてみましょう。 How does hydroelectric generation work? 

2. 世界で小水力への関心が高まっているのはなぜだと思いますか？Why do you think people around the world have grown more interested in smaller-scale methods of waterpower generation? What would be the environmental and social costs of building a huge dam?