高二英语拓展卷

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Electricity bills can be highly expensive and the power we consume comes at an even greater cost to the environment when you consider that over 85% of the electricity produced in the United States comes from fuels. Whether you're concerned about cleaning up the environment or you simply want to reduce your electricity bill，residential wind power generators（发电机）could be a solution.

Producing wind power at home will not work for everyone. If you live in an over-populated residential area，there may be certain laws and zoning requirements that prohibit the use of windmills (风车). If you live on 1 acre of land or more, you probably won't have any issues but you should investigate carefully to make sure that wind power generators are both legal and practical where you live. Even if there are no laws or regulations prohibiting wind power generators you still need to be in a location that gets enough wind on a regular basis.

Some producers of wind generators recommend that you live in an area with wind speeds that average at least 10 mph. Newer models have been developed recently that can operate with wind speeds as low as 4 mph but maximum efficiency is achieved at higher wind speeds. Before you fix a wind powered system, you will have to determine your power requirements. Will you be using it to charge a small battery for a boat or vehicle or will you need enough power to run your entire household and be completely off the grid (电网)？Once you know what your power requirements are，you can start shopping around for a system that can meet those needs.

Wind power generators are a great solution for a lot of people. They're an ideal solution for remote locations where it would be impractical or simply too expensive to tap into the grid. They are quiet and totally clean，producing no pollution. They require no fuel and very little maintenance. Residential wind power offers a lot of benefits but it's not for everyone. You'll have to have some money up front to pay for the system and equipment; however, you could save quite a bit of money if you're able to do much of the work yourself. You'll also need to live in an area that gets