新西兰英语 301 ETS price rises
Prices for petrol, electricity, and gas for cooking went up today to pay for the greenhouse gas they put into the atmosphere. Petrol went up 3 cents a litre to $1.79 a litre for unleaded petrol. Electricity and gas prices went up 3.3%. This is because of the ETS, the Emissions 1 Trading Scheme. Emissions are the gases that come from burning fossil 2 fuels. Because we use 3.2 billion litres of petrol a year, fuel companies will have to pay about $90m a year to the owners of forests who sell carbon credits.
The cost of freight 3 will increase too. Trucks, trains, planes and ships will have to pay more for their fuel so we will pay more for the goods they carry. Passenger fares will rise too. The government says that the increase in costs could be about $5 a week for families and tax cuts in October will help to pay that money.
This is just the start to the ETS. Big industries which cause pollution do not have to pay for their carbon emissions just yet and neither do farmers. Many farm animals put methane 4 gas into the atmosphere. It is not clear why electricity has to pay for carbon as most of our electricity is generated 5 from hydro schemes on rivers.
The US and Australia have not yet done anything about an Emissions Trading Scheme but Europe already has a scheme.
Listen to November 25th 2009 for more about the ETS.
Questions
Does your country have an ETS?
New Zealand is a very small contributor to greenhouse gases from fossils 6 fuels. Should we wait until other countries do something about their carbon emissions first?
What happens when trees are cut down? Do forest owners have to pay back the money they got?
- Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
- Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。
- At this distance of time it is difficult to date the fossil.时间隔得这么久了，很难确定这化石的年代。
- The man is a fossil.那人是个老顽固。
- Tons of freight were flown into this airport every day.每天有许多吨货物被空运到这个机场。
- There is ten yuan in the bill for freight.发票中包括运费十元。
- The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
- Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。
- It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。
- It generated much excitement and frenetic activity. 这使人们非常激动并导致了狂热的行动。