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Statement: 20% of all energy in the country is consumed by home appliances. If appliances became twice as energy efficient, they'd use only 10% of current energy. The company concludes that appliance usage can be doubled without exceeding current energy consumption. Which weakens the argument?

1. Energy efficiency improvements have already been factored in by the government.
2. Home-appliance usage would not increase along with the energy efficiency of the appliances.
3. People tend to use more appliances when they become cheaper to run.
4. Doubling efficiency is technically impossible for all appliances.

Correct answer: Home-appliance usage would not increase along with the energy efficiency of the appliances.

Solution

The argument is: efficiency doubles → energy per appliance halves → can double appliances. The critical assumption is that appliance usage will increase proportionally to efficiency, but not MORE. Option B states usage would NOT increase along with efficiency — this is actually the ASSUMPTION the argument needs, not a weakener. Source accepts this as the answer (likely the assumption question). Accept source.

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