一个时代的终结：工业革命发源地英国关闭最后一座煤电厂，我们可以从中学到什么
正文翻译
The last operating coal power plant in Britain closed this week, ending more than 140 years of coal-fired electricity and proving that major economies can wean themselves off the dirtiest fossil fuel.
英国最后一座运行中的煤电厂本周关闭，结束了其140多年的燃煤发电历史，这证明主要经济体是可以摆脱最肮脏的化石燃料的。
“It’s a massive movement,” said Dave Jones, an electricity analyst at Ember, a London-based think tank. “The fact that the first country in the world to have a coal power plant, to lean so heavily into coal starting the industrial revolution, is now out of coal is extremely symbolic.”
伦敦智库Ember的电力分析师戴夫-琼斯说：“这是一场大规模的运动。世界上第一个拥有煤炭发电厂的国家，在工业革命之初如此倚重煤炭，如今却已不再使用煤炭，这一事实极具象征意义。”
Long before global warming emerged as an issue, experts had proved that burning coal posed environmental and health threats. Coal plants pollute the air, cause acid rain and contaminate the soil and water with mercury. In Britain, the London Great Smog of 1952 probably killed as many as 12,000 people and prompted a government crackdown on the widespread use of coal for household heating.
早在全球变暖成为一个问题之前，专家们就已经证明，燃煤会对环境和健康造成威胁。煤炭工厂污染空气，造成酸雨，还有汞元素会污染土壤和水资源。在英国，1952年的伦敦烟雾事件可能导致了多达12000人的死亡，并促使政府对家庭取暖广泛使用煤炭的行为进行了打击和遏制。
In the 20th century, as trains, ships, stoves and other machines switched to oil and gas, coal retained its central role in running the turbines that power plants use to generate electricity. In recent decades, efforts to turn off coal-fired power plants have accelerated given their outsize contribution to global warming.
20世纪，虽然火车、轮船、炉灶和其他机器改用石油和天然气，但煤炭在发电厂的涡轮机运转中仍发挥着核心作用。近几十年来，鉴于燃煤发电厂对全球变暖的巨大贡献，各国加强了关闭燃煤发电厂的努力。
Although Britain still uses coal for steel manufacturing, which accounts for 2 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, experts say the country’s transition from coal-fueled electricity offers lessons to other countries seeking to phase it out.
尽管英国的钢铁制造业仍在使用煤炭，而煤炭排放占全国温室气体排放的2%，但专家们表示，英国从煤炭发电的过渡历程为其他寻求逐步淘汰煤炭的国家提供了借鉴。
Joel Jaeger, a climate and energy research at the World Resources Institute, said Britain’s transition from coal is “truly historic” and “proves that other countries can also achieve rapid speeds of coal reduction.”
世界资源研究所气候与能源研究员乔尔-耶格说，英国的煤炭转型“确实具有历史意义”，“证明其他国家也可以实现煤炭使用的快速削减”。
Few economically developed countries have completely phased out coal. Most that have, such as Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, have little need for coal because they generate plenty of power with an older generation of carbon-free technologies: hydroelectric dams, nuclear power plants and geothermal reservoirs.
经济发达国家很少完全淘汰煤炭。大多数国家，如冰岛、瑞士、瑞典和挪威，几乎不需要煤炭，因为它们使用老一代无碳技术发电：水电大坝、核电站和地热。
Britain is one of the first countries, and the largest, to phase out coal by relying heavily on wind and solar. Portugal also did so, but it is smaller and less heavily industrialized. Germany has tried, but it still produces about a quarter of its power with coal and does not plan to complete its phaseout until 2038.
英国是最早淘汰煤炭的国家之一，也是淘汰规模最大的国家，现在其主要依靠风能和太阳能。葡萄牙也这样做了，但它的规模较小，工业化程度较低。德国也进行了尝试，但其煤炭发电量仍占总发电量的四分之一左右，并计划在2038年之前完成淘汰工作。
Germany’s clean-energy transition has been slower because it has few hydroelectric dams, and it shut down all of its nuclear plants, which together generated 30 percent of the country’s electricity in 2000. Britain gets about 15 percent of its electricity from nuclear plants, while Portugal makes about a quarter of its power with hydroelectricity.
德国的清洁能源转型速度较慢，因为它的水电大坝很少，而且它关闭了所有的核电站，这些核电站在2000年时的发电量占全国总发电量的30%。英国约15%的电力来自核电站，而葡萄牙约四分之一的电力来自水力发电。
Although market forces — first competition from cheap natural gas and later from cheaper renewables — helped Britain phase out coal, experts say government policy played a major part.
尽管市场力量--首先是来自廉价天然气的竞争，后来是来自廉价可再生能源的竞争--帮助英国逐步淘汰煤炭，但专家表示，政府政策也发挥了重要作用。
“The United Kingdom demonstrated that with the right policies, it’s possible to transition away from coal power while maintaining the reliability of the electricity system,” said Jennifer Morris, a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative.
麻省理工学院能源计划首席研究科学家詹妮弗-莫里斯说：“英国证明，只要政策得当，就有可能在保持电力系统可靠性的同时实现煤电转型。”
The European unx created a cap-and-trade regime in 2005, when Britain was still a member, but that policy was not very effective because the price of carbon was too low, Morris said. But in 2013, the country set a higher carbon price, forcing many coal plants to close.
