Tug of War in Fine Print of Your Electric Bill
美國某些州 家戶太陽能板難回本
By DIANE CARDWELL

It was only two years ago that Elroy Holtmann spent about $20,000 on a home solar array to help cover the costs of charging his new electric car. With the savings on his monthly electric bills, he figured the investment would pay for itself in about a dozen years.
不過才兩年前，霍特曼花了2萬美元安裝家戶太陽能發電系統，以省下錢來支應新購電動車的充電費。他盤算著每月節省的電費，估計這筆投資約能在12年內回本。

But then the utilities regulators changed the equation.
但後來公用事業管理單位改變了這個等式。

As a result, Pacific Gas & Electric recently did away with the rate schedule chosen by Holtmann, a retired electrical engineer, and many other solar customers in this part of California. The new schedule will make them pay much more for the electricity they draw from the grid in the evening, while paying those customers less for the excess power their solar panels send back to the grid on sunny summer days.
於是，太平洋煤電公司最近廢除霍特曼與加州這區域其他許多安裝太陽能板客戶選擇的費率表。霍特曼是退休電力工程師。新費率表會讓他們夜間從電網取用電力時要付的電費貴得多，至於他們的太陽能板在晴朗夏天送回電網的多餘電力，公司付給他們的收購費則會變少。

As a result, Holtmann’s solar setup may never pay for itself.
這麼一來，霍特曼的太陽能系統可能永遠無法回本。

“They’ve taken any possibility for payback away,” he said with resignation, looking up at the roof of his 1970s ranch-style house in this suburb a short drive east of Berkeley.
霍特曼望著1970年代牧場風格的自家屋頂，無奈地說：「他們把回本的可能性完全拿走了。」他的家在柏克萊東郊，開車一下子就到了。

The paradox is playing out around the country. Even as policymakers at the federal and state levels promote clean energy to fight global warming, the economics of electricity can often be at odds with those goals.
這種矛盾的情況在美國各地愈來愈多。聯邦與州決策者推廣潔淨能源以阻止全球暖化，電力的經濟因素卻常與這些目標牴觸。

Thrust in the middle are utility regulators. Even if they support greening the grid through technology adopters like Holtmann, the regulators are also responsible for ensuring that the utilities can afford to supply power to the largest number of customers at the most equitable rates. That includes people without the money or inclination to install solar collectors.
公用事業主管單位左右為難。雖然他們支持透過像霍特曼這樣勇於採用新科技的人來推廣綠色電力，但他們也有責任確保電廠能夠以最合理的費率對最大多數客戶供電，包括沒有財力或意願安裝太陽能板的人。

“The grid is no longer just a cheap way to get electrical commodities to people,” said Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission. “People want choices, they want customized services,” he said. “And how do you make that fair to everybody, because not everybody is moving as adopters at the same pace?”
加州公用事業委員會主席皮克說：「電網不再只是為人們提供廉價電力商品的方式。人們想要有選擇，想要客製化服務。並不是每個人採用新科技的步調都一致，你要怎麼讓電費費率對每個人都公平？」

Similar dynamics are playing out in some parts of Europe, including Spain and Britain, as public officials push for green energy to justify its costs.
類似的現象也在歐洲部分地區發生，包括西班牙與英國，官方要求綠色能源恢復合理價格。

For more than a century in the United States, the public utility rate system assumed a one-way flow of electricity from central power plants to their customers. The role of utility regulators was to adjudicate reasonable rates for the consumer, while allowing an adequate rate of return on the money power companies spent generating and distributing the electricity.
100多年來，美國公用事業費率制度假定電力是從中央電廠單向輸送給客戶。電廠管理單位的角色是負責確保客戶有合理的費率，並允許電力公司花錢發電和配電後，有適當的投資報酬率。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/business/energy-environment/why-home-solar-panels-no-longer-pay-in-some-states.html

2016-08-21．聯合報．D2．紐約時報賞析．李京倫譯

說文解字看新聞 李京倫

太陽能在美國份量不重，僅占總能源消耗量的0.8%。近年美國「公用供電規模太陽能」發電量已有進展，從1997年的334百萬瓦增為2015年的1萬3406百萬瓦，但只占美國「公用供電規模」總發電量0.6%，比水力（hydroelectric）、生質（biomass）、風力（wind）等其他再生能源都少。

這篇用到幾個與電力相關的單字。utility（或public utility）是維護基礎設施以提供公共服務的組織，服務包括水、電、瓦斯與下水道汙水處理等，近年也有人把寬頻網路包含在內。grid是電網，包括發電廠、高壓輸電線路和配電線路。regulator文中指的是主管機關。以-or結尾的英文字未必一定是指人，也可能指單位、機構。

