It's a fragile desert ecosystem, dotted with wildflower fields and Joshua trees which are iconic in this region.

它是一個脆弱的沙漠生態系統，點綴著野花田和約書亞樹，這些樹在這個地區具有標誌性意義。

But over the past several years, the landscape has started to change.

但在過去的幾年裡，這片土地開始改變。

If you take a closer look in certain areas, you start to see more and more of these patches of blue.

如果你在某些地方仔細觀察，你會開始看到越來越多的這些藍色斑塊。

They're are solar farms.

它們是太陽能發電場。

And in this part of the US, many environmental activists and local residents are not happy about them.

在美國的這個地區，許多環保活動家和當地居民對它們感到不滿。

"Joshua trees are torn down to make way for solar projects."

「為了建造太陽能項目，約書亞樹被砍伐。」

"... causing quite an uproar..."

「引起了一場軒然大波......」

“...piles and piles of Joshua trees."

「成堆成堆的約書亞樹。」

It isn't just the trees.

問題不僅僅是樹木。

Solar farms in rural areas can take up valuable agricultural land and disrupt diverse ecosystems.

農村地區的太陽能發電場佔據了寶貴的農業用地，並破壞了多樣化的生態系統。

But transitioning to more solar power and a more sustainable future for the US requires a lot of land.

但轉向更多的太陽能和更永續的未來需要大量土地。

So, what if we could find some of that land inside our cities?

那麼，如果我們能在城市裡找到一些土地呢？

This video is presented by Delta Airlines.

這段影片由達美航空贊助播出。

In 2021, President Biden announced ambitious plans for the US to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050.

2021年，拜登總統宣布了雄心勃勃的計劃，實現美國在2050年之前實現全面淨零溫室氣體排放。

Solar is a critical part of the plan.

太陽能是計劃的關鍵部分。

And over the past several years as the US has ramped up solar power generation, the vast majority of solar arrays have been built in rural areas.

在過去的幾年中，隨著美國太陽能發電量的增加，絕大多數太陽能電池陣列都建在農村地區。

According to one study, over half of utility scale solar facilities were placed in deserts.

根據一項研究，超過一半的公用事業規模太陽能設施建在沙漠地區。

Another third in croplands.

另有三分之一建在耕地上。

10% in grasslands and forests.

10%建在草原和森林中。

And just 2.5% in urban areas.

而僅2.5%建在城市地區。

That makes sense.

這是有道理的。

Putting solar on undeveloped open spaces is often is often the cheapest and fastest way to do it.

在未開發的開放空地上安裝太陽能通常是最便宜和最快的方法。

But there are some major problems with this path.

但這條路線存在一些重大問題。

Large scale installations often mean bulldozing massive amounts of land, altering plant and animal growth and migration patterns.

大規模安裝通常意味著推土大量土地，改變了植物和動物的生長和遷徙模式。

Or locals don't want a solar farm to ruin natural views.

或當地人不希望太陽能發電場破壞自然景觀。

Or they want to preserve farmland.

或者他們想保護農地。

When you start to go bigger and bigger, then it starts to become less comfortable for people.

當你開始擴大規模時，人們就會感到不舒服。

That's Joshua Pearce.

這是約書亞·皮爾斯。

He's been a photovoltaics researcher for two decades and is a professor at the University of Western Ontario.

他從事光電研究已有20年，是西安大略大學的教授。

And so we've seen progressively more and more resistance in the middle of the US to large scale solar development.

所以我們看到，美國中部對大規模太陽能發展的抵制越來越多。

That resistance has sometimes been funded by fossil fuel companies but people also have legitimate concerns.

這種抵制有時是由化石燃料公司資助的，但人們也有合法的擔憂。

And across the country from Massachusetts to Ohio to California, solar expansion has been stalled by protests.

從麻薩諸塞州到俄亥俄州再到加州，太陽能擴張受到抗議的阻礙。

One option that we're starting to see more of is agrovoltaics.

我們開始看到的一個選項是農業光伏。

It's a way to build solar arrays that allow for agricultural use between the panels to preserve some farmland for crops, grazing, or native species.

這是一種建造太陽能電池陣列的方法，允許在電池板之間進行農業利用，以保留一些農田用於作物、放牧或本地物種。

But because the need for energy is mostly outside of rural areas,

但由於能源需求主要在農村之外，

any kind of rural solar still means building long distance transmission lines that can be expensive and an eyesore.