莫里斯说，2005年，当英国还是欧盟成员国时，欧盟就建立了限额交易制度，但由于碳价过低，该政策并不十分有效。但在2013年，英国制定了更高的碳价格，迫使许多煤炭工厂关闭。
Even as political power shifted between the Labour and Conservative parties, Britain pressed ahead with policies to promote clean energy. It set legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets, regulated air pollution, and encouraged the expansion of renewable energy by introducing a system to ensure wind and solar developers could sell power at a stable, profitable price.
即使在工党和保守党的政治权力交替之际，英国仍大力推行促进清洁能源的政策。英国制定了具有法律约束力的温室气体排放目标，对空气污染进行监管，并通过引入一项制度来确保风能和太阳能开发商能够以稳定、有利可图的价格出售电力，从而鼓励可再生能源的发展。
The transition away from coal has been slower in the United States than in Britain. Although the United States has adopted some similar policies, including pollution controls and incentives for renewable developers, U.S. policy has fluctuated more dramatically as party control of Congress and the White House has alternated between Republicans and Democrats.
与英国相比，美国的煤炭淘汰进程较为缓慢。尽管美国采取了一些类似的政策，包括污染控制和对可再生能源开发商的激励措施，但随着共和党和民主党轮流控制国会和白宫，美国的政策波动更为剧烈。
For instance, an Environmental Protection Agency rule finalized in April requires coal plants expected to operate past 2039 to reduce their emissions by 90 percent by 2032. But it faces legal challenges, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to overturn it if elected.
例如，环境保护局在四月份敲定的一项规定，要求预计会运营到2039年以后的煤电厂在2032年之前将排放量减少90%。但这一规定面临着法律挑战，共和党总统提名人特朗普誓言如果当选，将推翻这一规定。
Although a quarter of U.S. coal capacity is set to retire by 2029, “it will take dedicated policies to phase out the remaining coal plants,” Morris said. She recommended a carbon tax, which lawmakers have consistently rejected, or an emissions cap such as the EPA rule.
莫里斯说，尽管美国四分之一的煤炭产能将在2029年之前会退役，但仍“需要专门的政策来逐步淘汰剩余的煤电厂”。她建议征收碳税（立法者一直拒绝征收碳税），或制定排放上限（如美国环保署的规定）。
Among the world’s advanced economies, South Korea and Japan have made the slowest progress on replacing coal. These countries have less land available for wind and solar farms, and have fewer natural-gas reserves.
在世界发达经济体中，韩国和日本在煤炭替代方面的进展最为缓慢。这些国家可用于风能和太阳能发电场的土地较少，天然气储量也较少。
Japan’s clean-energy transition was also hampered in 2011 by the Fukushima meltdown, after which the country scaled back nuclear generation.
2011年，日本的清洁能源转型也因福岛核泄漏事故而受阻。
Developing countries such as China and India have no prospect of abandoning coal anytime soon. China is installing renewable power faster than any other country in the world, but coal generation is also necessary to fuel the country’s rapid development.
中国和印度等发展中国家并不指望在短期内放弃煤炭。中国安装可再生能源发电设备的速度比世界上任何其他国家都快，但煤炭发电也是推动中国快速发展所必需的。
Last year’s United Nations climate change negotiations in Dubai stalled over resistance from China and India to committing to phasing out fossil fuels. The conference finally adopted a plan to phase “down” fossil fuels.
去年在迪拜举行的联合国气候变化谈判因中国和印度抵制承诺逐步淘汰化石燃料而陷入僵局。会议最终通过了一项逐步“减少”化石燃料的计划。
Even after coal is gone from the electricity mix, countries will be confronted with the next phase of the clean-energy transition: completely decarbonizing the power sector.
即使在煤炭从电力组合中消失之后，各国还将面临清洁能源转型的下一阶段：电力部门完全去碳化。
“The environmental community has been pretty focused on coal because it is the most polluting fossil fuel and because it is low-hanging fruit,” Jaeger said. “I think it’s going to be harder than the coal transition.”
“环保界一直非常关注煤炭，因为它是污染最严重的化石燃料，也因为它是较容易实现的目标，”耶格说。“我认为这将比煤炭转型更加困难。”
Renewables are fueled by blowing wind and shining sun, which are not always available. Beyond some share of power generation — 80 percent or so, Jaeger said — renewables must be backed up by dependable supplies that don’t emit greenhouse gases, which rules out natural gas.
可再生能源的动力来源于风吹日晒，但风吹日晒并非随时都有的。耶格说，除了一定比例的发电量（80%左右）外，可再生能源还必须有不排放温室气体的可靠供应作为后盾，这就排除了天然气。
Grid-scale batteries have become cheaper but can still provide only about eight hours of backup power. The U.S. and British governments have shown revived interest in nuclear power, but both countries have struggled in recent decades to build plants quickly and cheaply.
电网规模的电池已经变得越来越便宜，但仍然只能提供大约八小时的备用电力。美国和英国政府对核电重新表现出了兴趣，近几十年来，两国都在努力快速、廉价地建造核电站。
Meanwhile, as electric vehicles and heat pumps become more common and power-hungry technologies such as artificial intelligence grow, Britain, the United States and others will be trying to make this daunting energy transition just as electricity demand is rising.
