每日英語跟讀 Ep.K449: Passage of Climate Bill Sparks a Surge in Clean Energy Projects

In the weeks since President Joe Biden signed a comprehensive climate bill devised to spur investment in electric cars and clean energy, corporations have announced a series of big-ticket projects to produce the kind of technology the legislation aims to promote.

自從美國總統拜登簽署一項全面性氣候法案，擬定刺激電動車和潔淨能源投資，數周以來企業已宣布一系列大規模計畫，大量研發法案設定要推廣的科技。

Toyota said it would invest an additional $2.5 billion in a factory in North Carolina to produce batteries for electric cars and hybrids. Honda and LG Energy Solution announced a joint venture to build a $4.4 billion battery factory at a location to be named.

豐田說，將在北卡羅來納州一間製造電動車和油電車電池的工廠，追加投資25億美元。本田和愛爾集新能源宣布一項合資案，以44億美元建造電池工廠，地點之後公布。

Piedmont Lithium, a mining company, said it would build a plant in Tennessee to process lithium for batteries, helping to ease America’s dependence on Chinese refineries — a key aim of the Biden administration. First Solar, a big solar panel manufacturer, said it would invest up to $1.2 billion to build its fourth factory in the United States, probably somewhere in the Southeast, largely because of renewable energy incentives in the climate bill.

礦業公司Piedmont Lithium說，將在田納西州建造工廠，加工用於電池的鋰，協助減少美國對中國精煉廠的依賴，這是拜登政府的一項主要目標。大型太陽能板製造商第一太陽能說，將投資高達12億美元，在美國建造第四座工廠，可能將在東南部，主因是氣候法案中的再生能源獎勵措施。

But those projects also illustrate how much work remains to be done. Factories take time to build, and until then electric vehicles are likely to remain scarce and expensive. Toyota’s factory in North Carolina and Honda’s venture with LG will not produce batteries until 2025.

但那些計畫也闡明了有多少工作等待完成。工廠要花時間建造，直到完工前，電動車可能仍然稀少且昂貴。豐田的北卡工廠和本田與愛爾集新能源的合資案，直到2025年才會開始製造電池。

Some of the projects were in the works before the federal legislation passed, and before California added an extra push by banning sales of new gasoline cars by 2035. The big climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, is the latest in a series of policy moves and geopolitical developments that have pushed automakers and suppliers to invest in the United States. The trade war with China, disruption of supply chains by the pandemic, changes in free-trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, and the bipartisan infrastructure law last year have all had a powerful impact on where companies decide to build factories.

這些計畫中的一些，早在聯邦法案通過前就已經開始作業了，並且也在加州追加「2035年之前禁止銷售新汽油車」的法令之前。這項巨大的氣候法案「降低通膨法」是一系列政治動作和地緣政治發展的最新舉措，催促汽車製造商和供應商在美國投資。和中國的貿易戰，疫情造成的供應鏈中斷，與加拿大及墨西哥的自由貿易協定更動，以及去年兩黨通過的基礎建設法案，全都對企業決定建造工廠有著強大影響。

At a time of economic uncertainty, the legislation gives companies more confidence that they can earn a return on their bets. The investments serve as affirmation of political leaders’ intent: to further accelerate America’s transition away from fossil fuels and to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers, especially those in China.

在經濟不確定的時期，這項立法讓企業更有信心，認為他們的賭注能有回報。這些投資對於政治領袖的意圖如同一種肯定，更進一步加速美國從化石燃料轉型，並且減少對於外國供應商的依賴，特別是中國。

Investment in renewable energy will total $1.2 trillion by 2035, analysts at Wood Mackenzie estimate, substantially more than would have been the case without the legislation.

伍德麥肯茲公司分析師估計，2035年之前投資再生能源總額將達到1.2兆美元，比沒有這項立法的情況下多很多。Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/6636221