任何類型的農村太陽能都意味著建造昂貴且礙事的長距離輸電線路。

One thing that can help address some of these issues would be a kind of large, open, unused space closer to cities.

可以幫助解決這些問題的一種方法是在靠近城市的大型未使用的開放空間。

Enter: Parking lots.

停車場映入眼簾。

The US has a lot of them, thanks to decades of designing cities around cars.

由於幾十年來的城市圍繞著汽車設計，美國有很多停車場。

Parking lots cover over 5% of developed land.

停車場佔了超過5%的開發土地。

These spaces could play one part in helping to fix solar's land problem, if we covered the lots in canopies of solar panels.

如果我們在這些停車場上建造太陽能電池板的遮篷，這些空間可以在幫助解決太陽能土地問題中發揮一定作用。

There is an awful lot of parking lot space in the United States that we can take advantage of that's already essentially unused.

美國有許多停車場空間可以利用，它們基本上已經沒有被使用。

It's wasted space except for parking underneath it, and it's not even used most of the time.

除了停車，這些空間是浪費的，而且大部分時間都沒有使用。

It's an idea that other parts of the world like France, are embracing.

這是其他世界的一些地方，例如法國正在採納的想法。

A 2023 policy in France will require that outdoor car parks with more than 80 spaces cover at least half the surface area with solar canopies.

2023年，法國的政策要求擁有80個以上停車位的戶外停車場至少覆蓋一半的地表面積使用太陽能遮篷。

And officials estimate it could add ten nuclear power plants' worth of solar panels.

官員估計這可以增加相當於十座核電廠的太陽能板。

Importantly, policy like this utilizes space that's already cleared land with little biodiversity which is also close to consumers.

重要的是，這樣的政策利用已經開墾、生物多樣性較低、接近消費者的土地。

And parking lot solar canopies could also provide shade to cars in hot weather and cover from snow.

停車場太陽能遮篷還可以在炎熱天氣為汽車提供陰涼，遮擋雪。

So why don't we see more parking lot canopies in the US, too?

那為什麼我們在美國看不到更多的停車場太陽能遮篷呢？

Like canopies that could cover Disney World parking lots.

例如可以覆蓋迪士尼世界停車場的遮篷，

Instead of the solar farms, they built on nearby land that used to be orchards and forests.

而不是在附近曾經是果園和森林的土地上建造太陽能電廠。

Or covering some of LA's many parking lots instead of overbuilding in the desert.

或覆蓋洛杉磯的一些停車場，而不是在沙漠中過度建造。

Well, the biggest obstacle to putting solar on parking lots is cost.

將太陽能安裝在停車場上的最大障礙是成本。

The cost of putting in a solar canopy is going to be 50% to even 100% more than a conventional solar farm.

安裝太陽能遮篷的成本將比傳統太陽能電廠高出50%甚至高出100%。

The thing that makes canopies more expensive than a conventional solar farm is they're higher up off the ground.

使遮篷比傳統太陽能電廠更昂貴的因素是它們離地面更高。

And so you need more structural material and you also need more weight at the bottom, holding them from blowing away.

因此，你需要更多的結構材料，而且需要更多的底部重量，以防止它們被風吹走。

And so why would a company want to invest even more money to put in a canopy?

那為什麼公司願意投入更多資金來安裝遮篷呢？

They're actually is an answer to that question.

實際上，這個問題有答案。

In 2017, Pierce coauthored a study looking into the economic potential of parking lot canopies and used Walmart Supercenters as a case study.

2017年，皮爾斯共同撰寫了一項研究，調查了停車場太陽能遮篷的經濟潛力，並以沃爾瑪超級中心為案例研究。

The study found that in places with high solar flux or more solar radiation in the area, solar canopies could be incredibly profitable.

研究發現，在具有高太陽能輻射的地區，太陽能遮篷可能會非常有利可圖，

Like here in Phoenix, Arizona.

例如亞利桑那州的鳳凰城。

But they also found that even in areas in the US considered to have less solar flux, like here in Michigan,

但他們也發現，即使在被認為太陽能輻射較低的美國地區，如密西根，

selling solar back to the grid at going rates could still be profitable enough to make solar canopies worth it in the long run.

