经济学人双语版 煤炭 未来的能源

Coal

煤炭

The fuel of the future, unfortunately

很不幸，这便是未来的能源

A cheap, ubiquitous and flexible fuel, with just one problem

这是一种廉价、易得且用途广泛的燃料，但仅存在着一个问题

WHAT more could one want? It is cheap and simple to extract, ship and burn. It is abundant: proven reserves amount to 109 years of current consumption, reckons BP, a British energy giant. They are mostly in politically stable places. There is a wide choice of dependable sellers, such as BHP Billiton (Anglo-Australian), Glencore (Anglo-Swiss), Peabody Energy and Arch Coal.

还能奢望更多的好条件吗？这是一种廉价，且便于获娶装运和燃烧的能源。它的储量十分丰富：英国能源巨头BP证实，现有的煤炭储量可供人们维持目前的消耗量长达109年。煤炭资源还大多分布于政治稳定的地区。可靠的煤炭供应商数量众多，如必和必拓、嘉能可，以及皮博迪和阿齐。

Other fuels are beset by state interference and cartels, but in this industry consumers—in heating, power generation and metallurgy—are firmly in charge, keeping prices low. Just as this wonder-fuel once powered the industrial revolution, it now offers the best chance for poor countries wanting to get rich.

其他能源均被国家或者卡特尔寡头所控制，但在煤炭产业当中，其供暖、电力和冶金业的消费者处于绝对主导地位，令价格持续低廉。正如当年这一完美的能源推动着工业革命的发展，现在它也为贫穷国家们提供着发家致富的绝佳机会。

Such arguments are the basis of a new PR campaign launched by Peabody, the world's largest private coal company. And coal would indeed be a boon, were it not for one small problem: it is devastatingly dirty. Mining, transport, storage and burning are fraught with mess, as well as danger. Deep mines put workers in intolerably filthy and dangerous conditions. But opencast mining, now the source of much of the world's coal, rips away topsoil and gobbles water. Transporting coal brings a host of environmental problems.

如此的论断正是皮博迪公司发起的新一轮公关活动的核心内容，而目前该公司是全世界最大的私人煤炭企业。煤炭本该成为上帝的惠泽，而若不是因为这一个小

小的问题：它的破坏性污染。开采、运输、储存和燃烧使用的一系列过程中，不仅充满着问题，还具有相当的危险性。深入地下的矿井意味着矿工们要在难以忍受的肮脏以及危险的条件下工作。但目前大多数煤矿所进行的地表开采，不仅会使地表土壤流失，同时也消耗着大量的水。煤炭的运输还会带来一系列的环境问题。

The increased emissions of carbon dioxide from soaring coal consumption threaten to fry the planet, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reminded everyone in a new report this week. The CO2 makes the oceans acid; burning coal also produces sulphur dioxide, which makes buildings crumble and lungs sting, and other toxic chemicals. By some counts, coal-fired power stations emit more radioactivity than nuclear ones. They release tiny, lethal particulates. Per unit generated, coal-fired stations cause far more deaths than nuclear ones, and more even than oil-fired ones.

正如联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会在这周最新的报告中所提醒的，持续增长煤炭消耗带来的二氧化碳排放的增加，使得地球温室效应加剧。二氧化碳的增加使得海水的酸度增加；与此同时，煤炭的燃烧产生二氧化硫和其他一些有毒化学物质，而这导致了建筑物结构的损伤以及人类肺部的损害。根据某种计算方式，煤炭发电厂所排放的辐射物质甚至比核电厂所排放的还要多。各大电厂所排放的都是极小的致命微粒。而煤电厂每单位发电排放的致命微粒要远比核电厂多，甚至比石油发电厂还要多。

But poverty kills people too, and slow growth can cost politicians their jobs. Two decades of environmental worries are proving only a marginal constraint on the global coal industry. Some are trying to get out: in America Consol Energy is selling five mines in West Virginia to concentrate on shale gas. Big coal-burners such as American Electric Power and Duke Energy are shutting coal-fired plants. Yet despite America's shale-gas boom, the federal Energy Information Administration reckons that by 2040 the country will still be generating 22% of its electricity from coal. The International Energy Agency has even predicted that, barring policy changes, coal may rival oil in importance by 2017. As countries get richer they tend to look for alternatives—China is scrambling to curb its rising consumption. But others, such as India and Africa, are set to take up the slack.

但贫穷问题也同样危害着人们的生命安全，而缓慢的经济增长更是会令政治家们失去自己的饭碗。二十年来的环境问题，证实了目前对于全球煤炭行业仅仅存在着一个最基本的限制。部分煤炭企业则试图抽身离开：美国康寿能源公司正在叫卖位于维吉尼亚西部的五个煤矿，从而专注于页岩气的开发。像美国电力和杜克能源等大型煤炭消耗的电力公司，则着手关闭他们旗下的煤电厂。但尽管美国页岩气开采实现了产量增长的井喷，联邦能源信息管理局预计截至2040年全国发电量中的22%会来自煤电厂。国际能源总署甚至还预言说，除非政策发生变化，