The World in 2021--The power of green technology

Google’s boss says AI and machine learning will help

經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人2020年12月刊

AFTER DECADES of?incremental steps forward, 2021 will be the most significant year yet for combating climate change. Two recent developments have made this possible.

incremental/,?nkr?'ment?l/adj. （定額）增長的；逐漸的，逐步的；遞增的

First, as science tells us that we have a decade to reduce emissions dramatically or face the worst impacts of climate change, many of those impacts have already arrived at our door. From the historic and deadly wildfires in Australia and California, to severe flooding around the world, there is no denying that climate change is already disrupting our daily lives. At the same time, support for climate action has never been stronger—from Generation Z’s solutions-oriented mindset, to political support that increasingly crosses party lines, to Europe’s large-scale ambition to become the first carbon-neutral continent, society is ever more unified against the threat of climate change.

Generation Z（Z一代：1996-2012）通常指那些在1996年以后出生的孩子，也就是生于60年代中期至70年代末的“X一代”的兒女?！癦一代”尚未出生就成了網(wǎng)絡(luò)注冊用戶，他們常手拿電子玩具蹣跚學(xué)步。

Mindset??n. /?ma?ndset/ ?觀念模式；思維傾向?? the mindset of the computer generation 計算機(jī)時代的思維傾向

carbon-neutral continent：碳中和大陸，就是碳產(chǎn)出（碳排放）和消耗的量（植樹等固碳）相抵。某種意義上的零排放。

Second, we are seeing promising technologies and policies that will bring carbon-free energy within reach.Not long ago, it was hard to imagine?a?24/7 Carbon-free electricity supply.At its most basic level, the wind does not always blow and the sun does not shine at night. But new technologies—including better energy storage and the reduction of?costs associated with wind and solar powerby 7o% and 89% respectively over the past ten years—are bringing??24/7 carbon-free energy closer to reality.

Another of those technologies is artificial intelligence (AI).?At Google, we are working on ways to apply AI to optimise electricity consumption within our data centres. In collaboration with our sister venture, DeepMind, we have developed solutions that have reduced the amount of energy used to cool our data centres by 3o%.This approach could be?used by commercial buildings,including airports and shopping malls,to do the same. AI can also be used to make wind power more predictable, which will increase the value,?utilisation and adoption of renewable energy.

DeepMind，位于英國倫敦，是由人工智能程序師兼神經(jīng)科學(xué)家戴密斯·哈薩比斯(Demis Hassabis)等人聯(lián)合創(chuàng)立，是前沿的人工智能企業(yè)，其將機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)和系統(tǒng)神經(jīng)科學(xué)的最先進(jìn)技術(shù)結(jié)合起來，建立強(qiáng)大的通用學(xué)習(xí)算法。

Meanwhile, sensors on satellites can locate large-scale emitters of carbon dioxide at a very fine-grained level. This could dramatically improve the effectiveness of the Paris climate agreement.?Technology is also helping cities reduce their carbon emissions. According to the Global?Covenant of Mayors, an international alliance of over 10,000?cities and local governments?committed to fighting climate change, less than 20% of cities outside western Europe have the time, resources and data to meet their climate commitments. With platforms like our own Environmental Insights Explorer, cities can use anonymised, aggregated mapping data to estimate the carbon footprint of their buildings and transport,?and realise their solar-energy potential-a critical step,?as cities continue to contribute over70% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions.

Emitter /??m?t?/發(fā)出者; 發(fā)射體

Covenant??n. /?k?v?n?nt/ 承諾；合同；協(xié)約；（尤指定期付款的）契約?? a covenant to a charity 向慈善機(jī)構(gòu)定期捐款的契約

anonymize ?v. ??/??n?n?ma?z/ ( Bre also -ise) ( technical 術(shù)語 ) 消除（實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果的）對象信息；使匿名化

Technology is also helping communities adapt to the effects of?climate change that are already apparent.?As one example, we are able to use satellite?data to map wildfires in real time and better?predict how they might spread.?In India,?flood forecasting models use AI to predict when floods will hit and how deep the waters will get, helping save lives. Machine?learning is also being?applied to?"nowcast"?rainfall sooner and with more accuracy than conventional forecasting methods, helping people make safer, more informed decisions.

Nowcast：now +forecast，臨近預(yù)報

Driven by these promising trends and tools, companies have made bigger sustainability commitments in shorter time frames. At Google, we have eliminated our carbon legacy using high-quality offsets,?and set a goal to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy?in all our data centres and campuses worldwide by 2030.?Our aim is to demonstrate that?a 100% carbon-free electrical?grid is not?just possible but also economically viable.We hope that companies of all sizes will?join us?in this?effort.

Viable??adj. /?va??bl/ ?

1.?可實(shí)施的；切實(shí)可行的?a viable option/proposition 切實(shí)可行的選擇╱提議?

?to be commercially/politically/financially/economically viable 在商業(yè)上╱政治上╱財政上╱經(jīng)濟(jì)上可行

2.( biology 生 ) 能獨(dú)立發(fā)展的；能獨(dú)立生存的；可生長發(fā)育的??viable organisms 可存活的生物

In addition to concrete and ambitious company commitments, the world also needs enabling policies and?global frameworks to ensure we are working towards the same goals. We know it's possible: we have seen this kind of collaboration during the pandemic,?as the private sector worked with governments to deliver personal protective equipment, medical devices and contact-tracing apps needed to fight the virus.?Stronger public-private partnerships will be?just as critical in fighting climate change.

