每日英語跟讀 Ep.K179: To Cut Emissions to Zero, U.S. Needs to Make Big Changes in Next 10 Years

If the United States wants to get serious about tackling climate change, the country will need to build a staggering amount of new energy infrastructure in just the next 10 years, laying down steel and concrete at a pace barely being contemplated today.

美國若真想對付氣候變遷問題，單單接下來10年裡，就得構建極大量的新能源基礎設施，以現今幾乎難以想像的速度搭鋼筋、敷水泥。

That's one conclusion from a major study released last month by a team of energy experts at Princeton University, who set out several exhaustively detailed scenarios for how the country could slash its greenhouse gas emissions down to zero by 2050. That goal has been endorsed by President-elect Joe Biden, as well as numerous states and businesses, to help avoid the worst effects of global warming.

普林斯頓大學一群能源專家上月發表了大型研究報告，以上所述是報告的結論之一。他們針對美國如何在2050年之前將溫室氣體淨排放量減至零，提出了幾個極其詳細的可能情境。總統當選人拜登以及許多州和企業皆支持這項目標，欲以避免全球暖化的最糟結果。

The study's findings are at once optimistic and sobering. Reaching “net zero” by 2050 appears technically feasible and even affordable. Each approach carries different social and economic trade-offs.

這項研究的發現既樂觀又發人深省。在2050年之前達到「淨零排放」技術上看似可行，甚至負擔得起。每一種方法皆須付出不同的社會和經濟代價。

The researchers identified a common set of drastic changes that the United States would need to make over the next decade to stay on pace for zero emissions. That initial groundwork has to start pretty much immediately.

研究者標示出一系列具共通性的劇烈變革，美國必須在接下來的10年內做到，始足以達成零碳排的目標。初期基礎工作必須盡快展開。

Some examples:

以下是一些例子：

—This year, energy companies will install 42 gigawatts of new wind turbines and solar panels, smashing records. But that annual pace would need to nearly double over the next decade, and then keep soaring, transforming the landscapes in states like Florida or Missouri.

—今年（2020年），能源公司會裝設42百萬瓩的新風力渦輪機和太陽能板，打破紀錄。但是這個年度裝設步調在接下來的10年裡幾乎得翻倍，且須持續增加，改變像佛州、密蘇里州這些州的地景。

—The capacity of the nation's electric grid would have to expand roughly 60% by 2030 to handle vast amounts of wind and solar power, which would mean thousands of miles of new power lines crisscrossing the country.

—全國的電網容量在2030年之前必須擴充約60%，以處理數量極其龐大的風電及太陽能電力，這意味將有數千哩的新輸電線縱橫交錯於全境。

—Car dealerships would look radically different. Today, electric-vehicle models are just 2% of new sales. By 2030, at least 50% of new cars sold would need to be battery-powered, with that share rising thereafter.

—汽車銷售將大不同。現今，電動車款僅占新車銷售的2%。到2030年，賣出的新車至少50%需以電池供應動力，比率且須持續上升。

—Most homes today are heated by natural gas or oil. But in the next 10 years, nearly one-quarter would need to be warmed with efficient electric heat pumps, double today's numbers.

—現今多數家庭以天然氣或燃油供暖。而在接下來的10年，近四分之一將需以節能的電熱泵取暖，為今日數字的兩倍。

—Virtually all of the 200 remaining coal-burning power plants would have to shut down by 2030.

—到2030年時，現存的200座燃煤發電廠幾乎全須停止運轉。

“The scale of what we have to build in a very short time frame surprised me,” said Christopher Greig, a senior scientist at Princeton's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. “We can do this, we can afford this, but now it's time to roll up our sleeves and figure out how to get it done.”

「我們必須在非常短的時程內建造的規模令我驚訝。」普林斯頓大學安德林格能源與環境中心資深科學家克里斯多佛‧葛雷格說。「我們能做到，我們負擔得起，而現在是捲起袖子，搞懂如何做到的時候了。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5162022