I get to learn about lots of different plans for dealing with climate change. It’s part of my job—climate change is the focus of my work with the investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures—but it’s just as likely to come up over dinner with friends or at a backyard barbecue. (In Seattle, we get outside as often as we can during the summer, since we know how often it’ll be raining once fall comes.)

我了解到許多應(yīng)對(duì)氣候變化的不同計(jì)劃。這是我工作的一部分——?dú)夂蜃兓俏以谕黄颇茉椿鸬墓ぷ髦攸c(diǎn)但這個(gè)話題同樣可能在與朋友共進(jìn)晚餐或在后院燒烤時(shí)出現(xiàn)。(在西雅圖，我們會(huì)盡可能多地在夏天到戶外活動(dòng)，因?yàn)槲覀冎酪坏┣锾靵砼R，下雨會(huì)有多頻繁。)

Whenever I hear an idea for what we can do to keep global warming in check—whether it’s over a conference table or a cheeseburger—I always ask this question: “What’s your plan for steel?”

每當(dāng)我聽到一個(gè)如何控制全球變暖的想法——無論是在會(huì)議桌上還是在吃芝士漢堡時(shí)——我總是會(huì)問這個(gè)問題:“你對(duì)于鋼鐵是如何打算的?”

I know it sounds like an odd thing to say, but it opens the door to an important subject that deserves a lot more attention in any conversation about climate change. Making steel and other materials—such as cement, plastic, glass, aluminum, and paper—is the third biggest contributor of greenhouse gases, behind agriculture and making electricity. It’s responsible for a fifth of all emissions. And these emissions will be some of the hardest to get rid of: these materials are everywhere in our lives, and we don’t yet have any proven breakthroughs that will give us affordable zero-carbon versions of them. If we’re going to get to zero carbon emissions overall, we have a lot of inventing to do.

我知道這聽起來很奇怪，但它為一個(gè)重要的話題打開了大門——這個(gè)話題在任何關(guān)于氣候變化的討論中都值得更多的關(guān)注。制造鋼鐵及其他材料（如水泥、塑料、玻璃、鋁和紙張）是溫室氣體的第三大來源，僅次于農(nóng)業(yè)和發(fā)電。它的排放量占總排放量的五分之一，而這些排放會(huì)是最難避免的。因?yàn)檫@些材料在我們的生活中無處不在，而我們也還沒有任何已被證實(shí)的突破性進(jìn)展，制造出我們能負(fù)擔(dān)得起的零碳材料。如果我們要實(shí)現(xiàn)全面零碳排放 ，我們還需要做很多創(chuàng)新。

Steel, cement, and plastic are so pervasive in modern life that it can be easy to take them for granted. The first two are the main reason our buildings and bridges are so sturdy and last so long. Steel—cheap, strong, and infinitely recyclable—also goes into shingles, household appliances, canned goods, and computers. Concrete—rust-resistant, rot-proof, and non-flammable—can be made dense enough to absorb radiation or light enough to float on water. (People sometimes use the terms cement and concrete interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. You make cement first, and then you mix it with sand, water, and gravel to make concrete.)

鋼鐵、水泥和塑料在現(xiàn)代生活中無處不在，人們很容易把它們視為理所當(dāng)然可以獲得的東西。鋼鐵和水泥是我們的建筑和橋梁如此堅(jiān)固耐用的主要原因。鋼材便宜、堅(jiān)硬，而且可以無限循環(huán)使用，還能用于墻面板、家用電器、罐頭食品和電腦。混凝土則防銹、防腐蝕、不易燃。它可以被制造得足夠厚實(shí)來吸收輻射，也可以被制造得足夠輕且漂浮在水面上。（人們有時(shí)把水泥和混凝土這兩個(gè)詞混用，但它們不是一回事。你需要先制作水泥，然后把它和沙子、水和砂礫混合制作成混凝土。)

The 520 floating bridge near my house sits on 77 concrete pontoons, each weighing thousands of pounds. In his book Making the Modern World, Vaclav Smil estimates that America’s interstate highway system contains about 730 million tons of concrete in the driving lanes alone.

我家附近的520浮橋坐落在77個(gè)混凝土躉船上，每個(gè)躉船重達(dá)數(shù)千磅。在《創(chuàng)建當(dāng)代世界》（Making the Modern World）一書中，瓦茨拉夫·斯米爾（Vaclav Smil）估計(jì)，僅是美國州際公路系統(tǒng)的行車車道就含有7.3億噸混凝土。

As for plastics, they have a bad reputation these days—and it’s true that the amount piling up in the oceans is problematic. But they also do a lot of good. For example, you can thank plastics for making that fuel-efficient car you drive so light; they account for as much as half of the car’s total volume, but only 10 percent of its weight!  

