The Untapped Energy Source That Could Power the Planet | Jamie C. Beard | TED

翻译人员: A. D.

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地核的温度高达 6000 摄氏度。

The core of the Earth is 6,000 degrees Celsius.

这等同于太阳表面的温度，

It's the same temperature as the surface of the Sun,

但地核并不像外太空的太阳一般 与我们相隔 1.5 亿公里。

but it's not 94 million miles away,

like the extra terrestrial sun is.

它就在我们的脚下。

It is right here beneath our feet.

Really, literally right there.

它真真正正就在那儿。

But we don't think about this, right?

但我们并不会去思考这件事情，对吧？

就好像当你出门赤着脚走路时，

I mean, when you go outside,

你并不会烫伤你的脚。

you walk barefoot, you don't burn your feet.

地球的地壳是一个强大的热绝缘层。

The Earth's crust is an incredible insulator,

它使我们未能注意到这个

and it keeps this massive,

在我们脚下的巨大且无穷无尽的热源。

inexhaustible heat source beneath us invisible.

可如果你曾经去过冰岛或见过活火山，

But if you've ever visited Iceland or an active volcano,

你就会看到间歇泉、蒸汽口和熔岩。

you've got geysers and steam vents and lava.

这都是我们脚下巨大热量的表面体现，

These are surface manifestations of the incredible amount of heat

that lies beneath us.

这些热量遍布地球的每个角落。

Anywhere and everywhere in the world.

而且我们并不需要钻得很远，

And we don't have to drill very far to reach temperatures

便能达到极高的温度，

这一温度能为世界文明

that far exceed what we would need to power the world thousands of times over

提供其所需能源的数千倍。

for all of civilization.

听上去很不错吧？

Pretty cool, right?

So we got to get to it.

我们要向这个热量前进。

那么具体该怎么做呢？

How do we do that?

我们开发它吧。赶紧开发它。

Let's tap it. Let's tap it fast.

我是一名气候活动家。

I'm a climate activist.

我为气候变化感到无比担忧。

I am very worried about climate change.

这令我夜不能寐。

It keeps me up at night.

所以我们务必要实现这一目标不是吗？

So we need to make this happen, right?

那么该怎么做呢？

So how?

我今天要为大家带来一个好消息，

So I'm here with good news about that and also a proposition.

以及一个提议。

先从好消息开始吧。

Let's do the good news first.

目前，

这一领域已有成群结队的创新者们，

There are teams of innovators right now in the field

他们正在研究如何最有效地

that are working on figuring out how to most efficiently

and effectively tap this enormous heat source beneath us.

开发我们脚下的这个巨大的热源。

他们的进展十分迅速。

And they are running sprints,

我说的不是你在冰岛见到的那种地热。

and I'm not talking about the type of geothermal that you find in Iceland.

那种地热是很容易触及的。

That's easy to get to.

它很浅，离地表很近，

It's shallow, it's close to the surface,

并且在世界的那些地方，

and in those places in the world, we already have geothermal energy.

我们已经有了地热能源。

I'm talking about making geothermal energy accessible

我想说的是让世上任何需要能源的地方

anywhere and everywhere in the world that energy is needed.

都可以使用地热能源。

但要想实现这一目标，

But in order to do that,

我们必须弄清楚如何才能复刻冰岛

we've got to figure out how to mimic the conditions

这种地方所拥有的必要条件，

that occur in places like Iceland, right,

那些使地热易于开发和获取的条件。

that make geothermal easy to tap and extract and harvest.

而那些必要条件包括热的岩石、

And those conditions are hot rocks,

岩石中的孔隙

pore space in the rocks

以及填充这些孔隙的水。

and water filling those pores.

这些条件看似很简单，

Those conditions seem simple,

但它们只会自然发生在世上极少的地方

but they actually occur naturally in very, very few places in the world, right?

不是吗？

这正是为什么并非所有地方都有地热。

And that's why we don't have geothermal energy everywhere.

它只存在于少数的地方。

We have it in just a few places.

但是，在过去的几十年里，

But the past couple of decades,

出现了极具颠覆性和突破性的技术创新，

there have been really disruptive and breakthrough technological innovations

使我们能够对地表下层进行设计，

that enable us to engineer the subsurface

从而模仿大自然的地热。

to mimic Mother Nature's geothermal.

这些科技创新包括

So technological innovations

最初为海上石油和天然气勘探而开发的

like high-pressure and temperature-drilling technologies

that were developed for offshore oil and gas exploration.

