Question 54·Hard·Inferences
In an editorial, the author claims that granting homeowners generous tax credits for installing rooftop solar panels will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions only if the policy is accompanied by regulations that discourage the purchase of fossil-fuel-intensive appliances. Otherwise, the author argues, homeowners will use their utility-bill savings to buy additional energy-hungry devices, effectively canceling out any environmental benefit. The author's reasoning depends on the assumption that consumers ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For assumption-style completion questions, identify the author’s conclusion and the key causal link supporting it. Then ask: what must be true for that link to work (especially about predicted behavior in the scenario the author warns about), and choose the option that states that required condition—not one that is merely related or that would weaken the argument.
Hints
Focus on the word "assumption"
You’re looking for something that must be true for the author’s reasoning to work, not just something that could be true.
Use the "only if" structure
The author says emissions will drop only if regulations also discourage fossil-fuel-intensive appliances. Think about what the author predicts happens without those regulations.
Track the utility-bill savings
The key link is what homeowners do with money saved on electricity. What must be true about how they spend those savings for the author’s “cancels out” claim to make sense?
Step-by-step Explanation
Restate the author's claim and reasoning
The author claims that tax credits for rooftop solar will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions only if there are also regulations discouraging fossil-fuel-intensive appliances. The reason given is that without such regulations, homeowners will use their utility-bill savings to buy additional energy-hungry devices, canceling out the environmental benefit.
Identify the missing assumption
For the “cancels out” prediction to follow, the author must be assuming that lower electricity bills change consumer behavior in a specific way: homeowners will re-spend some of their savings on things that increase total energy use.
Eliminate choices that contradict or don’t support the rebound effect
Any choice saying homeowners’ energy use will stay about the same, that savings will go to non-energy purchases, or that solar will make people more conservative with energy would undermine (not support) the author’s claim that savings lead to added energy-hungry devices.
Select the choice that states the needed assumption
The needed assumption is that consumers "will direct at least some of the money saved on electricity toward purchases that raise their overall energy consumption."