Critical Reasoning

More and more companies have begun to consume less energy by making themselves more efficient. Over time, these efforts could place the United States at the forefront of an emerging global market for cleaner technologies. Such efforts are also essential to tackling the two big energy-related issues of the age: global warming and the dependence on precarious supplies of oil. The federal government should encourage these efforts by providing the necessary incentives, whether as loans, direct grants or targeted tax breaks.

Which of the following, if true, provides the most effective support for the argument?

a. On the average, Canadian companies are more energy efficient than those in the United States.
b. Experts believe that energy efficiency could lower the energy use of the United States to the level of 1995.
c. In the past, government incentives have made advances in energy conservation feasible, especially in the auto industry.
d. The dependence on foreign oil is a greater problem in the present than global warming.
e. The market for cleaner technologies is currently relatively small because of the infrastructure requirements.

OA is C, why not E.

Opinion : cleaner technologies == less energy consumption

C is pushing up the conclusion

the market for clearner technologies is in high demand as the passage is very much encourging it.. we cannot call it small and passage never said anything infrastructure...

nikhilsrl wrote:b. Experts believe that energy efficiency could lower the energy use of the United States to the level of 1995.
OA is C, why not E.

Here we are comparing the current energy usage levels of United States to that of year 1995. This comparison is out of scope as we are considering emerging companies with cleaner technologies, which is a progressive event.

Thus, not B.

Hope it helps.

-conclusion: The federal government should encourage these efforts by providing the necessary incentives, whether as loans, direct grants or targeted tax breaks.

The correct answer will support this by mentioning how the govts involvement will succeed....choice C accomplishes this by exmplaining how past incentives turned out well

Choice E states that the current market is relatively small which can be linked to the second sentence in the argument "at the forefront of an emerging global market for cleaner technologies" .....but it fails to address the governmental incentives, bc remember that this is the conclusion

Yes C is correct.

I hopes its already clear by now......