与此同时，随着电动汽车和热泵的普及，以及人工智能等耗电技术的发展，英国、美国和其他国家将在电力需求不断增长的同时，努力实现这一艰巨的能源转型。
英国最后一座运行中的煤电厂本周关闭，结束了其140多年的燃煤发电历史，这证明主要经济体是可以摆脱最肮脏的化石燃料的。
“It’s a massive movement,” said Dave Jones, an electricity analyst at Ember, a London-based think tank. “The fact that the first country in the world to have a coal power plant, to lean so heavily into coal starting the industrial revolution, is now out of coal is extremely symbolic.”
伦敦智库Ember的电力分析师戴夫-琼斯说：“这是一场大规模的运动。世界上第一个拥有煤炭发电厂的国家，在工业革命之初如此倚重煤炭，如今却已不再使用煤炭，这一事实极具象征意义。”
Long before global warming emerged as an issue, experts had proved that burning coal posed environmental and health threats. Coal plants pollute the air, cause acid rain and contaminate the soil and water with mercury. In Britain, the London Great Smog of 1952 probably killed as many as 12,000 people and prompted a government crackdown on the widespread use of coal for household heating.
早在全球变暖成为一个问题之前，专家们就已经证明，燃煤会对环境和健康造成威胁。煤炭工厂污染空气，造成酸雨，还有汞元素会污染土壤和水资源。在英国，1952年的伦敦烟雾事件可能导致了多达12000人的死亡，并促使政府对家庭取暖广泛使用煤炭的行为进行了打击和遏制。
In the 20th century, as trains, ships, stoves and other machines switched to oil and gas, coal retained its central role in running the turbines that power plants use to generate electricity. In recent decades, efforts to turn off coal-fired power plants have accelerated given their outsize contribution to global warming.
20世纪，虽然火车、轮船、炉灶和其他机器改用石油和天然气，但煤炭在发电厂的涡轮机运转中仍发挥着核心作用。近几十年来，鉴于燃煤发电厂对全球变暖的巨大贡献，各国加强了关闭燃煤发电厂的努力。
Although Britain still uses coal for steel manufacturing, which accounts for 2 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, experts say the country’s transition from coal-fueled electricity offers lessons to other countries seeking to phase it out.
尽管英国的钢铁制造业仍在使用煤炭，而煤炭排放占全国温室气体排放的2%，但专家们表示，英国从煤炭发电的过渡历程为其他寻求逐步淘汰煤炭的国家提供了借鉴。
Joel Jaeger, a climate and energy research at the World Resources Institute, said Britain’s transition from coal is “truly historic” and “proves that other countries can also achieve rapid speeds of coal reduction.”
世界资源研究所气候与能源研究员乔尔-耶格说，英国的煤炭转型“确实具有历史意义”，“证明其他国家也可以实现煤炭使用的快速削减”。
Few economically developed countries have completely phased out coal. Most that have, such as Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, have little need for coal because they generate plenty of power with an older generation of carbon-free technologies: hydroelectric dams, nuclear power plants and geothermal reservoirs.
经济发达国家很少完全淘汰煤炭。大多数国家，如冰岛、瑞士、瑞典和挪威，几乎不需要煤炭，因为它们使用老一代无碳技术发电：水电大坝、核电站和地热。
Britain is one of the first countries, and the largest, to phase out coal by relying heavily on wind and solar. Portugal also did so, but it is smaller and less heavily industrialized. Germany has tried, but it still produces about a quarter of its power with coal and does not plan to complete its phaseout until 2038.
英国是最早淘汰煤炭的国家之一，也是淘汰规模最大的国家，现在其主要依靠风能和太阳能。葡萄牙也这样做了，但它的规模较小，工业化程度较低。德国也进行了尝试，但其煤炭发电量仍占总发电量的四分之一左右，并计划在2038年之前完成淘汰工作。
Germany’s clean-energy transition has been slower because it has few hydroelectric dams, and it shut down all of its nuclear plants, which together generated 30 percent of the country’s electricity in 2000. Britain gets about 15 percent of its electricity from nuclear plants, while Portugal makes about a quarter of its power with hydroelectricity.
德国的清洁能源转型速度较慢，因为它的水电大坝很少，而且它关闭了所有的核电站，这些核电站在2000年时的发电量占全国总发电量的30%。英国约15%的电力来自核电站，而葡萄牙约四分之一的电力来自水力发电。
Although market forces — first competition from cheap natural gas and later from cheaper renewables — helped Britain phase out coal, experts say government policy played a major part.
尽管市场力量--首先是来自廉价天然气的竞争，后来是来自廉价可再生能源的竞争--帮助英国逐步淘汰煤炭，但专家表示，政府政策也发挥了重要作用。
“The United Kingdom demonstrated that with the right policies, it’s possible to transition away from coal power while maintaining the reliability of the electricity system,” said Jennifer Morris, a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative.
麻省理工学院能源计划首席研究科学家詹妮弗-莫里斯说：“英国证明，只要政策得当，就有可能在保持电力系统可靠性的同时实现煤电转型。”
The European unx created a cap-and-trade regime in 2005, when Britain was still a member, but that policy was not very effective because the price of carbon was too low, Morris said. But in 2013, the country set a higher carbon price, forcing many coal plants to close.
