Arguement159【Persistence小组】第12次作业

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A159The nation of Claria covers a vast physical area. But despite wide geographic differences, many citizens are experiencing rising costs of electricity. A recent study of household electric costs in Claria found that families who cooled their houses with fans alone spent more on electricity than did families using air conditioners alone for cooling. However, those households that reported using both fans and air conditioners spent less on electricity than those households that used either fans or air conditioners alone. Thus, the citizens of Claria should follow the study's recommendation and use both air conditioners and fans in order to save money on electricity.
提纲 1：电价有可能不同
     2：区域不一样，气候不一样
     3：可能用于买电器的钱远多于电价，或者只用一个
In the above argument, according to the result of survey, author concludes that the citizens of Claria should use both air conditioners and fans in order to save money on electricity. It seems specious, but after further consideration, I am afraid that this argument is flawed in some critical respects.

In the argument, it says that recent study shows that the family who cooled house with fans alone for cooling spent more on electricity than the family only using air conditioners, the study also points out that the family owning both fans and air conditioners spent less than those that used either fans or air conditioners alone. Under this premise, the conclusion seems right. However, author mentions additionally that the nation of Claria covers a vast physical area. Under this background, the cost of the electric dispends on many reasons, but author didn’t offer more information.

First, as Claria covers a vast physical area, it is quite possible that the weather in different areas of Claria is quite diversely. And the weather affects the cost of electricity much. For example in one area it is quite hot in summer but in another it is not. There is no doubt that people in former area spent more on electricity as they use air conditions or fans more. The argument didn’t provide information about this.

Second, author says many citizens are experiencing rising costs of electricity. It means that the price of electricity is not fixed. We have reason to believe that the price of electricity is not same all over the country. Although two families use same amount of electricity, the cost of electricity is still not same because of the price and have no relationship with the using of air conditioners or fans. However, author didn’t think about the affection of the price.

Finally, the conclusion itself also can’t stand even if the above assumptions in the argument are correct. We already know that the households using both air conditioners and fans spend less than those who use only one. But there is a lack of exact number as buying air conditioner or fan also needs money. If the price of fans or air conditioners is quite high and using both of them can just save little money, should we still follow the study’s recommendation to ask citizens to buy them additionally? The answer is obviously no as it is not a cost-efficient spending.

In sum, in author’s providing information, we can’t establish direct relationship between the cost of electricity and the use of air conditioner and fans. To make this argument convincing, author needs to provide more information such as the weather in Claria, the price of fan or air conditioner, and other aspects affecting the cost of electricity. If not, I am afraid that the study about the use of fan or air conditioner is just a coincidence. And as a result, the conclusion can’t stand.