以現行價格出售太陽能電力可以在長期內仍然足夠有利可圖，從而使太陽能遮篷變得有價值。

It really goes down to how much are you paying for electricity and how much solar flux do you have?

這實際上取決於你支付多少電費以及你擁有多少太陽能輻射。

And most of the US, barring Northern Alaska actually has fairly good solar fluxes.

而美國大部分地區，除了北阿拉斯加，其實有相當好的太陽能輻射。

I grew up in western Pennsylvania which has some of the worst and systems are still economic there.

我在賓州西部長大，那裡的太陽能輻射較差，但太陽能係統仍然是經濟可行的。

In another 2021 study, Pearce and his team found the total capacity across all US Wal-Mart Supercenters would be 11.1 gigawatts of solar power.

在另一項2021年的研究中，皮爾斯及其團隊發現，所有美國沃爾瑪超級中心的總太陽能容量將達到11.1千兆瓦。

That's around the high estimate of what the French parking lot program expects to make.

這大約是法國停車場計畫預期的最高估值。

With that power, Wal-Mart could power about 100 electric vehicle charging stations at each Wal-Mart location,

有了這個電力，沃爾瑪可以在每個沃爾瑪門市安裝約100個電動車充電站，

or if they combine the canopies with rooftop solar, there would likely be more than enough to power the stores.

或者如果他們將太陽能遮篷與屋頂太陽能結合使用，那麼很可能電力將足夠為門市供電。

It would also create the opportunity to sell power back to utility companies on the main grid...

這也將創造機會，將電力賣回主電網的公用事業公司...

or stores could be the anchor for a local microgrid in the community, offering power to homes in the case of outages.

或者商店可以成為社區微電網的錨點，在停電情況下為家庭提供電力。

This isn't a one size fits all solution, but in good locations where companies can afford the upfront cost of installation.

這不是適合所有情況的解決方案，但在那些公司能夠負擔安裝前期成本的良好地點，

Pearce's research shows canopy's could be a worthwhile investment.

皮爾斯的研究表明太陽能遮篷可能是一項值得投資的選擇。

It's guaranteed under warranty to generally work for 25 years.

根據保修，它通常可以工作25年。

That's an investment. You're investing in capital asset and it's providing you a return over its lifetime.

這是一項投資。 您正在投資一項資本資產，並且它將在其使用壽命內為您提供回報。

You should treat it the same way you would any other investment.

您應該像對待任何其他投資一樣對待它。

Only this one is actually good for the planet at the same time.

唯一不同的是，這實際上還有益於地球。

In some parts of the US, institutions like airports and universities are already trying solar parking lots.

在美國的一些地區，機場和大學等機構已經開始嘗試太陽能停車場。

Walmart and Target are just beginning to try them out in certain stores, and policy is slowly catching up too to make these kinds of solar projects easier,

沃爾瑪和塔吉特在某些門市也剛開始嘗試，政策也逐漸跟進，以使這類太陽能計畫更容易實施，

like Maryland offering grants for solar canopies and a New York City zoning proposal that would allow for solar on more than 8500 acres of parking lots.

例如，馬裡蘭提供太陽能遮篷的資助，以及紐約市的分區建議，允許在8500多英畝的停車場上設置太陽能設施。

Parking lots can't fix solar's land scarcity problem on their own.

停車場不能單獨解決太陽能土地短缺的問題。

The amount of solar production we need will likely require a combination of efforts, including in rural areas,

我們需要的太陽能產量可能需要一系列努力，包括在農村地區，

utility-scale arrays, canopies where we can put them, arrays on rooftops, and in other places like along highways, over landfills, or on degraded lands.

大型公用規模的太陽能陣列，遮篷的設置地點，屋頂上的陣列以及沿著高速公路，垃圾掩埋場或退化土地上的設置。

But solar canopies are part of a large toolbox that could put a huge dent in our reliance on fossil fuels.

但太陽能遮篷是一個巨大工具箱中的一部分，可以大大減少我們對化石燃料的依賴。

And point to a future where more cities are finding ways to give new life to some of America's most overlooked spaces.

並且指向一個更多城市正在尋找方法來賦予美國一些被忽視的空間新生命的未來。