Rhetorical Analysis of Utility-scale Renewable Energy Development in the US Face Obstacles
in 2014
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Utility-scale Renewable Energy Development in the US Face Obstacles in 2014 The article was written by Jennifer Runyon and published by RenewableEnergyWorld website in December 23, 2013. In this article the writer presents the obstacles that renewable energy will face in 2014 presented by Adam Umanoff partner at Akin Gump. She explains the problems that utility-scale renewable energy development in the U.S. will face and the solutions to those problems. This rhetorical analysis will cover her intended audience for the article, the rhetorical appeals logos, ethos, and pathos found in the article, structure and tone of the article, and the writers bias. Audience This paragraph will cover the writers intended audience, how is identify in the article, what is the tone of the article, and why she uses this tone in the article for the audience. The writer intended audience is anyone that is interested in renewable energy development. This includes workers, architects, engineers of renewable energy projects, and the readers of renewablenergyworld.com. The audience is identified by the title of the article and the electric technical terms used in the article. Ruynon uses electric technical terms like mBTU (million British thermal units), kWh (kilowatt-hour), RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard), and others through the article that if the reader is not familiar with these terms may not understand it. The tone in the text is made informative the writer uses proper grammar and introductions of the article. The article is made informative because she does not clearly express her opinion of the presentation or obstacles given by the expert at Akin Gump. However, some words express her opinion of the expert for example, While none of these reasons are new or even particularly insightful (Umanoff himself calls them obvious), the bottom line is that it will be a different Rhetorical Analysis Vega 3
playing field for renewables going forward (Ruynon, 2013). She uses this tone to achieve her purpose of informing her audience without expressing her personal opinion. Purpose The writer's purpose was to inform the audience about obstacles that renewable energy development is going to face in 2014 and to promote the investment in renewable energy development. Ruynon clearly demonstrates the purpose to her audiences in the article for example, On the next few pages, youll find three obstacles that stand in the way of utility-scale renewable energy growth in the U.S. and the solutions and/or mitigations to those problems (Ruynon, 2013). She promotes the investment of renewable energy in her comments of investment tax credit. Like this one The investment tax credit (ITC), which awards developers a 30 percent tax credit for investment in solar project costs, is available for solar projects that come online by 2016 (Ruynon, 2013). The writer clearly is promoting the investment of renewable energy by explaining the benefits for the investors. Rhetorical Situations Pathos Ruynon uses pathos to create curiosity, awareness, recognition, and fear of loss. The writer creates curiosity in the audience in the title Utility-scale Renewable Energy Development in the U.S. Face Obstacles in 2014 (Ruynon, 2013). She uses curiosity to attract the audience to read the article. The writer creates awareness by using quotes like this one Some think it is the beginning of the end here for renewable energy in the United States, (Ruynon, 2013). The writer produces recognition of the benefits of investments. For a good example, the production tax credit (PTC) for wind, which gives developers a $0.023 tax credit for each kWh of wind Rhetorical Analysis Vega 4
generation, will continue to support wind projects in the U.S. for the next two years. (Ruynon, 2013). The words used in this quote like the beginning of the end create fear of loss of the audience. Ruynon is emotionally evocative is various occasions but she is not direct. However, some words evoke doubt in the expert like While none of these reasons are new or even particularly insightful, the bottom line is that it will be a different playing field for renewables going forward (Ruynon, 2013). The writer uses this pathos to accomplish her purpose in informing the audience on renewable energy obstacles, being effective in attracting her audience to read her article. Ethos Ruynon builds credibility in the article by her background information, how the article was arranged, the use of many quotes from the expert Adam Umanoff, and her using proper grammar. For example, We also are facing the retirement of a significant amount of generation here in the U.S. (Ruynon, 2013) The article was written by Jennifer Runyon a chief editor of RenewableEnergyWorld.com and it has background information of the author's accomplishment and awards to create that trust between the writer and the audience. The fact that she won an "Eddy Award" for her editing work gives her more credibility. Under her direction RenewableEnergyWorld.com was awarded an American Business Media Neal Award for its eNewsletters. The writer arranged her article by writing the problems and obstacles like: low load growth, cheap natural gas, and distributed generation solar that renewable energy will face in 2014. The solutions of the problems like: the grand recession is over, cost-competitive renewable energy, policy support, and retiring generation. The writer uses many quotations from the expert in her article to support her ideas. She gives examples after every statement to give Rhetorical Analysis Vega 5
more strength to her sentence for example, noting the San Onofre plant in California that was permanently retired in 2013 (Ruynon, 2013). Doing this the writer creates more logic in to her article and gives her more credibility. She cites credible sources from Adam Umanoff partner at Akin Gump presentation to give her article more ethos and logic. Logos Jennifer Ruynon gives logic to her article with quotations from experts, explaining the comments by the expert in more simple words, and the structure used by the writer. The writer uses a lot of quotations to build the logic in an argument like the one that explains that distributed generation of electricity for residential consumers that are trying to install solar panel at their home or commercial consumers trying to create a good deal for their business are competing against retail electricity prices. She explains quotes to her audience to create more logic in her article. For example, That means that were using less energy as a nation (some may call this a good thing) but it also means that the outlook for new generation plants being built is slim to none (Ruynon, 2013). She uses these quotations through the whole article to keep the logic of the article and to build her ethos with the audience. The writer arranged her article by writing the problems and obstacles that renewable energy will face in 2014 and the solutions of the problems through the article. Ruynon develop her ideas by stating them and using quotes of the expert to give support of her idea like Even though renewable energy generation costs have come down significantly, according to Umanoff, the fact of the matter is that natural gas, due to the advent of hydraulic fracturing, is historically cheap (Ruynon, 2013). She uses this structure to keep the logic flow in the article, keep the audience attention in the article and improve the comprehension of the article. Rhetorical Analysis Vega 6
Writers Bias The writers bias is clear in this article. She is in favor renewable energy development. It can be identify by her comments thought the article like As a renewable energy journalist based in the U.S. this was a very provocative statement indeed (Ruynon, 2013). Jennifer Runyon just said that she is concerned with renewable energy development. The writer promotes the investments in renewable energy and she gives good reasons to do so. For example, The U.S. still enjoys (although there is a looming end-date) good tax credit support for renewable energy (Ruynon, 2013). Later in the article she briefly explains how the investors will benefit from the investments because of the investment tax credit (ITC). Conclusion This article is effective because of the use of quotes by the expert, good structure for better understanding by the audience and the use of rhetorical appeals to build her article. The writer accomplish her purpose of inform her audience and giving them a good understanding by the use of quotes to support her ideas and giving a simple explanation. The article has a good structure using the problem and solution format for a good reading flow of the article. She uses quotes to create logic in the article. She uses pathos to accomplish her purpose in creating awareness in the audience. Her accomplishments accessible to the public establish the trust between the audience and the writer. But the use of technical terms to narrow the audience shortens in informing the less educated individuals. She should add more graphs and statistics to the article to build more logic to what the expert is trying to inform. Post her email and phone number where more experts or the audience can contact her in case they have any questions or more information in the situation to create more credibility. Rhetorical Analysis Vega 7
References Runyon, J. (2013, December 23). Utility-scale renewable energy development in the US faces obstacles in 2014. Retrieved from http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/12/utility-scale-renewable- energy-development-in-the-u-s-faces-obstacles-in-2014?page=all