How to Heat Your Home Without Hurting the Planet | Kathy Hannun | TED Fellows

翻译人员: Frank Xu 校对人员: Helen Chang

[SHAPE YOUR FUTURE]

[塑造你的未来]

One of the hallmarks of living in a technologically advanced society

活在一个技术发达社会的标志之一

is even the little details of life that seem mundane

便是即使生活看起来平凡的小细节

end up being astonishing,

实际上也十分令人惊奇，

like the fact that it takes five gallons of water to produce a walnut,

比如说产出一颗核桃 需要19升水这一事实，

or that half the plastic that's ever been made

或者在所有已经生产出的塑料里

has been made in the past 15 years.

有一半是在过去的15年里被制造的。

My favorite of these examples is what it takes

这些例子里我最喜欢的是

将一个房间保持室温需要什么。

to keep a room room temperature.

Allow me to explain.

让我来解释一下。

Heating is generally done by combusting a fossil fuel.

供暖通常是通过燃烧 一种化石燃料来做到的。

So first, we have to find the fuel.

所以首先，我们要找到燃料。

Unfortunately, it tends to be buried

不幸的是，燃料通常被埋藏在

more than a kilometer under the earth's surface,

地球表面下超过一公里，

and all too often, in inconvenient places,

而且通常不便触及的地方。

like the Arctic Circle, nations in conflict

比如说北极圈，战乱国家

or under the bottom of the ocean.

或者在海底。

Then there's the fact that the substance takes 60 to 600 million years

除此以外还有这些物质 需要6千万到6亿年的时间

to form from dead plankton.

由死去的浮游生物转变而成这一事实。

So there's that issue.

所以那是个问题。

We drill these incredibly deep holes to get it.

为了获取燃料我们钻出这些深深的孔。

Then we pipe it, truck it

之后我们用管道输送，

and ship it in tankers across the world to refineries,

用卡车还有运油船 送到世界各地的精炼厂。

which are these incredibly expensive industrial facilities

而精炼厂是一些十分昂贵的工业设施。

that take in crude oil and gas,

它们接收原油和天然气，

which are just a bunch of different hydrocarbon molecules,

两者都只是不同的氢碳化合物分子，

in order to sort those molecules into refined products.

精炼厂接收它们 来将那些分子分炼为精炼产品。

Refined natural gas is then delivered to homes and businesses

之后精炼过的天然气 被送到住宅和商业场所，

via an invisible interstate highway system millions of miles long.

而这是通过一个长达几百万英里的 隐形州际快速系统做到的。

It's invisible because it's underground.

之所以说这系统是隐形的 是因为它在地下。

There's so much pipeline in this system that entire steel mills have been built

这系统里的管道 多到数家钢厂被建造出来

only to produce pipeline for this system.

就只为了给这个系统生产管线。

And because there are millions of miles of gas

而因为有气体以几百万英里范围

getting pumped beneath us at high pressure at all times,

在我们脚下被用泵不间断地高压输送，

engineers send these intelligent robots called "smart pigs"

工程师将这些被叫做 “聪明小猪”的智能机器人

through the pipelines to check for safety defects.

送进这些管道来检查安全上的瑕疵。

Doing this is called "pigging the pipeline."

这个过程被叫做“小猪清管”。

(Pig snort sound)

(哼哧)

Yeah, that's a real thing.

没错，这是真事儿。

But even with these precautions, there are accidents.

但即便有这些预防措施， 还是有事故发生。

In 2010, the San Bruno natural gas pipeline exploded in California.

在2010年，圣布鲁诺天然气管道 在加利福尼亚州发生了爆炸。

Eight people died.

八人死亡。

Eyewitnesses reported the blast looked like a wall of fire 1,000 feet tall.

目击者报道说爆炸看起来 像是一堵1000英尺高的火墙。

More recently, in 2018, excess pressure in natural gas pipelines in Massachusetts

更近的一次，在2018年，位于 马萨诸塞州的天然气管道里的过量压力

resulted in explosions that killed somebody

造成了致一人死亡的多起爆炸，

and forced 50,000 others from their homes.

该事件还使其他五万人被迫从家撤离。

But, you know, despite all of this,

但你知道，即便如此，

we're actually jealous of people who live close enough to these insane pipelines

我们实际上还羡慕那些 住在离这些危险管道足够近的人们，

to get gas into their homes,

因为管道能把天然气送到他们家里，

because everyone else is stuck with even worse options,

而其他所有人则不得不接受 更糟的选项，

like fuel oil and propane.

