He likes nuts.

他喜歡堅果。

In 2019, he went into an electric box in Kettering, Ohio.

2019年，他走進了俄亥俄州凱特林的一個電箱。

Is this a nut? It was not a nut.

這是個瘋子嗎？這不是堅果。

He broke the electric box.

他打破了電箱。

And caused a blackout for 20,000 people.

並造成2萬人停電。

Larry isn't alone. Squirrels do this all the time.

拉里不是一個人。松鼠經常這樣做

Here's a map of their exploits, just last year.

這是一張他們的探索地圖，就在去年。

But here's the thing: Blackouts happen all the time, for all kinds of reasons.

但事情是這樣的：停電是經常發生的，原因是各種各樣的。

Like wildfires.

比如野火。

Or storms.

或者風暴。

And in the last half-century, there have been more and more power outages because of weather.

而近半個世紀以來，因為天氣原因而停電的情況越來越多。

And it'll only get worse because of our changing climate.

而且由於氣候的變化，情況只會越來越糟。

The way we power the world is fragile.

我們為世界提供動力的方式是脆弱的。

But there's a way to make it more resilient.

但有一個辦法可以讓它更有彈性。

Our current energy system looks like this:

我們目前的能源系統是這樣的。

Right on top are power plants, which get their energy from a variety of sources:

正上方是發電廠，它們的能源來自於各種來源。

like fossil fuels, wind and the sun.

如化石燃料、風和太陽。

They distribute electricity down to thousands — if not millions — of customers. So it's

他們將電力分配到數千--如果不是數百萬--用戶。所以，它是

a big, centralized system.

一個大的、集中的系統。

When you're sending a lot of power over just a few lines,

當你在幾條線上發送大量的力量時。

that means that a tree falling on those power lines, or a storm can easily knock out power to a lot of people.

這意味著，一棵樹倒在這些電線上，或風暴可以很容易地敲出很多人的權力。

That's Umair Irfan. He writes about energy policy for Vox.com.

這是Umair Irfan。他為Vox.com撰寫關於能源政策的文章。

It's not just an inconvenience, it can affect the lives of thousands of people.

這不僅僅是一種不便，還可能影響到成千上萬人的生活。

We saw after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, a blackout that lasted for months.

我們看到波多黎各颶風 "瑪利亞 "過後，停電持續了幾個月。

And thousands of people died.

還有成千上萬的人死去。

There are ways to avoid this, though.

不過，也有辦法避免這種情況。

Some homes have generators.

有些家庭有發電機。

Some neighborhoods have their own solar panels.

有些小區有自己的太陽能板。

And some places even have their own small power plants, like the New York University campus.

而有些地方甚至有自己的小型發電廠，比如紐約大學校園。

During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, they were able to keep the campus lit — even when

在2012年的颶風桑迪期間，他們能夠保持校園的照明--即使是當

most of downtown Manhattan went dark.

曼哈頓市中心的大部分地區都黑了。

These are all examples of a microgrid.

這些都是微電網的例子。

A decentralized system that can sustain itself when it needs to.

一個分散的系統，在需要的時候可以自我維持。

And the US government has invested in this technology.

而美國政府也在這項技術上進行了投資。

The military is very interested in microgrids. This is something they've invested in heavily

軍方對微電網非常感興趣。這也是他們大力投資的事情。

to power installations — both in the United States and also in foreign areas where they

在美國和外國地區的電力設施中。

may not have a reliable central power grid that they can count on.

可能沒有一個可靠的中央電網可以依靠。

Another area is basically for remote, isolated communities

另一個領域基本上是為偏遠、偏僻的社區服務的。

that have a very fragile and tenuous link to the main power grid.

與主電網的聯繫非常脆弱和微弱。

Microgrids are very useful during emergencies, especially blackouts.

微電網在緊急情況下非常有用，尤其是停電。

But in an ideal world, we don't just use them for emergencies.

但在理想的世界裡，我們不只是用它們來應急。

They could restructure our current power system.

他們可以重組我們現有的電力系統。

If your goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you want to try to minimize the amount of fossil

如果你的目標是減少溫室氣體排放，你要儘量減少化石燃料的用量。

fuel you use and maximize the amount of free solar and wind energy you have.

你使用的燃料，並最大限度地利用免費的太陽能和風能。

Those can vary throughout the day.

這些可以在一天中變化。

And so you want to route power from where it's sunniest and windiest to the places that need it most.

所以你要把電力從陽光最充足、風向最強的地方輸送到最需要的地方。

And that's where microgrids come in.

而這就是微電網的作用。

Microgrids can generate power using green sources, like wind and solar. And unlike the

微電網可以利用風能、太陽能等綠色資源發電。而與之不同的是

power plants, they can store that energy.

發電廠，它們可以儲存這些能量。

When it's no longer sunny or windy,

當不再是陽光明媚，不再有風的時候。

microgrids can jump in and say: “Hey! We have some power stored here!”

微電網可以跳進去說，"嘿，我們這裡有一些電力儲存！"

And they can share their stored energy back up into the big grid.

而且他們可以將自己儲存的能量分享回大電網。

But...

但是...

One big issue is that a lot of utilities are effectively monopolies and they're regulated by regulators

一個很大的問題是，很多公用事業公司實際上是壟斷企業，他們受到監管機構的監管。

that are trying to protect these old business models.

試圖保護這些舊的商業模式的。

The reason microgrids present a threat to these companies isn't just that they help you survive a blackout.

微電網對這些公司構成威脅的原因不僅僅是它們能幫助你在停電中生存。

It's that it can also change the source of our power and the direction it flows in.

就是它還可以改變我們力量的來源和流向。