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TEDEd_HowMuchSpace_2020E-_为全球供电需要多少土地?_-
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No matter how we make electricity , it takes up space. |
无论我们如何发电,它都会占用空间。 |
Electricity from coal requires mines, and plants to burn it and convert the heat into electricity. |
煤炭发电需要矿山和燃煤工厂, 并将热量转化为电能; |
Nuclear power takes uranium mines, facilities to refine the uranium, a reactor, and a place to store the sp ent fue l safely. |
核电需要铀矿、提炼铀的设施、 反应堆和安全储存乏核燃料的地方; |
electricity:n.电力;电流;强烈的紧张情绪; convert:v.转换; n.改变宗教(或信仰、观点)的人; Nuclear power:na.核大国; uranium:n.[化学]铀; facilities:n.设施;设备;特别装置;特色;场所;(facility的复数) refine:v.精炼;改进;改善;提纯;
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Renewable energy needs wind turbines or solar panels . |
可再生能源需要风力涡轮机 或太阳能电池板; |
How much space depends on the power source . |
所需空间大小取决于能源。 |
Say you wanted to power a 10-watt light bulb with fossil fuels like coal. |
假设你想用煤等化石燃料 为一个 10 瓦灯泡供电, |
Fossil fuels can produce up to 2,000 watts per square meter, so it would only take a credit card-sized chunk of land to power the light bulb. |
化石燃料每平方米可产生 高达 2,000 瓦的电力, 所以,信用卡大小的土地 就可以为灯泡供电; |
Renewable:adj.可再生的;可更新的;可继续的;n.再生性能源; turbines:n.[动力]涡轮;[动力]涡轮机(turbine的复数);[动力]汽轮机; panels:n.面板(panel的复数); v.嵌镶(panel的第三人称单数形式); source:n.来源;水源;原始资料; light bulb:n.灯泡; fossil:n.化石;老人;老古董;adj.从地下发掘出来的;化石的;属于旧时代的;陈腐的; watts:n.瓦特(功率单位); chunk:n.大块;矮胖的人或物;
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With nuclear power, you might only need an area about the size of the palms of your hands. |
要是用核电的话, 可能只需手掌的大小区域即可。 |
With solar power, you’d need at least 0.3 square meters of land— twice the size of a cafeteria tray . |
若使用太阳能,则至少需要 0.3 平方米的土地—— 大小是自助餐厅托盘的两倍; |
Wind power would take roughly 7 square meters— about half the size of a parking space— to power the bulb. |
风力发电大约需要 7 平方米才能为灯泡供电—— 大约半个停车位的大小。 |
palms:n.手掌,手心;棕榈植物(palm的复数);v.把…藏于手中(palm的第三人称单数); tray:n.盘;托盘;碟;(各种用途的)浅塑料盒; roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地;
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When you consider the space needed to power cities, countries, and the whole world, it adds up fast. |
当考虑为城市、国家 和全球供电所需空间时, 数量增加很快。 |
Today, the world uses 3 trillion watts of electricity. |
当今世界使用的电力为 3 万亿瓦, |
To power the entire world with only fossil fuels, you’d need at least about 1,200 square kilometers of space— roughly the area of Grand Bahama island. |
用化石燃料为全球供电的话, 至少需要大约 1,200 平方公里的地方—— 大约是大巴哈马岛的面积; |
With nuclear energy , you’d need almost four times as much space at a minimum— roughly 4,000 square kilometers, a little less than the area of Delaware . |
若用核能供电, 至少需要几乎四倍的空间—— 即大约 4,000 平方公里, 比特拉华州的面积略小; |
trillion:n.[数]万亿;adj.万亿的;num.[数]万亿; nuclear energy:n.核能;原子能; Delaware:n.特拉华州(位于美国东部);
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With solar, you’d need at least 95,000 square kilometers, approximately the area of South Korea. |
使用太阳能,则至少 需要 95,000 平方公里, 大约与韩国面积相当; |
With wind power, you’d need two million— about the area of Mexico. |
风力发电则需两百万平方公里 ——大约是墨西哥的面积。 |
For each power source, there’s variability in how much power it can generate per square meter, but these numbers give us a general sense of the space needed. |
针对不同的能源, 其每平方米产生的电力不同, 但这些数字让我们对所需空间 有一个大致的了解。 |
approximately:adv.大约,近似地;近于; variability:n.可变性,变化性;[生物][数]变异性; generate:v.产生;引起;
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Of course, building energy infrastructure in a desert, a rainforest , a town, or even in the ocean are completely different prospects . |
当然,在沙漠、热带雨林、城镇、 甚至在海洋建设能源基础设施, 其前景也完全不同, |
And energy sources monopolize the space they occupy to very different extents . |
发电方式在不同程度上 决定了其占据空间的大小。 |
Take wind power. |
以风力发电为例, |
Wind turbines need to be spread out— sometimes half a kilometer apart— so that the turbulence from one turbine doesn’t reduce the efficiency of the others. |