莫里斯说，2005年，当英国还是欧盟成员国时，欧盟就建立了限额交易制度，但由于碳价过低，该政策并不十分有效。但在2013年，英国制定了更高的碳价格，迫使许多煤炭工厂关闭。
Even as political power shifted between the Labour and Conservative parties, Britain pressed ahead with policies to promote clean energy. It set legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets, regulated air pollution, and encouraged the expansion of renewable energy by introducing a system to ensure wind and solar developers could sell power at a stable, profitable price.
即使在工党和保守党的政治权力交替之际，英国仍大力推行促进清洁能源的政策。英国制定了具有法律约束力的温室气体排放目标，对空气污染进行监管，并通过引入一项制度来确保风能和太阳能开发商能够以稳定、有利可图的价格出售电力，从而鼓励可再生能源的发展。
The transition away from coal has been slower in the United States than in Britain. Although the United States has adopted some similar policies, including pollution controls and incentives for renewable developers, U.S. policy has fluctuated more dramatically as party control of Congress and the White House has alternated between Republicans and Democrats.
与英国相比，美国的煤炭淘汰进程较为缓慢。尽管美国采取了一些类似的政策，包括污染控制和对可再生能源开发商的激励措施，但随着共和党和民主党轮流控制国会和白宫，美国的政策波动更为剧烈。
For instance, an Environmental Protection Agency rule finalized in April requires coal plants expected to operate past 2039 to reduce their emissions by 90 percent by 2032. But it faces legal challenges, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to overturn it if elected.
例如，环境保护局在四月份敲定的一项规定，要求预计会运营到2039年以后的煤电厂在2032年之前将排放量减少90%。但这一规定面临着法律挑战，共和党总统提名人特朗普誓言如果当选，将推翻这一规定。
Although a quarter of U.S. coal capacity is set to retire by 2029, “it will take dedicated policies to phase out the remaining coal plants,” Morris said. She recommended a carbon tax, which lawmakers have consistently rejected, or an emissions cap such as the EPA rule.
莫里斯说，尽管美国四分之一的煤炭产能将在2029年之前会退役，但仍“需要专门的政策来逐步淘汰剩余的煤电厂”。她建议征收碳税（立法者一直拒绝征收碳税），或制定排放上限（如美国环保署的规定）。
Among the world’s advanced economies, South Korea and Japan have made the slowest progress on replacing coal. These countries have less land available for wind and solar farms, and have fewer natural-gas reserves.
在世界发达经济体中，韩国和日本在煤炭替代方面的进展最为缓慢。这些国家可用于风能和太阳能发电场的土地较少，天然气储量也较少。
Japan’s clean-energy transition was also hampered in 2011 by the Fukushima meltdown, after which the country scaled back nuclear generation.
2011年，日本的清洁能源转型也因福岛核泄漏事故而受阻。
Developing countries such as China and India have no prospect of abandoning coal anytime soon. China is installing renewable power faster than any other country in the world, but coal generation is also necessary to fuel the country’s rapid development.
中国和印度等发展中国家并不指望在短期内放弃煤炭。中国安装可再生能源发电设备的速度比世界上任何其他国家都快，但煤炭发电也是推动中国快速发展所必需的。
Last year’s United Nations climate change negotiations in Dubai stalled over resistance from China and India to committing to phasing out fossil fuels. The conference finally adopted a plan to phase “down” fossil fuels.
去年在迪拜举行的联合国气候变化谈判因中国和印度抵制承诺逐步淘汰化石燃料而陷入僵局。会议最终通过了一项逐步“减少”化石燃料的计划。
Even after coal is gone from the electricity mix, countries will be confronted with the next phase of the clean-energy transition: completely decarbonizing the power sector.
即使在煤炭从电力组合中消失之后，各国还将面临清洁能源转型的下一阶段：电力部门完全去碳化。
“The environmental community has been pretty focused on coal because it is the most polluting fossil fuel and because it is low-hanging fruit,” Jaeger said. “I think it’s going to be harder than the coal transition.”
“环保界一直非常关注煤炭，因为它是污染最严重的化石燃料，也因为它是较容易实现的目标，”耶格说。“我认为这将比煤炭转型更加困难。”
Renewables are fueled by blowing wind and shining sun, which are not always available. Beyond some share of power generation — 80 percent or so, Jaeger said — renewables must be backed up by dependable supplies that don’t emit greenhouse gases, which rules out natural gas.
可再生能源的动力来源于风吹日晒，但风吹日晒并非随时都有的。耶格说，除了一定比例的发电量（80%左右）外，可再生能源还必须有不排放温室气体的可靠供应作为后盾，这就排除了天然气。
Grid-scale batteries have become cheaper but can still provide only about eight hours of backup power. The U.S. and British governments have shown revived interest in nuclear power, but both countries have struggled in recent decades to build plants quickly and cheaply.
电网规模的电池已经变得越来越便宜，但仍然只能提供大约八小时的备用电力。美国和英国政府对核电重新表现出了兴趣，近几十年来，两国都在努力快速、廉价地建造核电站。
Meanwhile, as electric vehicles and heat pumps become more common and power-hungry technologies such as artificial intelligence grow, Britain, the United States and others will be trying to make this daunting energy transition just as electricity demand is rising.