高压钻探和地热钻探技术。

此外，还有像定向钻探这类的技术，

Technologies like directional drilling,

让我们不再只能垂直地往下钻，

where no longer we can just drill straight down,

而是可以转动和操纵钻头，

but instead we can actually turn and steer drill bits

从而到达地下数英里处

to reach very precise and specific locations

非常精确和具体的位置。

in the subsurface, miles underground.

而我们现在也能对岩石进行裂隙化了。

And we can also fracture rock now,

这意味着我们可以在原本正常情况下

which means that we can create pore space

不会出现孔隙的地方制造孔隙。

where pore space does not exist naturally.

因此，如果你把我刚刚列举的

So if you take these innovations that I just listed

这些创新放在一起来看的话，

and you put them all together,

你最终会实现一个

you end up enabling an entirely new breed of scalable geothermal concepts.

全新的可扩张的地热概念。

这些地热概念能在任何地方实施。

Geothermal concepts can be done anywhere in the world.

打个比方，我们现在已经有了

So, for instance now,

we have engineered geothermal systems or EGS.

增强型地热系统（EGS）。

在这一概念里，我们会钻几口井，

In this concept, several wells are drilled,

在井的底部，岩石会被裂隙化，

at the bottom of the well the rock is fractured.

这会在地表下形成一个储备库。

It creates a reservoir under the surface.

你可以把它想成一口锅，

Think of it as a pot where you boil your water underground, right?

让你能够在地下烧水。

你把流体向井下注入，

You send a fluid down,

流体渗入并流过裂隙，

it percolates through the fractures.

再以极热的水的形式再次流上来。

It comes back up really hot,

然后我们会利用它来做

and we use it for all sorts of interesting and important things

各种有趣和重要的事情，

比如直接为建筑物供暖，

like heating buildings directly.

或者我们可以让它通过涡轮机 来生产电力。

Or we can run it through a turbine to produce electricity.

增强型地热系统（EGS）

Now, EGS can take a lot of forms.

可以有多种表现形式。

目前这一领域正在发生重大的革新。

This is an area of intense innovation right now.

你可以通过各种各样的方式

You can engineer these systems in a variety of ways,

对这些系统进行设计，

但基本概念是不变的。

but the basic concepts stay the same.

除此之外，我们还有闭环系统。

Then we have closed-loop systems.

闭环系统是一项挺新的技术。

Closed loops are pretty new.

它也是另一个备受瞩目的创新领域。

It's another really hot area of innovation.

同样的原理，以 EGS 为基础，

Same concept, basic is EGS,

我们会钻一口或多口井，

you have one or more wells drilled,

创造一个地下储备库。

you create a reservoir underground,

但在闭环中，

but in closed loops,

我们并不会通过裂隙化的方式

instead of fracturing to create that reservoir underground,

来创造那个地下储备库，

而是会完全把井钻穿，

it's entirely drilled, like a radiator in the rock.

就像一个岩石内的加热器一样。

而且正如 EGS 一样，

And they take many forms too, just like EGS, check it out.

它们也有多种表现形式，瞧瞧吧。

你可以看到在闭环系统里，

You can see in closed-loop systems how useful it is to be able to turn

能够转动和操纵钻头

对我们而言是多么的有帮助，

and steer that drill bit right?

使得这些概念变得可行。

Totally enabling in terms of getting these concepts to work.

闭环系统另一个非常酷的方面，

Another really cool aspect of closed-loop systems,

同时也是另一个

another fierce area of innovation right now,

正在进行热火朝天的创新的领域，

是我们放入这些系统的

is what we're putting in these systems as the working fluid to harvest the heat.

用于获取热量的工作流体。

大部分时候这一工作流体是水。

Most of the time it's water.

但如果我们能优化一种流体，

But what if we could optimize a fluid to perform better than water?

使其达到比水更高的性能呢？

这种流体能在

So it heats up faster than water at lower temperatures than water.

更低的温度下比水更快地加热。

闭环非常酷的一点在于它的“候选人”。

And the really cool thing about closed loops

is the going candidate, right,

一种所有人都喜欢放入这些系统里，

one everybody loves right now

使其能够最高效地获取热量的东西，

to put in these systems to most efficiently harvest heat

实际上是一种目前

is actually a substance that's the center of our climate angst right now.

