Ejercicio 9-10 · Inglés Majors de 25 anys (Catalunya) Tribunal especial Serie 3 2024

‘STEAM LOOPS’ AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Across North America, hundreds of downtowns, college campuses and hospitals are heated by steam carried through networks of underground pipes. Electric power companies installed many of these ‘steam loops’ more than 100 years ago in older East Coast cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Most people, however, only know this underground network exists because they’ve seen steam rising in streets, either in real life or on film. More than 900 of these systems exist in the U.S. and Canada, and there are thousands more worldwide.

Today, these systems, which often provide chilled water for cooling as well, are experiencing a renaissance as a potential solution to climate change.

In Philadelphia, steam gets generated at a plant built in 1915. Steam travels through 41 miles of pipe to dozens of buildings.

The plant illustrates the evolution of electric generation. The building has high ceilings that are lined with tiles, and detailed brickwork, which were characteristic of an era when electricity had begun to replace gas lighting.

Today the building is a modern installation producing electricity, and at the same time it efficiently uses excess heat to produce the steam heating Philadelphia buildings. It also produces high grade steam that is used to sterilize equipment at nearby hospitals.

The plant originally burned coal mined north of the city. It switched to burning oil during World War II. Today it burns natural gas and some waste grease from nearby restaurants to produce electricity and uses the waste heat to generate the steam.

Text adapted from an article by Susan Phillips. National Public Radio [online] (October 7, 2022)

high ceilings: sostres alts / techos altos

tiles: rajoles / azulejos

brickwork: obra vista / ladrillo

Please answer the following questions in English. (Please do not copy text but rather answer in your own words; your answers should be between 40 and 60 words in length.)

En les qüestions que no són d'opció múltiple, es descomptaran 0,05 punts per cada falta d'ortografia, de morfologia, de lèxic o de sintaxi.

9.

What is different about the production of steam in the Philadelphia plant today, as compared with when the plant was originally built?

10.

Why are steam loops in American cities “experiencing a renaissance”?