与此同时，随着电动汽车和热泵的普及，以及人工智能等耗电技术的发展，英国、美国和其他国家将在电力需求不断增长的同时，努力实现这一艰巨的能源转型。
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The last operating coal power plant in Britain closed this week, ending more than 140 years of coal-fired electricity and proving that major economies can wean themselves off the dirtiest fossil fuel.
英国最后一座运行中的煤电厂本周关闭，结束了其140多年的燃煤发电历史，这证明主要经济体是可以摆脱最肮脏的化石燃料的。
“It’s a massive movement,” said Dave Jones, an electricity analyst at Ember, a London-based think tank. “The fact that the first country in the world to have a coal power plant, to lean so heavily into coal starting the industrial revolution, is now out of coal is extremely symbolic.”
伦敦智库Ember的电力分析师戴夫-琼斯说：“这是一场大规模的运动。世界上第一个拥有煤炭发电厂的国家，在工业革命之初如此倚重煤炭，如今却已不再使用煤炭，这一事实极具象征意义。”
Long before global warming emerged as an issue, experts had proved that burning coal posed environmental and health threats. Coal plants pollute the air, cause acid rain and contaminate the soil and water with mercury. In Britain, the London Great Smog of 1952 probably killed as many as 12,000 people and prompted a government crackdown on the widespread use of coal for household heating.
早在全球变暖成为一个问题之前，专家们就已经证明，燃煤会对环境和健康造成威胁。煤炭工厂污染空气，造成酸雨，还有汞元素会污染土壤和水资源。在英国，1952年的伦敦烟雾事件可能导致了多达12000人的死亡，并促使政府对家庭取暖广泛使用煤炭的行为进行了打击和遏制。
In the 20th century, as trains, ships, stoves and other machines switched to oil and gas, coal retained its central role in running the turbines that power plants use to generate electricity. In recent decades, efforts to turn off coal-fired power plants have accelerated given their outsize contribution to global warming.
20世纪，虽然火车、轮船、炉灶和其他机器改用石油和天然气，但煤炭在发电厂的涡轮机运转中仍发挥着核心作用。近几十年来，鉴于燃煤发电厂对全球变暖的巨大贡献，各国加强了关闭燃煤发电厂的努力。
Although Britain still uses coal for steel manufacturing, which accounts for 2 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, experts say the country’s transition from coal-fueled electricity offers lessons to other countries seeking to phase it out.
尽管英国的钢铁制造业仍在使用煤炭，而煤炭排放占全国温室气体排放的2%，但专家们表示，英国从煤炭发电的过渡历程为其他寻求逐步淘汰煤炭的国家提供了借鉴。
Joel Jaeger, a climate and energy research at the World Resources Institute, said Britain’s transition from coal is “truly historic” and “proves that other countries can also achieve rapid speeds of coal reduction.”
世界资源研究所气候与能源研究员乔尔-耶格说，英国的煤炭转型“确实具有历史意义”，“证明其他国家也可以实现煤炭使用的快速削减”。
Few economically developed countries have completely phased out coal. Most that have, such as Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, have little need for coal because they generate plenty of power with an older generation of carbon-free technologies: hydroelectric dams, nuclear power plants and geothermal reservoirs.
经济发达国家很少完全淘汰煤炭。大多数国家，如冰岛、瑞士、瑞典和挪威，几乎不需要煤炭，因为它们使用老一代无碳技术发电：水电大坝、核电站和地热。
Britain is one of the first countries, and the largest, to phase out coal by relying heavily on wind and solar. Portugal also did so, but it is smaller and less heavily industrialized. Germany has tried, but it still produces about a quarter of its power with coal and does not plan to complete its phaseout until 2038.
英国是最早淘汰煤炭的国家之一，也是淘汰规模最大的国家，现在其主要依靠风能和太阳能。葡萄牙也这样做了，但它的规模较小，工业化程度较低。德国也进行了尝试，但其煤炭发电量仍占总发电量的四分之一左右，并计划在2038年之前完成淘汰工作。
Germany’s clean-energy transition has been slower because it has few hydroelectric dams, and it shut down all of its nuclear plants, which together generated 30 percent of the country’s electricity in 2000. Britain gets about 15 percent of its electricity from nuclear plants, while Portugal makes about a quarter of its power with hydroelectricity.
德国的清洁能源转型速度较慢，因为它的水电大坝很少，而且它关闭了所有的核电站，这些核电站在2000年时的发电量占全国总发电量的30%。英国约15%的电力来自核电站，而葡萄牙约四分之一的电力来自水力发电。
Although market forces — first competition from cheap natural gas and later from cheaper renewables — helped Britain phase out coal, experts say government policy played a major part.
尽管市场力量--首先是来自廉价天然气的竞争，后来是来自廉价可再生能源的竞争--帮助英国逐步淘汰煤炭，但专家表示，政府政策也发挥了重要作用。
“The United Kingdom demonstrated that with the right policies, it’s possible to transition away from coal power while maintaining the reliability of the electricity system,” said Jennifer Morris, a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative.
麻省理工学院能源计划首席研究科学家詹妮弗-莫里斯说：“英国证明，只要政策得当，就有可能在保持电力系统可靠性的同时实现煤电转型。”
The European unx created a cap-and-trade regime in 2005, when Britain was still a member, but that policy was not very effective because the price of carbon was too low, Morris said. But in 2013, the country set a higher carbon price, forcing many coal plants to close.