处于我们对气候的忧虑的中心的物质。

它以过量、充裕的形式存在在我们周围。

It's around us in excess in abundance.

它就是 CO2。

It's CO2.

超级酷。

Super cool.

除此之外，我们还有混合式的，

So then there's hybrids, not the cars, geothermal hybrids.

我指的不是汽车，而是混合式地热。

如此一来我们就能达到两全其美了，

You take the best of both worlds, right?

不是吗？

通过岩石裂隙化，

You get the increased surface area

我们得到了的扩大的表面积以及热量。

and heat that you get from fracturing rock.

You combine that with a closed-loop well design

把这个与闭环井的设计相结合，

我们便能使用那个最优化的流体了。

so you can use that optimized fluid.

The goal of hybrid systems is to extract the most heat,

混合式系统的目的是为了获取最多热量，

同时使钻探成本最小化。

minimize drilling costs.

而这就是当下正在发生的事。

So that's what's happening right now.

非常多的创新。

A lot of innovation.

这真的非常非常的酷。

It's really, really cool.

但这些概念，

But these concepts,

无一例外，都有着他们

none of them are without their technology challenges.

自己的技术上的挑战。

但是，它们可不是天方夜谭。

But y’all, these are not moonshots.

它们不是天方夜谭。

They are not moonshots.

我们正在谈论的是对现有的

We are talking about making very incremental changes

科技、方法和技术

to existing technologies, methods and techniques

进行渐进式的改变，

从而实现更多温度更高、

with an eye on more hotter and deeper geothermal development.

深度更深的地热开发。

同样，这些也不仅仅是概念而已。

And these also aren't just ideas.

此时就有团队正在实地演示着这些概念。

There are teams right now in the field demonstrating these concepts.

比如我指导的

Teams like Sage Geosystems, a team that I mentor.

Sage Geosystems 团队

这是他们今年夏天在 — 听好了哦 —

This is a well that they are demonstrating this summer

in -- get this -- Texas.

德克萨斯州示范操作的一口井。

不是在冰岛，不是在火山边，

Not in Iceland, not on the side of a volcano,

也不是在环太平洋火山带。

not in the ring of fire.

这是德克萨斯州的一个牧场，

This is a Texas pasture

你永远不会想得到

where you would never suspect the enormous geothermal resources

在它之下藏有如此巨大的地热资源。

that lie below.

而这口井是一个现有的废弃油气井，

And this well is an existing abandoned oil and gas well

他们改变了其原本的用途，

that they have repurposed for this geothermal demonstration.

从而进行这个地热操作演示。

如果本次操作演示活动一切顺利的话，

If all goes well with this demonstration,

到2022年，也就是明年，

by 2022, that is next year,

得克萨斯州将能有一个自己地热发电站。

they will have a geothermal power plant in Texas.

此时就有许多这样的例子正在实地实践。

There are dozens of examples like this, right now in the field.

他们全都是创业公司。

These are all start-ups.

他们在现场证实着地热概念，

They're out there proving geothermal concepts,

新的科技、新的钻探，

new technologies, new drilling,

那些我在PPT里向你们展示的概念。

the concepts that I showed you in the slides.

我们正身处地热复兴的阶段。

We are in the midst of a geothermal renaissance.

过去18个月里成立的地热创业公司数量

In the past 18 months,

more geothermal start-ups have launched than in the past 10 years combined.

已超过了过去10 年的总和。

这其中，哪怕仅仅只有一家创业公司

If even one of these start-ups is successful

能成功证实一个可扩张的地热概念，

at proving a scalable geothermal concept,

那么我们便能只争朝夕地开始

we are literally off to the races in developing this massive,

在世界任何地方开发这一巨大的、

可靠的、每时每刻都可用的清洁能源。

reliable 24/7 clean energy source anywhere in the world.

而当我说 “只争朝夕” 时，

And by off to the races, I mean that, right?

我是认真的。

我们真的要加速了。

Like, we got to go.

时间不等人，我们需要规模。

The clock is ticking, we need scale.

如果地热概念成功的话固然很好，

It's going to be cute if it works,

但我们必须要有全球化的规模。

but we've got to have global scale.

那么我们如何才能达到它呢？

So how do we do that?

现在是时候说一说我的提议了。

It brings me to my proposition.

事实上，有一个定位完美的行业，

So it turns out that there is an industry that is perfectly positioned

能让我们从只有少数地热发电站的现状，

to take us from the few geothermal power plants we have today

走向能够满足需求的成千上万的数量。

to the hundreds of thousands that we need to meet demand.

