TED演讲:恐惧核能是怎样伤害环境的(3)

 Let's take a closer look in the United States. 让我们来看看美国。

Over the last couple of years -- really 2013, 2014 -- we prematurely¹ retired² four nuclear power plants. 在过去的几年里，尤其是2013、14年，我们过早报废了四个核电站。

They were almost entirely³ replaced with fossil fuels,  它们的发电量几乎全部被化石燃料发电取代了，

and so the consequence was that we wiped out almost as much clean energy electricity that we get from solar.  所以结果就是我们放弃了几乎和太阳能发电量相当的清洁能源。

And it's not unique to us. People think of California as a clean energy and climate leader,  而且我们在这件事上并不唯一。人们认为加州是使用清洁能源和保护环境的先锋州，

but when we looked at the data, what we found is that, in fact,  但是当我们查看数据，我们发现，事实上，

California reduced emissions⁴ more slowly than the national average, between 2000 and 2015. 在2000到2015年间，加州的减排速度是低于全国速度的。

What about Germany? They're doing a lot of clean energy.  德国的情况又怎样呢？德国人在使用很多清洁能源。

But when you look at the data, German emissions have actually been going up since 2009,  但是当你查看数据时，会发现德国的排放量自09年开始就持续升高，

and there's really not anybody who's going to tell you that they're going to meet their climate commitments in 2020. 而且一定没有人会告诉你，他们计划在2020年实现他们的气候承诺。

The reason isn't hard to understand. Solar and wind provide power about 10 to 20 percent of the time,  原因并不难理解。现在太阳能和风能提供了大概10%到20%的电力，

which means that when the sun's not shining, the wind's not blowing,  这意味着当阴雨连绵，风平浪静的时候，

you still need power for your hospitals, your homes, your cities, your factories.  你依旧需要给医院、家庭、城市、工厂提供电力。

And while batteries have made some really cool improvements lately,  虽然近来电池领域有了些巨大发展，

the truth is, they're just never going to be as efficient as the electrical grid⁵.  但真相是，它们永远做不到输电网那样的高效率。

Every time you put electricity into a battery and take it out, you lose about 20 to 40 percent of the power. 每当你把电输入电池并使用它，你都会丢失20%到40%的电量。

1 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

2 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 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。

5 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。