至于塑料，它們最近名聲不好——海洋中的塑料堆積量也確實(shí)是個(gè)問題。但它們也做了很多好事。例如，你可以感謝塑料使你駕駛的節(jié)能汽車如此輕便；它們占據(jù)著汽車一半的總體積，但只有汽車重量的10%！

So how do we cut down on emissions from all the steel, cement, and plastic we’re making? One way is to use less of all these materials. There are definitely steps we should take to use less by recycling more and increasing efficiency. But that won’t be enough to offset the fact that the world’s population is growing and getting richer; as the middle class expands, so will our use of materials.

那么，我們?nèi)绾蜗鳒p我們生產(chǎn)鋼鐵、水泥和塑料所產(chǎn)生的排放量呢？一種方法是減少這些材料的使用。我們確實(shí)應(yīng)該采取一些措施，通過更多的回收利用和更高的效率來減少其使用量。但這不足以抵消世界人口不斷增長且日益富裕的事實(shí)；隨著中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的擴(kuò)大，我們對(duì)材料的使用量也會(huì)增大。

In a sense, that’s good news, because it means more people will be living in sturdy houses and apartment buildings and driving on paved roads. But it’s bad news for the climate. Take Africa, for example: Its emissions from making concrete are projected to quadruple by 2050. Emissions from steel could go up even more, because the continent uses so little now.

從某種意義上說，這是個(gè)好消息，因?yàn)檫@意味著更多的人將住在堅(jiān)固的房屋和公寓樓里，出門開車有鋪好的平坦道路。但這對(duì)氣候來說是個(gè)壞消息。以非洲為例：到2050年，非洲混凝土制造過程中的排放量預(yù)計(jì)將翻兩番。鋼鐵制造的排放量可能會(huì)增長更多，因?yàn)槟壳胺侵薮箨憳O少使用鋼鐵。

If using less isn’t really a viable option, could we make things without emitting carbon in the first place? That is, in fact, what we’ll need to do—but there are several challenges. First, these industries require a lot of electricity, which today is often generated using fossil fuels. Second, the processes also require a lot of heat (as in thousands of degrees Fahrenheit) and fossil fuels are often the cheapest way to create that heat.

如果減少使用并不是一個(gè)切實(shí)可行的選項(xiàng)，我們是否可以從一開始生產(chǎn)時(shí)就不排放碳呢？事實(shí)上，這就是我們需要做的，但也存在一些挑戰(zhàn)。首先，這些行業(yè)需要大量的電力，而現(xiàn)在通常使用化石燃料來發(fā)電。其次，這個(gè)過程也需要大量熱量(比如數(shù)千華氏度)，而化石燃料往往是產(chǎn)生這種熱量最廉價(jià)的方式。

Finally—and this might be the toughest challenge of all—manufacturing some of these products involves chemical reactions that emit greenhouse gases. For example, to make cement, you start with limestone, which contains calcium, carbon, and oxygen. You only want the calcium, so you burn the limestone in a furnace along with some other materials. You end up with the calcium you want, plus a byproduct you don’t want: carbon dioxide. It’s a chemical reaction, and there’s no way around it.

最后，這可能是最艱巨的挑戰(zhàn)——其中一些產(chǎn)品的制造過程包含排放溫室氣體的化學(xué)反應(yīng)。比如，要制作水泥，首先要從石灰石開始，石灰石中含有鈣、碳和氧，而你只想要鈣，于是你把石灰石和其他一些材料一起放在爐子里燒。最終你會(huì)得到想要的鈣，以及你不想要的副產(chǎn)品：二氧化碳。這是一個(gè)化學(xué)反應(yīng)，是怎么也無法繞過去的。

All three are tough challenges, but don’t despair. Scientists and entrepreneurs are trying to solve these problems and help make zero-carbon materials that will be affordable around the world. Here are a few of the innovative approaches that I’m especially excited about:

雖然以上三個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)都很艱巨，但請(qǐng)不要絕望?？茖W(xué)家和企業(yè)家正試圖解決這些問題，并制造出全世界都能負(fù)擔(dān)得起的零碳材料。下面是一些讓我感到興奮的創(chuàng)新方法:

1

Carbon Capture

The idea here is to suck greenhouse gases out of the air. I think this is probably the approach we’ll have to take with cement; rather than making it without emissions, we’ll remove the emissions before they can do any damage. There are two basic approaches: One is to grab the greenhouse gases right where they’re created, such as at a cement plant (that’s called carbon capture); the other is to pull them from the atmosphere, after they’ve dispersed. That’s called direct-air capture, and it’s a big technical challenge that various companies are trying to solve. Mosaic Materials, for example, is developing new nano-materials that could make direct-air capture much more efficient and cost-effective.