这个行业是一个所有

The industry that everyone loves to hate,

关心环境与气候的人都痛恨的行业。

who cares about the environment and climate,

is that industry.

要想将地热规模化，我们该怎么做呢？

To scale geothermal, what do we need to do?

我们需要高效且安全地向地下钻探，

We need to efficiently, effectively and safely drill below the surface

一次一次又一次。

over and over and over and over again.

而现在谁在做这些事情呢？

And who does that now?

石油和天然气行业正在做这些事情。

The oil and gas industry does that now.

石油和天然气行业

The oil and gas industry

是个由数百万人组成的全球专业劳动力。

is a global specialized workforce of millions,

这一行业拥有近 200 年间的

backed by almost 200 years of breakthrough technological innovation,

突破性的技术创新的基础，

这些创新全部都旨在从很深的地下搜索、

all aimed at exploring for, drilling for

钻探以及生产能源。

and producing energy from deep underground.

稍加转变，我们就能实现绿色钻探了。

You flip the switch and you have green drilling.

石油和天然气维持着行业的商业模式，

And oil and gas keeps its current business model,

这一商业模式使他们得以

the business model that keeps them firmly rooted in hydrocarbons now.

在碳氢化合物领域立足。

他们在做他们所了解的事，

They're doing what they know how to do,

也就是搜索、钻探

which is exploring for, drilling for

以及生产一个地表下的能源资产。

and producing a subsurface energy asset.

但我们现在讨论的是一个小转变，

But what we're talking about here is a pivot

从碳氢化合物到热能。

from hydrocarbons to heat.

全球数以百万计的技术高超、

A global workforce of millions, highly skilled and trained

训练有素劳动力，

不需要被重新培训。

doesn't need to be retrained.

他们能继续去做

They can keep doing what they already know how to do.

他们已经知道该如何做的事情。

但这一次是为了清洁能源。

But this time around for clean energy.

如果我们能成功做到这件事，

If we're able to pull this off and team up to do it,

并且团结一致地去做它，

那我们将有能力满足全世界的能源需求。

we are talking about the ability to meet world energy demand.

在未来的几十年里，我们将有能力

We are talking about the ability over the next few decades

把比我们目前拥有的肮脏能源

to put more geothermal energy on the grid

than we currently have in dirty energy.

还要多的地热能源送上电网。

达到石油与天然气产量规模的地热能源。

Geothermal energy at oil and gas scale.

我敢肯定

So I bet I know what some of you are thinking

我知道你们当中的一些人现在在想什么，

因为我也曾经那么想过。

because I was that person to like, I used to think it.

所以我要告诉你们

And so I will tell you how I got from there to here.

我是如何从当时走到今天的位置的。

我曾以为我们只需要

I used to feel

让石油与天然气行业消失就好了。

that we just needed to let the oil and gas industry go away.

我是一个气候活动家和永远的环保人士，

So I'm a climate activist and a lifelong environmentalist,

只要有需要，

the kind that would have chained myself to a tree if I needed to,

我甚至能把自己和一棵树绑起来。

of that flavor.

我长大后有了工作，成为了一名能源律师

I grew up and got a job, became an energy lawyer

然后成了一名能源企业家，

and then an energy entrepreneur,

而创业让我走向野外进行产品部署，

and entrepreneurship took me out into the field for product deployments,

最终我一天到晚都跟钻机待在一起。

and I ended up living on drill rigs.

某一刻我突然豁然开朗，

And I had a complete epiphany,

我的思想彻底变了，

it was a total mind shift,

不再带有偏见，

bias out the door.

因为我结识了

Because I got to know many individuals in the oil and gas workforce.

许多石油与天然气领域的从业者。

那毅力，

And y'all that grit.

讲真，那真是一种令人难以置信的毅力。

I mean, it is incredible grit.

他们全力以赴。

Those people are there for it.

但同时我也了解到了

But I also got to know the amazing technological innovations

那个行业了不起的科技创新。

of that industry.

我开始相信他们是一种财富。

And what I've come to believe is those are assets.

那些劳动力，那些科技，

The workforce, the technologies,

他们都是我们此时此刻

they are assets that we can leverage now to solve climate change.

可以充分利用从而解决气候变化的财富。

而我的工作就是招募石油与天然气行业的

So what I do for my job

is I recruit oil and gas veterans to the cause of geothermal.

