UPSC Prelims 2025 · CSAT (Paper 2) · Q34
Medium · Passage: assumption validity
Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
If there is inequality in the pattern of economic development, there is greater inequality in energy production and consumption. As economies industrialise, their consumption of electricity increases. This means that a greater proportion of primary energy that could power homes directly is instead lost as heat during long-distance transmission and distribution to industrial clusters. Yet this conversion of primary fuel into usable electricity for distant industrial consumers is far from efficient. Only about 65% of the electricity generated is actually delivered to end users after transmission and distribution losses. This loss rate rises further in regions with ageing grid infrastructure that serves large industrial loads.
With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
1. Energy generation and transmission utilities in every country should align their infrastructure investment with changing industrial needs.
2. Industrialising economies tend to incur a greater loss of primary energy due to long-distance transmission to serve their industrial loads.
Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?