1

碳捕獲

這個(gè)辦法的創(chuàng)意是從空氣中吸收溫室氣體。我認(rèn)為這可能是針對(duì)水泥將必須采取的方法——與其讓生產(chǎn)過程不排放溫室氣體，不如在排放物造成損害之前就消除它。有兩種基本的方法：一種是在溫室氣體產(chǎn)生處就捕獲它們，比如水泥廠(這叫做碳捕獲)；另一種是在溫室氣體散開后，再將它們從大氣中捕獲，這就是所謂的直接空氣捕獲，是一個(gè)許多公司都在試圖解決的巨大技術(shù)挑戰(zhàn)。例如，馬賽克材料公司（Mosaic Materials）正在研發(fā)一種新型納米材料，這種材料可以使直接空氣捕獲更加高效且更具成本效益。

Electrification

2

We may be able to replace fossil fuels with electricity in some industrial processes. Boston Metal, the company profiled in the video above, is a great example; they’re working on a way to make steel using electricity instead of coal, and to make it just as strong and cheap. Of course, electrification only helps reduce emissions if it uses clean power, which is another reason why it’s so important to get zero-carbon electricity.

電氣化

2

我們也許可以在某些工業(yè)過程中用電力代替化石燃料。上面視頻中介紹的波士頓金屬公司（Boston Metal）就是一個(gè)很好的例子。他們正在研究一種用電力代替煤炭來生產(chǎn)鋼鐵且使其同樣堅(jiān)固而便宜的方法。當(dāng)然，電氣化只有在使用清潔能源的情況下才有助于減少排放，這也是獲得零碳電力如此重要的另一個(gè)原因。

3

Fuel Switching

Some industrial processes can’t easily be electrified because they require too much heat. One possible alternative is to get the heat from a next-generation nuclear plant. (As I’ve mentioned before, a company that I helped start, TerraPower, uses an approach called a traveling wave reactor that is safe, prevents proliferation, and creates very little waste. ) We also might be able to get the heat using hydrogen fuels, which can be made using clean electricity and don’t emit any carbon when they’re burned. Hydrogen fuels exist today, but they’re expensive to make and transport, so companies are trying to drive the cost down and make hydrogen fuels available at scale. The Swedish steelmaker SSAB plans to build the world’s first fossil fuel-free steel plant powered by hydrogen, which will running as a pilot project next year. ThyssenKrupp and ArcelorMittal also recently announced projects in this area.

3

燃料轉(zhuǎn)換

有些工業(yè)過程很難利用電力實(shí)現(xiàn)，因?yàn)樗鼈冃枰臒崃刻?。一個(gè)可能的替代方案是從下一代核電站獲取熱量。(正如我之前提到的，我?guī)椭鷦?chuàng)辦的一家公司泰拉能源使用了一種叫做“行波堆”的技術(shù)，這種方法安全，可防止核擴(kuò)散，而且產(chǎn)生的廢物很少。)我們也可以用氫燃料獲得熱量，清潔電力可以制造出氫燃料，它們?cè)谌紵龝r(shí)不排放任何碳。如今氫燃料已經(jīng)存在，但制造和運(yùn)輸成本都很高，因此企業(yè)正試圖降低成本，并大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)氫燃料。瑞典鋼鐵制造商SSAB計(jì)劃建造世界上首個(gè)以氫氣為動(dòng)力的無化石燃料鋼鐵廠，這將在明年作為試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目運(yùn)行。蒂森克虜伯(ThyssenKrupp)和安賽樂米塔爾(ArcelorMittal)最近也宣布了該領(lǐng)域的項(xiàng)目。

Recycling

4

On its own, recycling steel, cement, and plastic won’t be nearly enough to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, but it will help. The best book I’ve read on recycling—yes, I’ve read more than one!—is called Sustainable Materials With Both Eyes Open, and I highly recommend it.

回收利用

4

就其本身而言，回收鋼鐵、水泥和塑料還不足以消除溫室氣體的排放，但它也會(huì)有所幫助。我讀過最好的一本關(guān)于回收利用的書——是的，我讀過不止一本!——叫做《可持續(xù)材料：睜開雙眼》，我強(qiáng)烈推薦。

I’m optimistic about all these areas of innovation—especially if we couple progress in these areas with smart public policies. Companies need the right incentives to phase out old polluting factories and adopt these new approaches. If all of these pieces come together, we will have a climate-friendly plan for cement, as well as steel, plastic, and the other materials that make modern life possible.

我對(duì)所有這些創(chuàng)新領(lǐng)域都感到樂觀，尤其是在將這些領(lǐng)域的進(jìn)展與明智的公共政策結(jié)合起來的情況下。企業(yè)需要適當(dāng)?shù)募?lì)措施來逐步淘汰舊的污染型工廠，從而采用這些新方法。如果能將這些利好都結(jié)合在一起，我們就將有一個(gè)針對(duì)水泥、鋼鐵、塑料和其他現(xiàn)代生活所需材料的氣候友好型計(jì)劃。