美国国家公共电台 NPR Renewable Energy Sector Remains Optimistic Amid Trump Policy Outlook

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

Several of President-elect Donald Trump¹'s Cabinet nominees² have strong ties to oil and gas. Trump has also been clear about his support for coal. You might think that would mean renewable energy companies are feeling a bit anxious about the incoming administration. But Lauren Sommer from member station KQED reports that is not necessarily the case.

LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE³: Here's what President-elect Trump has said so far about renewables.

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DONALD TRUMP: I know a lot about solar. I love solar.

SOMMER: That was a campaign rally in California over the summer.

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TRUMP: Except there's a problem with it - got a lot of problems with it. One problem is it's so expensive.

SOMMER: That's probably enough to make most solar company executives break out in a sweat, but not Michael Wheeler at Recurrent Energy.

MICHAEL WHEELER: We're feeling as though we're going to be OK.

SOMMER: Wheeler looks genuinely calm as he says this in his San Francisco office, which has big photos of the solar farms his company builds. And the reason why? He says Trump is wrong.

WHEELER: Anybody that thinks that solar is expensive at the utility scale right now hasn't seen the latest. Solar's price, because it's a technology, will continue to go lower and lower.

SOMMER: Power from big solar projects is about 70 percent cheaper today than it was a decade ago. Wind power has also come down. That has electric utilities choosing renewables on cost alone, even in red states like Texas and Georgia.

WHEELER: Clean energy is not a niche⁴ product anymore.

SOMMER: Not to mention the Trump administration might open public lands up for development. Environmentalists don't like that, but it could make it easier for solar and wind companies to build projects. But there are a few things that Wheeler and other renewable companies are worried about. For one, they rely on long-standing tax credits.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Senate will be in order.

SOMMER: They were extended in Congress last December, but Trump has complained about those subsidies⁵. Wheeler says canceling them could hurt demand for solar and wind but wouldn't kill it. The other big issue? Obama's climate change policy, known as the Clean Power Plan, which would require states to move away from coal power. Wheeler says that would have quadrupled the market for renewables, but Trump has vowed⁶ to toss it out.

WHEELER: To have that be messaged as being dead was - was pretty heart-wrenching.

SOMMER: Still, the federal government isn't the only place policy gets made. Dan Kammen, an energy professor at UC Berkeley, says sometimes a hostile White House can energize⁷ regional efforts.

DAN KAMMEN: I think there's no question states are going to be critical. Just like under President George Bush, we saw tremendous action at the state level.

SOMMER: California is all-in on renewables. State law requires 50 percent renewable energy by 2030, and 28 other states also have goals, most of which are likely to stick around, even if the Clean Power Plan goes away. Kammen says that means the renewable energy market has momentum⁸. It's only a question of how much.

KAMMEN: An administration can dramatically put its finger on the scale and accelerate that, or they can hold it back.

SOMMER: In the meantime, demand for renewables is growing worldwide. Kammen was recently in Dubai, where solar farms are being planned at record-low costs, a sign to him that renewables are here to stay, no matter what the next administration does. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Sommer in San Francisco.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

5 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

7 energize   

vt.给予(某人或某物)精力、能量

参考例句：

• It is used to energize the city.它的作用是为城市供给能量。
• This is a great way to energize yourself and give yourself more power!这种方法非常棒，可以激活你的能量，让你有更多的活力！

8 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。