Honda’s worldwide output increased to ______ in 2005. [br] [originaltext]Honda

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.in 2005 set calendar year records for both worldwide and overseas production, due largely to increased output in North America and Asia.Honda’s overseas production increased 10.8% compared with 2004 to 2,147,997. It marked the ninth consecutive year that volumes exceeded the previous year. Worldwide output jumped 7.2% to 3,409,991, also the ninth straight year of gains. Production in Japan increased 1.6% in 2005 to 1,261,994, due largely to a rise in output for exports. Honda’s sales in Japan totaled 714, 030 units last year, a 3.9% decline from 2004, due to decreased demand for minivehicles, passenger cars and light trucks.

Prompted by the oil crises of the 1970s, a wind-power industry flourished briefly in the United States. But then world oil prices dropped, and funding for research into renewable energy was cut. By the mid-1980s US interest in wind energy as large-scale source of energy had almost disappeared.The development of wind power at this time suffered not only from badly designed equipment, but also from poor long-term planning, economic projections that were too optimistic and the difficulty of finding suitable locations for the wind turbines.