Question Details

Direction for Reading Comprehension: The passages given here are followed by some questions that have four answer choices; read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage

In a low-carbon world, renewable energy technologies are hot business. For investors looking to redirect funds, wind turbines and solar panels, among other technologies, seem a straightforward choice. But renewables need to be further scrutinized before being championed as forging a path toward a low-carbon future. Both the direct and indirect impacts of renewable energy must be examined to ensure that a climate-smart future does not intensify social and environmental harm. As renewable energy production requires land, water, and labor, among other inputs, it imposes costs on people and the environment. Hydropower projects, for instance, have led to community dispossession and exclusion...Renewable energy supply chains are also intertwined with mining, and their technologies contribute to growing levels of electronic waste... Furthermore, although renewable energy can be produced and distributed through small-scale, local systems, such an approach might not generate the high returns on investment needed to attract capital. Although an emerging sector, renewables are enmeshed in long-standing resource extraction through their dependence on minerals and metals... Scholars document the negative consequences of mining... even for mining operations that commit to socially responsible practices[:] “many of the world’s largest reservoirs of minerals like cobalt, copper, lithium,[and] rare earth minerals”—the ones needed for renewable technologies— “are found in fragile states and under communities of marginalized peoples in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.” Since the demand for metals and minerals will increase substantially in a renewable-powered future... this intensification could exacerbate the existing consequences of extractive activities. Among the connections between climate change and waste, O’Neill... highlights that “devices developed to reduce our carbon footprint, such as lithium batteries for hybrid and electric cars or solar panels[,] become potentially dangerous electronic waste at the end of their productive life.” The disposal of toxic waste has long perpetuated social injustice through the flows of waste to the Global South and to marginalized communities in the Global North... While renewable energy is a more recent addition to financial portfolios, investments in the sector must be considered in light of our understanding of capital accumulation. As agricultural finance reveals, the concentration of control of corporate activity facilitates profit generation. For some climate activists, the promise of renewables rests on their ability not only to reduce emissions but also to provide distributed, democratized access to energy...But Burke and Stephens... caution that “renewable energy systems offer a possibility but not a certainty for more democratic energy futures.” Small-scale, distributed forms of energy are only highly profitable to institutional investors if control is consolidated somewhere in the financial chain. Renewable energy can be produced at the household or neighborhood level. However, such small-scale, localized production is unlikely to generate high returns for investors. For financial growth to be sustained and expanded by the renewable sector, production and trade in renewable energy technologies will need to be highly concentrated, and large asset management firms will likely drive those developments.

Which one of the following statements, if false, could be seen as best supporting the arguments in the passage?

Options

A

Renewable energy systems are not as profitable as non-renewable energy systems.

B

Renewable energy systems are as expensive as non-renewable energy systems.

C

The production and distribution of renewable energy through small-scale, localsystems is not economically sustainable.

D

Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact.

Show Answer

Correct Answer :

Option D

Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact.

Solution :

The correct answer is: "Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact."

This is a logical reversal question — it asks which statement, when made false, would best support the passage's arguments. This is a subtle but important logical structure. Let's carefully break it down.

Step 1: Understand the question's logical structure

The question asks: Which statement, if FALSE, best supports the passage's arguments?

This means we must find the statement that, when we negate it (i.e., make it false), produces a conclusion that aligns with and strengthens what the passage argues. In other words, the negation of the correct option should mirror the passage's core claims.

Step 2: Identify the passage's central arguments

The passage repeatedly argues that renewable energy is not environmentally or socially neutral. Key evidence includes:

• Renewable energy production requires land, water, and labor, imposing environmental costs.
• Hydropower has led to community dispossession.
• Renewable supply chains are intertwined with mining of cobalt, copper, lithium, and rare earth minerals — often in fragile states, affecting marginalized communities.
• Devices like solar panels and lithium batteries become dangerous electronic waste at the end of their life.
• Waste disposal perpetuates social injustice, flowing to the Global South and marginalized communities.

The passage's core thesis is: Renewable energy carries significant environmental and social harms that must not be overlooked.

Step 3: Evaluate the correct option — "Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact"

Now apply the logical test: If this statement is FALSE, then it means:

"Renewable energy systems DO have significant environmental impact."

This negation directly and powerfully supports every major argument in the passage — that mining for minerals causes harm, that e-waste is toxic, that land and water are consumed, and that marginalized communities bear the burden of these impacts. Making this statement false essentially validates the entire argumentative thrust of the passage.

Step 4: Eliminate the other options

Option 1 — "Renewable energy systems are not as profitable as non-renewable energy systems."
If false, it means renewables are as profitable (or more so). The passage actually argues that high profitability drives the problem of capital concentration — so this does not clearly support the passage's environmental and social harm arguments.

Option 2 — "Renewable energy systems are as expensive as non-renewable energy systems."
If false, it means renewables are cheaper. This is largely about cost comparison and doesn't directly address the environmental or social justice concerns central to the passage.

Option 3 — "The production and distribution of renewable energy through small-scale, local systems is not economically sustainable."
This is actually a claim the passage already makes — small-scale production is unlikely to generate high investor returns. If this were false (i.e., small-scale systems are sustainable), it would contradict a part of the passage's argument, not support it.

Step 5: Conclusion

Only Option 4 — "Renewable energy systems have little or no environmental impact" — when made false, produces a statement ("Renewable energy systems DO have significant environmental impact") that comprehensively and directly supports the passage's central argument. The passage is fundamentally a rebuttal of the notion that renewables are environmentally clean and socially harmless — so declaring that notion false is precisely the logical foundation upon which the passage's entire argument rests.

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