Self-study
If cold fusion worked, it would provide almost limitless power from very inexpensive raw materials, materials far cheaper than coal or oil. ███ █████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ █ █████████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████ ████████ █████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why would replacing traditional electric generators with cold-fusion power plants result in a reduction of no more than 25 percent in the average residential electric bill when cold fusion would provide nearly limitless power from inexpensive raw materials?
Objective
The correct answer must be the only answer that doesn’t help to explain why transitioning to cold-fusion power plants would reduce the average residential electric bill by no more than 25 percent. Any correct answer will either fail to address costs associated with transitioning to cold-fusion power plants or make transitioning seem more financially appealing.
7.
Each of the following, if █████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███████
a
Cold-fusion power plants █████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ██████████ ████
If this is true, the extra expenses associated with building and maintaining cold-fusion power plants may largely offset how cheap cold fusion would be relative to energy provided by traditional electric generators.
b
Environmental regulations now ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███████
The costliness of regulations placed on cold fusion may largely offset how much cheaper cold fusion would be than energy provided by burning coal or oil.
c
Most electric companies █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ██████████ ████ █████ █████ ███████
It doesn’t matter whether electric companies would be willing to incorporate cold-fusion technology. (C) fails to address why transitioning to cold fusion wouldn’t significantly reduce average residential electric bills.
d
Only a relatively █████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ████████ ███ █████
If only a relatively small portion of residential electric bills are determined by fuel expenses, then the money saved on transitioning to cold fusion may not significantly alter residential electric bill costs.
e
Personnel costs for ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████
If personnel costs are unaffected by the type of raw materials an electric company uses, transitioning to cold fusion may not significantly reduce average residential electric bills.