Thrust in the middle are utility regulators.是倒裝句，原句是Utility regulators are thrust in the middle.其中的thrust是thrust（猛推）的過去分詞，表示管理單位被推到中間，左右為難。

Wind Farms Lift Fortunes in Mexico, but Unevenly
墨西哥風電帶來繁榮 但不是人人有分
By VICTORIA BURNETT

At night, Juan Pineda Lopez hears the hum of a wind turbine that churns 300 yards away from his adobe house. Sometimes he catches the stench of lubricant that spews down the turbine’s mast.
夜晚，胡安．比內達．羅培茲聽到風力渦輪發電機嗡嗡作響，在他的磚土房外300碼處劇烈翻攪。有時候，他能聞到發電機的杆柱散發出來的潤滑劑臭味。

Beyond that, Pineda said, the forest of turbines that has sprung up on the plains here in the southern state of Oaxaca in recent years barely affects him.
比內達說，除此之外，近幾年在南部瓦哈卡州平原上如雨後春筍般出現並林立的風力發電機，對他沒什麼影響。

And that is the problem.
而這就是問題所在。

Eight years after Mexico embraced the fight against climate change, setting off a wind rush in Oaxaca’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec, people in poor, indigenous communities are divided over the benefits of the green revolution.
墨西哥8年前展開對抗氣候變遷的行動，並在瓦哈卡州的特萬特佩克地峽地區興起風力發電熱潮，如今，貧窮的原住民社區的居民對這場綠色革命究竟帶來多少好處，意見卻相當分歧。

Some are even turning away wind projects. More than 1,000 residents of Juchitan de Zaragoza, a mainly indigenous Zapotec city about 20 miles from Lopez’s home in La Ventosa, have blocked plans to build one of Latin America’s biggest wind farms close to the city.
有些人甚至拒絕風力發電計畫。距離羅培茲在拉本托薩的家約20英里、以原住民薩巴特克人為主的城市胡奇坦德薩拉戈薩，1000多居民杯葛在這個城市附近建造拉丁美洲最大風力發電場之一的計畫。

The case underscores the need to balance the scramble for clean energy with the concerns of those whose lands produce it, said Beatriz Olivera, an engineer who for several years led the climate change campaign for Greenpeace Mexico.
工程師畢翠絲．歐利維拉曾在墨西哥綠色和平組織帶領氣候變遷運動數年，她說，此一案例突顯出，有必要在爭相發展乾淨能源與產地居民的擔憂之間求取平衡。

She added, “We want wind energy, but not at any price.”
她接著說：「我們要風力能源，但並非不計代價。」

In La Ventosa, a quiet town of 4,000 residents and winds so powerful at times they can blow over a truck, the energy boom has left its imprint. More than a dozen small construction companies that build infrastructure for the wind farms have sprung up in the past eight years. On many streets, smart two-story houses mingle with scruffier dwellings.
拉本托薩是個有4000居民的安靜城鎮，有時風大到能吹翻卡車。風力能源蓬勃發展，在鎮上留下了印記。8年來冒出了十幾家為風電場建造基礎設施的小型建設公司。在許多街道上，精美的兩層樓房住家間雜在較破舊的房宅間。

Iberdrola, the Spanish energy company that owns the wind farm behind Pineda’s house, has paved roads and built drains, part of social projects in the region that have cost more than $1 million, a company spokesman said.
擁有比內達屋後那座風電場的西班牙Iberdrola能源公司的發言人說，公司已鋪設道路並構建排水溝，是當地斥資100多萬美元的社會計畫的一部分。

Cosme Vera, a farmer who rents 100 acres to Iberdrola for $2,900 a month, has renovated his farmhouse and bought air conditioners for the bedrooms. Vera, 69, said his annual rent from Iberdrola was four times as much as what he makes from growing sorghum.
農民柯斯米．維拉把100英畝地租給Iberdrola，月租2900美元，他已翻修他的農舍，並為臥房添購了空調設備。69歲的維拉說，Iberdrola每年給他的租金，是他種高粱所得的四倍。

“My job now is to go to the bank once a month and pick up the money,” he said.
他說：「我現在的工作是，每個月跑一趟銀行去領錢。」

Not everyone has prospered, though. Wind farms create a burst of employment during construction, but much less after that, experts and residents said.
專家和居民說，不過，並不是人人都發了。風力電場興建時創造一波就業潮，但之後就業機會就少多了。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/world/americas/mexicos-wind-farms-brought-prosperity-but-not-for-everyone.html

2016-08-21．聯合報．D2．紐約時報賞析．田思怡譯