IELTS Vocabulary: Renewable Energy Sources
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IELTS vocabulary renewable energy and sustainable technologies hi there my name is Ben Worthington and in this very practical tutorial we're going to look at

the passive voice we're going to look at pros and cons regarding renewable energy you're going to hear a boatload an absolute ton of topic specific vocabulary collocations we're going to look at model sentences we're going to look at speaking part three questions and model answers this will be insanely valuable for you if you are struggling with vocabulary and if you're struggling with ideas

Now, the way to solve your struggle with ideas is to get information about the topic. And this is a very effective, this tutorial will be a very high level, practical, straightforward

way in which you can very quickly in about 20 minutes learn about renewable energy sources you don't need to know it inside out you just need to have a rough idea so you can at least you know if we were talking you could at least speak to me about it for a minute or so that's all you need okay and it's a very easy

topic to get your head around it's not something so niche but it's definitely recommended because the examiners you know they're setting their questions they're impacted by what's going on in the world and a very very frequent and important topic is climate change and one of the solutions or proposed solutions towards climate change or regarding climate change is renewable energy sources so you're going to learn about these right now

in an IELTS context and get all your vocabulary and also we're going to look at a grammar point called the passive voice I've covered the passive voice before but there's no harm in doing it again repetition is the mother of all learning

Before we jump into this class, let me just tell you who I am. My name is Ben Worthington. I'm from the UK. I recently came back. I have been outside of the UK for a long time. A lot of English people used to say I don't sound English, which is kind of infuriating. One Belgian person, actually, after I helped them in the train station in Valencia, Spain, they said, "Oh, your English is really good."

I just smiled and said thanks yeah this is what happens when you live abroad and you're not interacting with people from your own country and you're teaching English every day and that's what exactly what I was doing and then I started finding students who were struggling with the IELTS so I was like and then I tried to teach it I was struggling too and then I quickly got my act

together and started helping those students and gaining my competence, gaining my skills, improving them to the point where we are today. And we've got our AI Essay Checker. It's completely free. We've got courses to help you pass fast. And it's all centered around a very practical way to move forward. So let's jump into it. What are renewable energy and sustainable energy activities?

sustainable energy technologies well these are pivotal they are key to help us move away from fossil fuels these include wind turbines wind energy solar energy

biomass, biogas, all of these all different types of energy and the general idea is that they're going to help us move away from fossil fuels which are contributing to global warming because when they are used, when they are burnt, they give off CO2. Let's jump into it. So

passive voice the passive voice is used especially in academic English to emphasize the action and the receiver of the action rather than the actual doer so this is particularly useful in scientific and technical writing and as I said before academic writing to focus on the process and the results so if you're studying for IELTS academic

having a good grasp of the passive structure will be insanely useful for when we have to describe a natural process for example so here's an example sentence the electricity is generated by the wind turbine and this highlights okay the process and the outcome without specifying who actually is operating the turbine

There we go. Let's have a look at some of the pros and cons regarding renewable energy. One, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Now, as I said in a previous tutorial, you can't just leave it like that. You would have to say this is because or it reduces greenhouse gas emissions since...

it does not rely on fossil fuels these are the pros of renewable energies but a lot of them will need developing and you develop it by using because, since and why asking yourself why and keep going down that little rabbit hole next pro of renewable energy it decreases dependency on fossil fuels

It enhances energy security and supply stability. Side note, a good exercise here is to ask yourself or write down these points and then try and develop them further. And if you can't develop them further, just put what you wrote down into Google, start reading about it, and

start getting into the practice of after all of these pros saying this is because and try and complete the sentence. Okay, it supports local economies and job creation in new industries. This is because, pause, think, why? Why does it support local economies?

It encourages local technological innovation and efficiency. This is because. It improves public health by reducing pollution. It promotes energy independence. It increases the consumer choice in energy sources. All of these are given as absolutes. You need to transform them into absolutes.

into hedged statements. It can increase consumer choice. It often promotes energy independence. It can improve public health by reducing pollution. What are some of the cons? High initial cost for infrastructure and technology development. Intermittency issues with solar and wind energy. This is because when it's cloudy, solar shuts down. When it's not windy,

Wind turbines cannot produce electricity. It requires significant land use for some technologies impacting local ecosystems. How are you going to develop this one? Just think, pause. How are you going to develop that? It requires significant land use for some technologies impacting local ecosystems. It can lead to a displacement of communities, especially in large hydro projects.

this is because it may face public resistance due to aesthetic and environmental concerns in the UK a lot of environmentalists were against

wind turbines being put on the moors here and one comment was that they chop up birds okay I shouldn't be laughing it's not funny but I always remember one environmentalist saying they chop up birds and this is obviously because as the bird flies through the wind turbines the blade if it gets unlucky chop energy output can be less predictable than traditional fossil fuels we kind of just mentioned that one before when we're talking about intermittency

This one was better because we mentioned fossil fuels which don't have as severe intermittency issues. Topic specific vocabulary and collocations.

energy efficiency, solar power generation, wind turbine installation, hydroelectric capacity, geothermal plants, biomass conversion, renewable resources that's a great one I love it when it's double barreled when they both start with the same letter I find it easier to remember

and as I said in previous tutorials a collocation like that when we say renewable there's a higher percentage chance of using resources than another word and because we know as native English speakers and higher level English speakers because we know that there's a higher chance we're half expecting it and that eases

it makes listening to somebody who's using a lot of collocations, it makes listening to them easier because we're expecting what they say next. Sustainable development goals and green technology adoption. Some great words. Let's have a look at these in context. Solar power generation is increased significantly when energy efficiency measures are implemented.