比如燃油和丙烷。

These fuels don't have pipelines in place for delivery,

这些燃料没有管道来运送，

so instead, tens of thousands of trucks go from home to home

所以取而代之的是数以万计的 卡车挨家挨户

in neighborhoods throughout the country,

在乡间的各个社区里，

pumping these fuels into tanks in homeowners' basements and yards.

将这些燃料泵到屋主们 位于地下室和院子里的储存罐里。

And regardless of what heating fuel you use -- gas, propane or oil --

而不论你用哪种供暖燃料-- 天然气、丙烷或者燃油--

you better have a carbon monoxide detector

你最好要有一个一氧化碳检测器

so your heating system doesn't accidentally kill you in the night,

来保证你的供暖系统 不会在夜里意外把你杀死，

because hundreds of Americans die in exactly that way each year.

因为每年数以百计的美国人 恰恰就是以这种方式丧命的。

So that's the system we have today.

这就是我们现今所有的系统。

Safe to say, it has some downsides.

可以肯定地说，它有一些缺点。

Don't get me wrong -- it's a marvel of human ingenuity,

别误解了，它是人类智慧的一大成就，

but with some pretty serious drawbacks.

但是也有些严重的缺点。

And the rigamarole of conventional heating feels even more over the top

而传统制暖带来的繁琐 甚至更加令人感到夸张，

when you consider that every home

因为当你考虑到每座住宅

is already sitting right on top of a vast reservoir of renewable energy:

其实都正好已经被建造在 一片广大的可再生能源储备库上：

geothermal energy.

那就是地热能。

Let's talk about geothermal energy.

让我们来谈谈地热能吧。

Starting a few feet under the earth's surface,

从地表以下几英尺开始，

the ground is awash in thermal energy.

大地浸满了热能量。

This is why caves and wine cellars, they never get too hot or too cold.

这就是为什么山洞和酒窖 永远不会变得太热或太冷。

They're just bathed in this low-grade heat.

它们就这样被这种低位热量包裹着。

Geothermal heating systems draw on this heat,

地热供暖系统汲取这种热量，

using what are called "ground loops,"

使用这些被称为“地环路”的

which are just simple plastic pipes buried under the yard.

埋在庭院里的简单塑料管道。

These ground loops are then connected to a heat pump that sits inside the home,

然后这些地环路被连接到 放置在住宅里的一台热泵，

typically where a furnace once was.

通常在之前火炉的位置上。

More and more homeowners are choosing geothermal over fuel-based options.

越来越多的房主选择使用地热能而不是基于燃料的选项。

I see this shift up close every day,

我每天都能近距离地看到这个改变，

because I cofounded a company to create a new kind of ground-up utility

因为我联合创办了一家公司， 通过将从传统制热方式换为地热

by making it as easy and inexpensive as possible

变得尽可能简单和便宜

to switch from conventional heating to geothermal.

来创造出一种新型地面设施。

We've done this by creating a service

我们通过创造出一项服务做到了这一点。

where homeowners can fill out a form on our website,

在这项服务中，业主们 能在我们的网站上填出一张表，

we design a geothermal heating system for them,

我们为他们设计一套地热制暖系统，

and then we install that system using purpose-built tools and equipment.

然后我们使用特制工具和装备 来安装那个系统。

Once the installation is done,

在安装完成后，

that home will have moved on from fossil heating forever,

那栋房子将会永远脱离化石燃料制暖，

because those ground loops, they'll last as long as the home itself.

因为那些地环路的寿命 将和房屋本身一样持久。

As each home switches over, a new kind of utility is taking hold --

在每家更换的同时， 一项新的公共事业正在扎根：

a distributed utility,

一项被分布的公共事业，

made up of homes exchanging renewable energy with the ground.

由住宅与大地交换可再生能量构成。

This new infrastructure is simple, local and inexpensive to operate,

这个新基础设施是简单、 本地化以及低操作成本的，

and it represents a permanent and wholesale shift

它还代表着一次永久且大规模的

away from fossil fuels.

自使用化石燃料向其它方式的转变。

The groundwork is being laid, so to speak,

可以这么说，

for the idea that maybe we don't need to destroy the world

为了我们或许不需要 毁掉世界来让我们的房间

in order to keep our rooms at a comfortable temperature.

保持在一个舒适温度的理念， 基础工作正在进行。

Let's leave the Arctic Circle and the seafloor alone,

让我们避开北极圈和海底，

bypass the refineries and the pipelines

避开炼油厂和输油管，

and stop worrying that our families will accidentally be poisoned in the night.

并停止担心我们的家人 会在夜里意外中毒。

Instead, let's use the massive amounts of energy

取而代之的，让我们使用

that are already right there for the taking,

就存在于地球上每栋建筑底下的

right beneath every building on earth.

大量现成能源。

Thank you.

谢谢。