argument159——欢迎各种拍砖

yuling-10GUID: 2849632

TOPIC: ARGUMENT159 - The 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.
WORDS: 390


In this argument, the author claims that in order to save money on electricity, the citizens living in Claria should use both fans and air conditioners for cooling, which is based on a recent study of home electric costs. For the argument contains several logical flaws, I am not convinced that the author's claim is accurate.

First and foremost, how was the study conduct or how long did the study last is not mentioned in the argument. Perhaps the houses in the study is not representative of the overall houses in Claria; thus the study is unfounded. Moreover, it is entirely possible that the study was conducted during a short period of time, and thereby the usage of electricity for cooling cannot typify the whole year's costs. Or maybe the weather during which the study was conducted was aberration. For the author fails to provide any evidence about this, the study cannot be taken seriously.

Second, author problem with this study is that because of the vast physical area of the Claria, where the study was conducted is also a key point to this study. As we are informed the wide geographic differences in Claria, the climate may vary in this nation; therefor, the money spending on cooling may be different. And the most economic methods for cooling are various in different places. For example, some areas may be warm but not hot perennial, and only using fans rather than conditioners or both of them for cooling is enough in these regions. If this is the case, it further weaken the study.

Finally, even if the study was well conducted, the study's recommendation is still unreasonable. The residents of the Claria only care how much money they spend on cooling system. So if the extra costs of the fans and air conditioners cannot compensate for the money saving on electricity, the recommendation may not work as it is expected. Without ruling out this possibility, the author cannot convincingly recommend to use both the fans and air conditioners for cooling.

In sum, the argument is unpersuasive. In order to strengthen it, the author should provide clearer information that how and how long was the study conducted in Claria. To better evaluate the argument, the author should provide more evidence that using the fans and air conditioners is the most economic way for cooling.`