风力涡轮机需要分散开 ——有时相距半公里—— 以免一台涡轮机的湍流 降低其它涡轮机的效率。 |
infrastructure:n.基础设施;公共建设;下部构造; rainforest:n.(热带)雨林; prospects:n.可能性; v.探矿; (prospect的第三人称单数和复数) sources:n.来源;出处;起源;根源;原因;v.(从…)获得(source的第三人称单数和复数) monopolize:v.垄断;得到…的专利权; occupy:v.占据,占领;居住;使忙碌; extents:n.范围,实际范围(extent复数);广度,盘区; turbulence:n.骚乱,动荡;[流]湍流;狂暴; efficiency:n.效率;效能;功效;
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So, much of the land needed to generate wind power is still available for other uses. |
这样风力发电 所需的大部分土地 仍可用于其他用途。 |
But the baseline amount of space still matters, because cities and other densely populated areas have high electricity demands, and space near them is often limited . |
但所需空间的基线量仍然很重要, 因为城市和其他人口 稠密地区电力需求很高, 而且其附近空间通常很有限。 |
Our current power infrastructure works best when electricity is generated where and when it’s needed, rather than being stored or sent across long distances. |
在电力需求地按需发电, 而非长距离存储或发送时, 目前的电力基础设施效果最好。 |
Still, space demands are only part of the equation . |
尽管如此,空间需求 只是等式的一部分。 |
baseline:n.基线;底线; densely:adv.浓密地;密集地; populated:v.生活于; limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式) generated:v.产生;引起;(generate的过去式和过去分词) equation:n.方程式,等式;相等;[化学]反应式;
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As of 2020, 2/3 of our electricity comes from fossil fuels. |
截至 2020 年,我们 2/3 的电力来自化石燃料, |
Every year, electricity generation is responsible for about 27% of the more than 50 billion tons of greenhouse gases we add to the atmosphere , accelerating climate change and all its harms. |
每年,我们向大气排放 500 多亿吨温室气体, 其中约 27% 是发电产生的, 加剧了气候变化及其危害。 |
So although fossil fuels require the least space of our existing technologies , we can’t continue to rely on them. |
因此,尽管化石燃料 对现有技术的需求最小, 但我们不能继续依赖它们。 |
Cost is another consideration . |
成本是另一个考虑因素。 |
Nuclear plants don’t emit greenhouse gases and don’t require much space, but they’re way more expensive to build than solar panels or wind turbines, and have waste to deal with. |
核电站不排放温室气体, 也不需要太多空间, 但其建造成本远高于 太阳能电池板或风力涡轮机, 并且还要处理核废料。 |
responsible:adj.负责的,可靠的;有责任的; greenhouse:n.温室;暖房; atmosphere:n.大气;气氛;气压;风格; accelerating:adj.促进的,[物]加速的;催化的; technologies:n.技术;科技(technology的复数); rely:vi.依靠;信赖; consideration:n.顾及;报酬;斟酌;仔细考虑; emit:v.发出,射出,散发(光、热、声音、气等);
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Renewables have almost no marginal costs— unlike with plants powered by fossil fuels, you don’t need to keep purchasing fuel to generate electricity. |
可再生能源几乎没有边际成本—— 和化石燃料发电厂不同, 无需持续购买燃料来发电, |
But you do need lots of wind and sunlight , which are more available in some places than others. |
但确实需要大量的风和阳光, 某些地方比其他地方 更易获得这些资源。 |
No single approach will be the best option to power the entire world while eliminating harmful greenhouse gas emissions . |
在消除有害温室气体排放的同时, 没有哪个单一发电方式 是为全球提供能源的最佳选择。 |
Renewables:n.可再生能源(renewable的复数); marginal:adj.边缘的;临界的;末端的; purchasing:n.购买;采购;v.买;购买;采购;(purchase的现在分词) sunlight:n.日光; approach:n.方法;路径;v.接近;建议;着手处理; option:n.选择;可选择的东西; eliminating:v.排除;清除;消除;淘汰;(eliminate的现在分词) greenhouse gas:n.温室气体(尤指二氧化碳); emissions:n.(光、热、气等的)发出,排放;排放物;散发物;(emission的复数)
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For some places, nuclear power might be the best option for replacing fossil fuels. |
在某些地方,核电可能是替代 化石燃料的最佳选择; |
Others, like the U.S., have the natural resources to get most or all of their electricity from renewables. |
其他国家,如美国, 拥有从可再生能源中获取大部分 或全部电力的自然资源。 |
And across the board , we should be working to make our power sources better: safer in the case of nuclear, and easier to store and transport in the case of renewables. |
全面而言,我们应该努力 使我们的能源更好: 让核电更安全、 让可再生能源更容易储存和运输。 |
resources:n.[计][环境]资源; v.向…提供资金(resource的第三人称单数); across the board:全面地,整体地; transport:n.运输;输送;运送;运输机;v.输送;传播;使产生身临其境的感觉;(旧时)流放;
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