前从业者加入地热能源的事业。

如果我们要改变航向，

If we want to turn the ship,

我们就需要招募海员。

we recruit the sailors.

这成功了。

And it's working.

所以我们有好消息。

So there's good news.

还记得我给你们看的那个

Do you remember that slide I showed you with all the start-ups,

全是创业公司的幻灯片吗？

在野外实践的地热创业公司。

the geothermal start-ups that are in the field?

在那之中有不少团队

A good many of those teams are actually oil and gas veterans.

其实是石油与天然气行业的前从业者。

开发了他们在得克萨斯州的油井的

Sage Geosystems with their Texas well.

Sage Geosystems，

这是个由清一色的石油与天然气行业的

That is an all-oil-and-gas team

前从业者组成的团队。

with almost 300 years of collective experience

他们在壳牌、英国石油公司、

美国哈利伯顿公司

at entities like Shell, BP, Halliburton and Weatherford.

和威德福国际有限公司这类的企业里

拥有近 300 年的总计经验。

这很有趣不是吗？

Y'all, that is really interesting, right?

全世界都将注意到这一事业，

I mean, that world take notice

因为那些石油与天然气的头脑正不断利用

because what this is is oil and gas brains actively reinventing themselves,

他们在他们的整个石油与天然气行业

using everything they know

that they learned in their entire oil and gas experience

从业经历中所得的知识来进行革新，

从而解决气候变化。

to solve climate change.

但令这有趣的另一方面

But it's also interesting

是因为那蓬勃发展的创业家群体，

because this new flourish of entrepreneur, you know,

石油与天然气行业的前从业者

oil and gas veteran turned geothermal entrepreneur

变成了地热创业家，

他们帮助石油与天然气行业

is helping the oil and gas industry engage actively with this problem set.

积极参与到这一问题中来。

他们懂得石油与天然气的专业术语。

They speak the language of oil and gas.

他们了解石油与天然气行业的商业模式。

They understand the business models of oil and gas.

他们通过互相之间几十年的信任与经验，

They are out building partnerships and relationships

with oil and gas entities

与各个石油与天然气企业建立合作。

that are based on decades of trust and experience

they have with one another.

在过去的六个月里，

In the past six months,

地热初创企业

geothermal start-ups have closed more than 100 million dollars in funding deals

已经完成了超过一亿美元的融资，

并由石油与天然气企业作为融资者。

with oil and gas entities as funding partners.

我们正处于一个

We are at the beginning of a huge and exciting shift here.

巨大且令人振奋的转变的开始。

如果石油与天然气行业中最优秀聪明的人

If it's the best and brightest minds in oil and gas

开始创办地热公司，

who are off launching geothermal companies,

那这很可能就是石油与天然气行业的未来

then y'all, this very well may be

the future of the oil and gas industry itself.

但我也有担忧。

But here's my worry.

假设石油与天然气自此开始掌舵，

So say oil and gas grabs the reins here, takes us to global scale fast,

使我们以几何增长迅速达到全球性规模。

exponential growth.

我们将把数兆瓦的地热能源输入电网。

We put terawatts of geothermal energy on the grid.

我们会为此产生纠纷吗？

Are we going to fight about this?

我之所以热爱地热能源，

The thing that I love about geothermal

假设石油与天然气自此开始掌舵，

is that it gives us all a way around ourselves, right?

不是吗？

它让我们得以避免极端分化。

A way around extreme polarization.

环境学家和钻探人员，

Environmentalists and drillers,

小狗和小猫，右和左，

dogs and cats, right and left,

我们都能得到我们想得到的。

we all get what we want.

在有需要的地方能用上清洁能源，

Clean energy where we need it,

解决气候变化，

climate change solved,

解决能源贫困，

energy poverty solved

并且钻探人员能继续钻探工作。

and drillers keep drilling.

如果我们就此建立正确的合作关系，

If we build the right collaborations here

并为共同的愿景团结一致，

and unite behind a shared vision,

那么我们能在未来30年内解决能源问题

we solve energy in the next 30 years.

我们要将讨论的话题

We change the conversation

从对我们是否能达到

from worrying about whether we're going to meet 2050 climate goals

2050 年气候目标的担忧

转变为能更快实现它们的前景。

to how they look kind of lazy.

我们一定能做到的。

We can do this.

我们只需要用钻探突破极限。

We've just got to drill the limit.

谢谢。

Thank you.

（掌声）

(Applause)