莫里斯说，2005年，当英国还是欧盟成员国时，欧盟就建立了限额交易制度，但由于碳价过低，该政策并不十分有效。但在2013年，英国制定了更高的碳价格，迫使许多煤炭工厂关闭。
Even as political power shifted between the Labour and Conservative parties, Britain pressed ahead with policies to promote clean energy. It set legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets, regulated air pollution, and encouraged the expansion of renewable energy by introducing a system to ensure wind and solar developers could sell power at a stable, profitable price.
即使在工党和保守党的政治权力交替之际，英国仍大力推行促进清洁能源的政策。英国制定了具有法律约束力的温室气体排放目标，对空气污染进行监管，并通过引入一项制度来确保风能和太阳能开发商能够以稳定、有利可图的价格出售电力，从而鼓励可再生能源的发展。
The transition away from coal has been slower in the United States than in Britain. Although the United States has adopted some similar policies, including pollution controls and incentives for renewable developers, U.S. policy has fluctuated more dramatically as party control of Congress and the White House has alternated between Republicans and Democrats.
与英国相比，美国的煤炭淘汰进程较为缓慢。尽管美国采取了一些类似的政策，包括污染控制和对可再生能源开发商的激励措施，但随着共和党和民主党轮流控制国会和白宫，美国的政策波动更为剧烈。
For instance, an Environmental Protection Agency rule finalized in April requires coal plants expected to operate past 2039 to reduce their emissions by 90 percent by 2032. But it faces legal challenges, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to overturn it if elected.
例如，环境保护局在四月份敲定的一项规定，要求预计会运营到2039年以后的煤电厂在2032年之前将排放量减少90%。但这一规定面临着法律挑战，共和党总统提名人特朗普誓言如果当选，将推翻这一规定。
Although a quarter of U.S. coal capacity is set to retire by 2029, “it will take dedicated policies to phase out the remaining coal plants,” Morris said. She recommended a carbon tax, which lawmakers have consistently rejected, or an emissions cap such as the EPA rule.
莫里斯说，尽管美国四分之一的煤炭产能将在2029年之前会退役，但仍“需要专门的政策来逐步淘汰剩余的煤电厂”。她建议征收碳税（立法者一直拒绝征收碳税），或制定排放上限（如美国环保署的规定）。
Among the world’s advanced economies, South Korea and Japan have made the slowest progress on replacing coal. These countries have less land available for wind and solar farms, and have fewer natural-gas reserves.
在世界发达经济体中，韩国和日本在煤炭替代方面的进展最为缓慢。这些国家可用于风能和太阳能发电场的土地较少，天然气储量也较少。
Japan’s clean-energy transition was also hampered in 2011 by the Fukushima meltdown, after which the country scaled back nuclear generation.
2011年，日本的清洁能源转型也因福岛核泄漏事故而受阻。
Developing countries such as China and India have no prospect of abandoning coal anytime soon. China is installing renewable power faster than any other country in the world, but coal generation is also necessary to fuel the country’s rapid development.
中国和印度等发展中国家并不指望在短期内放弃煤炭。中国安装可再生能源发电设备的速度比世界上任何其他国家都快，但煤炭发电也是推动中国快速发展所必需的。
Last year’s United Nations climate change negotiations in Dubai stalled over resistance from China and India to committing to phasing out fossil fuels. The conference finally adopted a plan to phase “down” fossil fuels.
去年在迪拜举行的联合国气候变化谈判因中国和印度抵制承诺逐步淘汰化石燃料而陷入僵局。会议最终通过了一项逐步“减少”化石燃料的计划。
Even after coal is gone from the electricity mix, countries will be confronted with the next phase of the clean-energy transition: completely decarbonizing the power sector.
即使在煤炭从电力组合中消失之后，各国还将面临清洁能源转型的下一阶段：电力部门完全去碳化。
“The environmental community has been pretty focused on coal because it is the most polluting fossil fuel and because it is low-hanging fruit,” Jaeger said. “I think it’s going to be harder than the coal transition.”
“环保界一直非常关注煤炭，因为它是污染最严重的化石燃料，也因为它是较容易实现的目标，”耶格说。“我认为这将比煤炭转型更加困难。”
Renewables are fueled by blowing wind and shining sun, which are not always available. Beyond some share of power generation — 80 percent or so, Jaeger said — renewables must be backed up by dependable supplies that don’t emit greenhouse gases, which rules out natural gas.
可再生能源的动力来源于风吹日晒，但风吹日晒并非随时都有的。耶格说，除了一定比例的发电量（80%左右）外，可再生能源还必须有不排放温室气体的可靠供应作为后盾，这就排除了天然气。
Grid-scale batteries have become cheaper but can still provide only about eight hours of backup power. The U.S. and British governments have shown revived interest in nuclear power, but both countries have struggled in recent decades to build plants quickly and cheaply.
电网规模的电池已经变得越来越便宜，但仍然只能提供大约八小时的备用电力。美国和英国政府对核电重新表现出了兴趣，近几十年来，两国都在努力快速、廉价地建造核电站。
Meanwhile, as electric vehicles and heat pumps become more common and power-hungry technologies such as artificial intelligence grow, Britain, the United States and others will be trying to make this daunting energy transition just as electricity demand is rising.