Wind turbine installation has been completed across social regions to harness wind energy effectively. Hopefully you've noticed these are mainly, all of them will be, sorry, most of them will be in the passive structure, just to get you familiar with it.

Again, wind turbine installation has been completed across coastal regions to harness wind energy effectively. We don't know who installed them.

and we don't need to in this specific sentence the main focus is on what happened which was wind installation sorry wind turbine installation and that's what's a useful feature of the passive structure geothermal plants are operated to provide a constant supply of energy due to the earth's heat beautiful biomass conversion into energy is seen as a crucial step towards achieving sustainable development goals

Sustainable development goals are achieved through dedicated international cooperation. Again, probably want to hedge that. Are often achieved. A reduction in harmful emissions is ensured by the adoption of biomass conversion techniques. Fancy sentences these. New standards for energy efficiency are set by regulatory bodies to promote green technology adoption. Super.

Let's have a look at speaking part three questions and model answers. Why is renewable energy considered important for future generations? Now, you may want to just pause this before you hear my answer. Try writing down a few points. If you're alone, pause the recording.

and speak your answer and I strongly recommend you speak your answer because you'll be what happens with a lot of us is like we say ah I could easily answer that and then when you actually do it when you actually start opening your mouth and speaking your words you're like oh I

nothing comes out and the only way to solve this is by actually doing it actually pause and recording now and answer this question why is renewable energy considered important for future generations here's my answer renewable energy is considered crucial because it ensures a sustainable and stable environment for future generations technologies like solar power generation

and wind turbine installation play key roles in this significantly reducing the reliance on fossil fuels and also decreasing pollution should governments invest more in renewable energy infrastructure again pause pause the recording give yourself a minute oh yeah pull out your phone

Set the timer for 30 seconds or a minute. How long can you talk about this? Should governments invest more in renewable energy infrastructure? You know, I remember one student, she really struggled with nerves and she knew the topics. She had ideas, but when it came to actually talking about it, she stumbled. This is incredibly common.

the way she solved this was getting a list of topics speaking questions she did this for both the IELTS writing and the IELTS speaking and jotted down a few ideas of each one and then for the speaking she went through these and with the ideas in front of her she started talking about them

Of course, when she got no ideas, she went online and researched it. But she got the questions. Then she jotted ideas. If there are any blank spots where her mind goes blank, she goes online and she researches it, comes back. Now she's got a few bullet points. And then stage three was going through every one of them, talking aloud, and then using the actual bullet points. And step four, stage four,

was just looking at the questions and talking about the topics without the notes so it's just taking small steps towards getting to that speaking competency that we need and she did all of this alone a side note if you want to do this what you can do nowadays is transcribe your answers you can use your phone for this

using the dictation function you can use other software and then get your answer transcribed into Google Doc and there you're going to get it corrected you're going to see the errors that you make next tip next question sorry what are the main barriers to adopting renewable energy technologies the main barriers include high initial costs technological challenges like energy storage

and even public resistance to changes in the landscape. However, these are being addressed through advancements in technology and increased public awareness. Politician style answer that. How have sustainable technologies changed in the past decade? Over the past decade, sustainable technologies have evolved rapidly. Solar panels have become ever more efficient and less expensive.

and wind turbines have been enhanced for better performance. This evolution has made renewable energy more accessible and practical. Is renewable energy common in your country? Very, very, very common question this. Does XYZ happen in your country? Alright, in my country renewable energy is becoming increasingly common.

thanks to government incentives and growing public awareness of environmental issues. Projects like hydroelectric capacity expansion and wind turbine installation are becoming more prevalent as part of this push. There we go. So hopefully you've got more ideas now about renewable energy and the technology behind it and renewable energy sources.

Hopefully, you were taking notes. Hopefully, you've implemented some of the actions I was suggesting such as pausing, answering it yourself, discovering your own weak spots. I'm trying to help students who are struggling on their own, by themselves, who can't afford an academy or don't have faith in the academy or don't have time in a language academy or whatever.

That's why I try to make this tutorial as practical as possible. And if you did get some value from this, I didn't charge for it. All I ask in return is that you share it with some friends, maybe post it on Facebook or whatever social media you're using. It would help me a lot and it just helps us spread the word that you're not alone doing this.

and you can go over to ieltspodcast.com. You can sign up. You can get more material, more tools, more help. You get a free course, tutorials on how to use the AI Essay Checker, and we're bringing out some speaking products soon that I'm very excited about. So that's it from me today. I'm wishing you a beautiful day and all the best with your IELTS preparation. Thank you very much.

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