中國(guó)找到了驅(qū)散霧霾的新辦法

中國(guó)找到了驅(qū)散霧霾的新辦法

Lost in all the coverage of China's air pollution crisis is that the country continues to build more coal-fired power plants -- with 363 new ones under construction at last count. You can't blame the Chinese; they need all the energy they can get. They've been building out wind and solar power as fast as they can, but those sources still account for less than 1% of China's power needs. The country has an ambitious nuclear program, but even that won't solve the problem. If China keeps on its current course, by 2030 roughly two-thirds of its power will still come from fossil fuels, mainly coal.

盡管對(duì)中國(guó)空氣污染危機(jī)的報(bào)道連篇累牘，但不為人注意的是，中國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)同時(shí)還在建設(shè)更多的煤電廠——最新統(tǒng)計(jì)顯示，目前在建的煤電廠多達(dá)363家。不能因此就指責(zé)中國(guó)，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)國(guó)家需要竭盡所能獲取能源。中國(guó)一直在以最快的速度建設(shè)風(fēng)力發(fā)電站和太陽(yáng)能發(fā)電站，但這些電站所提供的電力不足國(guó)內(nèi)能源需求的1%。中國(guó)還有建設(shè)核電站的宏偉規(guī)劃，但這仍然無(wú)法解決問(wèn)題。如果按照現(xiàn)在的路線前進(jìn)，到2030年，中國(guó)能源約三分之二仍將來(lái)自以煤炭為主的化石燃料。

This abundant fuel contributes heavily to both air pollution and climate change. Only one way exists to mitigate the negative impact of coal on global warming -- a technology called CCUS for carbon capture useable storage. This process involves capturing the carbon and other pollutants at the source and piping them underground where they will be stored permanently. The "useable" part means injecting CO2 into oil wells where it will help recover reserves otherwise difficult to extract. These systems can also be designed with technology to clean up sulfur, soot, and other forms of air pollution.

儲(chǔ)量豐富的煤炭是空氣污染和氣候變化的主因。減輕煤炭對(duì)全球變暖進(jìn)程的負(fù)面影響只有一種方法，就是所謂的CCUS——碳捕捉可用儲(chǔ)存技術(shù)(carbon capture useable storage)。這種技術(shù)能在源頭捕捉碳及其他污染物，把它們回輸?shù)降叵掠谰脙?chǔ)存。所謂“可用”的意思是，將二氧化碳注入油井，以便重新開(kāi)采那些用別的辦法難以提取的儲(chǔ)量。這套系統(tǒng)還能被設(shè)計(jì)用于清除硫磺、炭黑及其他空氣污染物。

We already know how to store carbon -- oil companies have been using the technology for years to suck the last few barrels out of nearly tapped fields. What's not known is which technology will work best -- and most economically -- to capture the CO2 as it's being generated by the coal plant.

我們?cè)缫阎廊绾蝺?chǔ)存碳——多年來(lái)石油公司一直在用這項(xiàng)技術(shù)在幾乎開(kāi)采殆盡的油田中開(kāi)采最后幾桶油。但大家不知道，哪種技術(shù)在捕捉煤電站排放的二氧化碳時(shí)最有效、最經(jīng)濟(jì)。

So the question becomes, Who is going to spend the billions needed to build and test the technology on a large scale? At a conference at The Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., last week, a panel of energy experts argued that after years of slow progress and false starts, carbon capture technology is finally gaining traction in some parts of the world.

因此，現(xiàn)在的問(wèn)題是：誰(shuí)會(huì)花幾十億美元來(lái)大規(guī)模研發(fā)、測(cè)試這項(xiàng)技術(shù)?一群能源專家在上周于華盛頓特區(qū)威爾森中心(The Wilson Center)舉行的會(huì)議上稱，多年進(jìn)展緩慢、不斷遭遇失敗之后，碳捕捉技術(shù)終于在世界上某些地方開(kāi)始取得進(jìn)展。

Julio Friedmann, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Clean Coal, Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy, says worldwide some $4.5 billion is being invested in CCUS with the U.S. DOE spending $400 million on R&D for the technology. China especially is now stepping up to the plate. Friedmann says the country wants to employ CCUS technology because its leaders, many of whom are engineers and are aware of the science of climate change, now recognize its importance. "The debate over whether to do CCUS is done," he says. "The debate now is about costs and timing."

美國(guó)能源部(he Department of Energy)化石能源辦公室清潔燃煤助理副部長(zhǎng)胡里奧•弗里德曼表示，全球在開(kāi)發(fā)CCUS技術(shù)上共投入45億美元，其中美國(guó)能源部就投入了4億美元的研發(fā)費(fèi)用。中國(guó)現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始加快了行動(dòng)。弗里德曼稱，中國(guó)之所以想采用CCUS，主要是因?yàn)橹袊?guó)現(xiàn)任領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人很多都是工程師出身，對(duì)氣候變化相關(guān)科學(xué)十分關(guān)注，現(xiàn)在也開(kāi)始意識(shí)到這項(xiàng)技術(shù)的重要性。他說(shuō)：“關(guān)于是否要采納CCUS的爭(zhēng)論已告一段落，現(xiàn)在爭(zhēng)議的焦點(diǎn)是成本問(wèn)題和推行的時(shí)機(jī)。”

According to the global CCS Institute, China has one of the biggest carbon capture pilot programs in the world. (The U.S. is another big player.) As of February 2014, the Institute recorded 12 large-scale projects in China, double the number of projects in 2011.

據(jù)全球碳捕捉和儲(chǔ)存研究院(CCS Institute)稱，中國(guó)擁有全球規(guī)模最大的碳捕捉項(xiàng)目(美國(guó)是這個(gè)領(lǐng)域的另外一個(gè)大國(guó))。這個(gè)研究院發(fā)現(xiàn)，截至2014年2月，中國(guó)已有12個(gè)此類大型項(xiàng)目，數(shù)量比2011年翻了一番。

China's giant state-owned power-generation, coal, and oil companies are taking the lead on these projects, and many also involve major international partners. "If CCUS is to succeed, the U.S. and China must share more technical information on clean-coal technology," says Ming Sung, the Clean Air Task Force's Chief Representative for the Asia Pacific. Ming has been at the forefront of efforts to accelerate cleaner coal efforts by helping to forge partnerships between leading energy firms from China and the West. "The U.S.," he says, "is more innovative and has better management systems, but China can do things cheaper and quicker."

在這些項(xiàng)目中，中國(guó)國(guó)有巨型發(fā)電、燃煤和石油公司占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位，其中很多還與國(guó)際巨頭開(kāi)展了合作。亞太區(qū)清潔空氣任務(wù)組織(Clean Air Task Force)首席代表宋明(音譯)稱：“CCUS要取得成功，美國(guó)和中國(guó)必須在清潔燃煤技術(shù)上共享更多技術(shù)信息。”宋明在促成中國(guó)和西方能源巨頭實(shí)現(xiàn)合作、加快發(fā)展更清潔燃煤的進(jìn)程中始終奮戰(zhàn)在一線。他說(shuō)：“美國(guó)更有創(chuàng)新能力，管理體系也更完善，而中國(guó)則在低成本快速運(yùn)作上有一定優(yōu)勢(shì)。”

Let's hope he's right, because the climate clock is ticking.

希望事實(shí)和他說(shuō)的一樣，因?yàn)闅夂蜃兓木娨恢痹诘未鹱黜憽?/p>