与此同时，随着电动汽车和热泵的普及，以及人工智能等耗电技术的发展，英国、美国和其他国家将在电力需求不断增长的同时，努力实现这一艰巨的能源转型。
英国最后一座运行中的煤电厂本周关闭，结束了其140多年的燃煤发电历史，这证明主要经济体是可以摆脱最肮脏的化石燃料的。
“It’s a massive movement,” said Dave Jones, an electricity analyst at Ember, a London-based think tank. “The fact that the first country in the world to have a coal power plant, to lean so heavily into coal starting the industrial revolution, is now out of coal is extremely symbolic.”
伦敦智库Ember的电力分析师戴夫-琼斯说：“这是一场大规模的运动。世界上第一个拥有煤炭发电厂的国家，在工业革命之初如此倚重煤炭，如今却已不再使用煤炭，这一事实极具象征意义。”
Long before global warming emerged as an issue, experts had proved that burning coal posed environmental and health threats. Coal plants pollute the air, cause acid rain and contaminate the soil and water with mercury. In Britain, the London Great Smog of 1952 probably killed as many as 12,000 people and prompted a government crackdown on the widespread use of coal for household heating.
早在全球变暖成为一个问题之前，专家们就已经证明，燃煤会对环境和健康造成威胁。煤炭工厂污染空气，造成酸雨，还有汞元素会污染土壤和水资源。在英国，1952年的伦敦烟雾事件可能导致了多达12000人的死亡，并促使政府对家庭取暖广泛使用煤炭的行为进行了打击和遏制。
In the 20th century, as trains, ships, stoves and other machines switched to oil and gas, coal retained its central role in running the turbines that power plants use to generate electricity. In recent decades, efforts to turn off coal-fired power plants have accelerated given their outsize contribution to global warming.
20世纪，虽然火车、轮船、炉灶和其他机器改用石油和天然气，但煤炭在发电厂的涡轮机运转中仍发挥着核心作用。近几十年来，鉴于燃煤发电厂对全球变暖的巨大贡献，各国加强了关闭燃煤发电厂的努力。
Although Britain still uses coal for steel manufacturing, which accounts for 2 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, experts say the country’s transition from coal-fueled electricity offers lessons to other countries seeking to phase it out.
尽管英国的钢铁制造业仍在使用煤炭，而煤炭排放占全国温室气体排放的2%，但专家们表示，英国从煤炭发电的过渡历程为其他寻求逐步淘汰煤炭的国家提供了借鉴。
Joel Jaeger, a climate and energy research at the World Resources Institute, said Britain’s transition from coal is “truly historic” and “proves that other countries can also achieve rapid speeds of coal reduction.”
世界资源研究所气候与能源研究员乔尔-耶格说，英国的煤炭转型“确实具有历史意义”，“证明其他国家也可以实现煤炭使用的快速削减”。
Few economically developed countries have completely phased out coal. Most that have, such as Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, have little need for coal because they generate plenty of power with an older generation of carbon-free technologies: hydroelectric dams, nuclear power plants and geothermal reservoirs.
经济发达国家很少完全淘汰煤炭。大多数国家，如冰岛、瑞士、瑞典和挪威，几乎不需要煤炭，因为它们使用老一代无碳技术发电：水电大坝、核电站和地热。
Britain is one of the first countries, and the largest, to phase out coal by relying heavily on wind and solar. Portugal also did so, but it is smaller and less heavily industrialized. Germany has tried, but it still produces about a quarter of its power with coal and does not plan to complete its phaseout until 2038.
英国是最早淘汰煤炭的国家之一，也是淘汰规模最大的国家，现在其主要依靠风能和太阳能。葡萄牙也这样做了，但它的规模较小，工业化程度较低。德国也进行了尝试，但其煤炭发电量仍占总发电量的四分之一左右，并计划在2038年之前完成淘汰工作。
Germany’s clean-energy transition has been slower because it has few hydroelectric dams, and it shut down all of its nuclear plants, which together generated 30 percent of the country’s electricity in 2000. Britain gets about 15 percent of its electricity from nuclear plants, while Portugal makes about a quarter of its power with hydroelectricity.
德国的清洁能源转型速度较慢，因为它的水电大坝很少，而且它关闭了所有的核电站，这些核电站在2000年时的发电量占全国总发电量的30%。英国约15%的电力来自核电站，而葡萄牙约四分之一的电力来自水力发电。
Although market forces — first competition from cheap natural gas and later from cheaper renewables — helped Britain phase out coal, experts say government policy played a major part.
尽管市场力量--首先是来自廉价天然气的竞争，后来是来自廉价可再生能源的竞争--帮助英国逐步淘汰煤炭，但专家表示，政府政策也发挥了重要作用。
“The United Kingdom demonstrated that with the right policies, it’s possible to transition away from coal power while maintaining the reliability of the electricity system,” said Jennifer Morris, a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative.
麻省理工学院能源计划首席研究科学家詹妮弗-莫里斯说：“英国证明，只要政策得当，就有可能在保持电力系统可靠性的同时实现煤电转型。”
The European unx created a cap-and-trade regime in 2005, when Britain was still a member, but that policy was not very effective because the price of carbon was too low, Morris said. But in 2013, the country set a higher carbon price, forcing many coal plants to close.
