Having demonstrated that the power conversion efficiency of new perovskite photovoltaic cells is nearly indistinguishable from that of cells recycled multiple times, Xun Xiao and colleagues evaluated the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE)—a measure of cost per produced electricity unit that incorporates materials acquisition costs as well as operating costs—for power plants utilizing each type of cell. With a modeled 15-year cell lifetime, the LCOE of plants using new cells was 4.99 cents per kilowatt hour, whereas that of plants using cells recycled three times was 4.05 cents per kilowatt hour. Moreover, the LCOE differential rose from 18.8% to 31.3% when the modeled cell lifetime was reduced by two-thirds.
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Verbal·Information and Ideas·Inferences
hardBased on the text, which choice, if true, best accounts for the observation presented in the underlined sentence?
A
Although less expensive than producing new cells, recycling cells does incur costs, and thus reducing cell lifetimes entails greater cumulative costs.
B
Securing new cell materials is more expensive than recycling cell materials, and thus more frequent cell replacement entails greater disparity in cumulative costs.
C
Cells can be recycled multiple times without a significant decrease in power conversion efficiency, and thus recycling cells more frequently does not change the LCOE for plants using recycled cells.
D
As the modeled cell lifetime decreases, plant operating costs increase, and thus the LCOE for plants using new cells diverges from that of plants using recycled cells.