美国国家公共电台 NPR--How can fossil fuel producers balance demand with an urgent need for change?

How can fossil fuel producers balance demand with an urgent need for change?

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martinez speaks with Samantha Gross of the Brookings Institution about the future of America's oil and gas industry, and its role in a carbon-free economy.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Oil and gas account for more than two-thirds of total U.S. energy production. The burning of those fossil fuels is a major contributor to climate change, so the Biden administration is targeting a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions² by 2030. But abandoning those reliable energy sources is easier said than done. In this fourth installment³ of our series on America's energy transition, we'll hear about how the future may look for U.S. oil and gas industries. Samantha Gross is the director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution and says the industry has to adapt to a new reality.

SAMANTHA GROSS: The U.S. oil and gas companies understand that a low-carbon future is the direction that we're going. However, we also have the issue that we have to feed the energy system that we have today. So those oil and gas companies are in a bit of a pickle⁴. There's still demand for their product today, although they know the world is changing. And so that makes for a really challenging business environment for them.

MART?NEZ: All right, so President Biden targets net-zero emissions for 2050 - the year 2050. How likely is this goal, as far as it being achieved, given the current reliance on carbon-emitting technologies all across various sectors⁶?

GROSS: It's a difficult goal, certainly, but I don't think it's impossible. What we need to do right now is we need to focus on implementation⁸ for the technologies that we have - things like replacing coal and natural gas in the electricity sector⁵, replacing light vehicle gasoline with electric vehicles. And then what we need to do in addition is research and development on some of the more difficult technologies that we don't have yet - things like industrial decarbonization or aviation, for instance. And so we have to walk and chew gum at the same time - implement⁷ the things we know how to do and continue research and development and pilot projects on things that we're still figuring out.

MART?NEZ: You wrote a piece for Brookings titled "Why Are Fossil Fuels So Hard To Quit?" So I'm going to ask you that very question, Samantha. Why are fossil fuels so hard to quit?

GROSS: Fossil fuels are hard to quit because they're incredibly useful. We started using them, and they really just opened up new avenues to mankind, gave us so much more energy to power our economy than we'd ever had before. And now we're trying to move away from them because we understand the environmental climate impacts that they have. But they're deeply embedded⁹ into our economy. Everything we do every day is based on fossil fuels. So the world has never tried to move away from something so embedded in its economy so quickly. But now that we understand the danger that fossil fuels pose, that's what we need to do.

MART?NEZ: Is it a zero-sum game? In other words, for us to have a cleaner future, the fossil fuel industry has to lose in order for that to happen.

GROSS: I don't think it's necessarily a zero-sum game, and I think you can look to Europe for some examples of that. You see some of the big European oil and gas companies shifting to being energy companies and focusing on some of the things that they do well that correspond to a fossil fuel-free world - for instance, oil and gas companies focusing on offshore¹⁰ wind because they're good at operating in the offshore. The question is how quickly those companies adapt. If they don't, they may not make it. But other companies may come in and take their place. And so I hope it's not a zero-sum game, but it may not work out for individual companies who can't find a way to make the transition.

MART?NEZ: You mentioned to look to Europe as possibly a model for this transition to be successful. Is America the problem here? And not necessarily just our politics, but how we kind of go about things, our - the way that we do things when it comes to trying to transition away from fossil fuels.

GROSS: You know, the politics in the United States are challenging because they've gotten wrapped up in our current polarization. And climate change has become yet another issue that we can't seem to agree on. However, I think the United States sometimes gets a bad rap. We do things quite differently than Europe does, but we have some real advantages in this transition. And a couple of them are our incredibly good research system - our universities, our national labs - and also our financing system, with things like venture capital and other forms of financing. Once we put our mind to this, we'll be really good at it. And I think the Inflation Reduction Act is a really good step in helping¹¹ to put the things that the U.S. is good at to work.

MART?NEZ: You know, I live in California, Samantha, and it wasn't that long ago when the state asked people not to charge their electric vehicles because the grid¹² needed the break. So when we hear that kind of thing, I think a lot of people are thinking, well, wait a second. I mean, how ready are we to transition away from fossil fuels when the alternative isn't ready to handle this entire transition?

GROSS: An important part of the transition will be some combination of storage of that intermittent¹³ power so that we can have power available when it's not windy or sunny and also forms of baseload power that can produce all the time, regardless of the weather conditions. That could be, in some cases, nuclear, if we can get a bit better at that and bring the costs down. It could also be things like geothermal. And so the real breakthroughs that we're looking for to have a renewable-based energy system are particularly storage - cheaper storage and longer-time storage. Right now, it's pretty easy to store electricity during the day so that you can use it during the evening. But storing enough electricity to get you through a cloudy or a less windy week is a lot more difficult right now. That's really a breakthrough that will make a huge difference in our ability to rely on a renewable electricity system.

MART?NEZ: You mentioned the word breakthrough, Samantha. Is that what this needs - one big technological¹⁴ breakthrough to really, really think that a future without carbon emitting fossil fuel is realistic?

GROSS: We need a few technological breakthroughs. But I have to point out that we can get a good bit of the way there with technology we have now. Transportation and electricity, respectively, are our first- and second-biggest sectors. And we have technologies that can get us a lot of the way there in both of those sectors. But we still need breakthroughs in electricity storage, in hydrogen production to be used both as an energy storage mechanism¹⁵ and also for areas that are difficult to decarbonize using electricity. So it's not just one breakthrough. We need a few. But I want to emphasize that we have the technology to get a good bit of the way there now. And some of it, like wind and solar electricity, is even cheap.

MART?NEZ: Samantha Gross is a fellow and director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Samantha, thanks.

GROSS: My pleasure.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUFF DADDY'S "SOPHIE'S SYMPHONY")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

3 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

4 pickle   

n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡

参考例句：

• Mother used to pickle onions.妈妈过去常腌制洋葱。
• Meat can be preserved in pickle.肉可以保存在卤水里。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

8 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

9 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

10 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

13 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

14 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

15 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。