莫里斯说，2005年，当英国还是欧盟成员国时，欧盟就建立了限额交易制度，但由于碳价过低，该政策并不十分有效。但在2013年，英国制定了更高的碳价格，迫使许多煤炭工厂关闭。
Even as political power shifted between the Labour and Conservative parties, Britain pressed ahead with policies to promote clean energy. It set legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets, regulated air pollution, and encouraged the expansion of renewable energy by introducing a system to ensure wind and solar developers could sell power at a stable, profitable price.
即使在工党和保守党的政治权力交替之际，英国仍大力推行促进清洁能源的政策。英国制定了具有法律约束力的温室气体排放目标，对空气污染进行监管，并通过引入一项制度来确保风能和太阳能开发商能够以稳定、有利可图的价格出售电力，从而鼓励可再生能源的发展。
The transition away from coal has been slower in the United States than in Britain. Although the United States has adopted some similar policies, including pollution controls and incentives for renewable developers, U.S. policy has fluctuated more dramatically as party control of Congress and the White House has alternated between Republicans and Democrats.
与英国相比，美国的煤炭淘汰进程较为缓慢。尽管美国采取了一些类似的政策，包括污染控制和对可再生能源开发商的激励措施，但随着共和党和民主党轮流控制国会和白宫，美国的政策波动更为剧烈。
For instance, an Environmental Protection Agency rule finalized in April requires coal plants expected to operate past 2039 to reduce their emissions by 90 percent by 2032. But it faces legal challenges, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to overturn it if elected.
例如，环境保护局在四月份敲定的一项规定，要求预计会运营到2039年以后的煤电厂在2032年之前将排放量减少90%。但这一规定面临着法律挑战，共和党总统提名人特朗普誓言如果当选，将推翻这一规定。
Although a quarter of U.S. coal capacity is set to retire by 2029, “it will take dedicated policies to phase out the remaining coal plants,” Morris said. She recommended a carbon tax, which lawmakers have consistently rejected, or an emissions cap such as the EPA rule.
莫里斯说，尽管美国四分之一的煤炭产能将在2029年之前会退役，但仍“需要专门的政策来逐步淘汰剩余的煤电厂”。她建议征收碳税（立法者一直拒绝征收碳税），或制定排放上限（如美国环保署的规定）。
Among the world’s advanced economies, South Korea and Japan have made the slowest progress on replacing coal. These countries have less land available for wind and solar farms, and have fewer natural-gas reserves.
在世界发达经济体中，韩国和日本在煤炭替代方面的进展最为缓慢。这些国家可用于风能和太阳能发电场的土地较少，天然气储量也较少。
Japan’s clean-energy transition was also hampered in 2011 by the Fukushima meltdown, after which the country scaled back nuclear generation.
2011年，日本的清洁能源转型也因福岛核泄漏事故而受阻。
Developing countries such as China and India have no prospect of abandoning coal anytime soon. China is installing renewable power faster than any other country in the world, but coal generation is also necessary to fuel the country’s rapid development.
中国和印度等发展中国家并不指望在短期内放弃煤炭。中国安装可再生能源发电设备的速度比世界上任何其他国家都快，但煤炭发电也是推动中国快速发展所必需的。
Last year’s United Nations climate change negotiations in Dubai stalled over resistance from China and India to committing to phasing out fossil fuels. The conference finally adopted a plan to phase “down” fossil fuels.
去年在迪拜举行的联合国气候变化谈判因中国和印度抵制承诺逐步淘汰化石燃料而陷入僵局。会议最终通过了一项逐步“减少”化石燃料的计划。
Even after coal is gone from the electricity mix, countries will be confronted with the next phase of the clean-energy transition: completely decarbonizing the power sector.
即使在煤炭从电力组合中消失之后，各国还将面临清洁能源转型的下一阶段：电力部门完全去碳化。
“The environmental community has been pretty focused on coal because it is the most polluting fossil fuel and because it is low-hanging fruit,” Jaeger said. “I think it’s going to be harder than the coal transition.”
“环保界一直非常关注煤炭，因为它是污染最严重的化石燃料，也因为它是较容易实现的目标，”耶格说。“我认为这将比煤炭转型更加困难。”
Renewables are fueled by blowing wind and shining sun, which are not always available. Beyond some share of power generation — 80 percent or so, Jaeger said — renewables must be backed up by dependable supplies that don’t emit greenhouse gases, which rules out natural gas.
可再生能源的动力来源于风吹日晒，但风吹日晒并非随时都有的。耶格说，除了一定比例的发电量（80%左右）外，可再生能源还必须有不排放温室气体的可靠供应作为后盾，这就排除了天然气。
Grid-scale batteries have become cheaper but can still provide only about eight hours of backup power. The U.S. and British governments have shown revived interest in nuclear power, but both countries have struggled in recent decades to build plants quickly and cheaply.
电网规模的电池已经变得越来越便宜，但仍然只能提供大约八小时的备用电力。美国和英国政府对核电重新表现出了兴趣，近几十年来，两国都在努力快速、廉价地建造核电站。
Meanwhile, as electric vehicles and heat pumps become more common and power-hungry technologies such as artificial intelligence grow, Britain, the United States and others will be trying to make this daunting energy transition just as electricity demand is rising.
与此同时，随着电动汽车和热泵的普及，以及人工智能等耗电技术的发展，英国、美国和其他国家将在电力需求不断增长的同时，努力实现这一艰巨的能源转型。
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