Critical Reasoning

Solar energy plants use a number of mirrors to focus sunlight and produce electricity for about ten cents per kilowatt hour. The problem with the wide spread acceptance of solar energy plants is that electricity can be generated from coal for seven cents per kilowatt hour. In a free market system consumers will choose the lowest-cost form of electricity. Consequently, there will not be a market for the electricity produced by solar energy plants.

Which of the following, if true, does most to weaken the conclusion presented above?

A. Electricity plants that rely on coal produce large quantities of pollution that contribute to acid rain.

B. The supply of other forms of renewable energy, such as wind energy from turbines, is more unpredictable than that produced by solar energy plants.

C. Solar energy plants produce their largest amounts of energy during the daytime in the summer, when electricity is most expensive, often costing utilities more than fifteen cents per kilowatt hour to purchase.

D.The solar energy farms must be located in areas of constant, intense sunlight and therefore cannot be constructed in the eastern United States.

E. Many people believe that solar energy will be the most important energy source in decades to come

OA C

Source: Veritas Prep