Honda’s worldwide output increased to ______ in 2005.

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.