Throughout history, every generation has confronted big challenges.?Climate change will be our generation's most profound challenge—and in 2o21,the world will take its biggest steps yet to meet it.

譯文

AFTER DECADES of?incremental?steps forward, 2021 will be the most significant year yet for combating climate change. Two recent developments have made this possible.

經(jīng)過幾十年的循序漸進(jìn)，2021年將是對抗氣候變化最重要的一年。最近的兩項(xiàng)技術(shù)進(jìn)展使這成為可能。

First, as science tells us that we have a decade to reduce emissions dramatically or face the worst impacts of climate change, many of those impacts have already arrived at our door. From the historic and deadly wildfires in Australia and California, to severe flooding around the world, there is no denying that climate change is already disrupting our daily lives. At the same time, support for climate action has never been stronger—from Generation Z’s solutions-oriented?mindset, to political support that increasingly crosses party lines, to Europe’s large-scale ambition to become the first?carbon-neutral continent, society is ever more unified against the threat of climate change.

首先，正如科學(xué)告訴我們的那樣，我們有十年的時間來大幅減少排放，否則將面臨氣候變化最嚴(yán)重的影響，其中許多影響已經(jīng)來到我們的家門口。從澳大利亞和加州歷史性、致命野火，到世界各地的嚴(yán)重洪水。不可否認(rèn)的是，氣候變化已經(jīng)擾亂了我們的日常生活。與此同時，對氣候行動的支持從未像現(xiàn)在這樣強(qiáng)烈——從Z一代以解決問題為導(dǎo)向的思維方式，到日益跨越黨派界線的政治支持，再到歐洲成為第一個碳中和大陸的宏偉抱負(fù)，社會更加團(tuán)結(jié)一致地應(yīng)對氣候變化的威脅。

Second, we are seeing promising technologies and policies that will bring carbon-free energy within reach.Not long ago, it was hard to imagine?a?24/7 Carbon-free electricity supply.At its most basic level, the wind does not always blow and the sun does not shine at night. But new technologies—including better energy storage and the reduction of?costs associated with wind and solar powerby 7o% and 89% respectively over the past ten years—are bringing??24/7 carbon-free energy closer to reality.

其次，我們看到未來可期的技術(shù)和政策將使無碳能源觸手可及。不久之前，還很難想象全天候無碳供電。在最基本的層面上，風(fēng)并不總是吹著，太陽也不會在夜晚照耀。但是新技術(shù)—包括更好的能源儲存，以及風(fēng)能和太陽能在過去十年分別降低了70%和89%的成本—正在使全天候無碳能源使用近在咫尺。

Another of those technologies is artificial intelligence (AI).?At Google, we are working on ways to apply AI to optimise electricity consumption within our data centres. In collaboration with our sister venture, DeepMind, we have developed solutions that have reduced the amount of energy used to cool our data centres by 3o%.This approach could be?used by commercial buildings,including airports and shopping malls,to do the same. AI can also be used to make wind power more predictable, which will increase the value,?utilisation and adoption of renewable energy.

另一項(xiàng)技術(shù)是人工智能(AI)。在谷歌，我們正在研究如何應(yīng)用人工智能來優(yōu)化數(shù)據(jù)中心的用電量。通過與我們的姐妹公司DeepMind合作，我們開發(fā)了優(yōu)化能源方案--使我們的數(shù)據(jù)中心冷卻所需的能源減少了30%。這種方法可以用于商業(yè)建筑，包括機(jī)場和購物中心，以達(dá)到同樣的效果。人工智能還可以用來提高風(fēng)能的可預(yù)測性，這將增加可再生能源的價值、利用率和應(yīng)用。

Meanwhile, sensors on satellites can locate large-scale?emitters?of carbon dioxide at a very fine-grained level. This could dramatically improve the effectiveness of the Paris climate agreement.?Technology is also helping cities reduce their carbon emissions. According to the Global?Covenant?of Mayors, an international alliance of over 1o,ooo cities and local governments?committed to fighting climate change, less than 2o% of cities outside western Europe have the time, resources and data to meet their climate commitments. With platforms like our own Environmental Insights Explorer, cities can use?anonymised, aggregated mapping data to estimate the carbon footprint of their buildings and transport,?and realise their solar-energy potential-a critical step,?as cities continue to contribute over7o% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions.

與此同時，衛(wèi)星上的傳感器可以在非常精細(xì)的水平上定位大規(guī)模的二氧化碳排放器，這將大大提高《巴黎氣候協(xié)定》的效力。技術(shù)也在幫助城市減少碳排放。根據(jù)全球市長盟約（一個由超過1萬個城市和地方政府組成的致力于對抗氣候變化的國際聯(lián)盟）的數(shù)據(jù)，西歐以外只有不到20%的城市有時間、資源和數(shù)據(jù)來履行其氣候承諾。有像我們Environmental Insights Explorer（環(huán)境內(nèi)部檢測）這樣的平臺，城市可以使用匿名、整合的地圖數(shù)據(jù)來估計其建筑和交通的碳足跡，并實(shí)現(xiàn)它們的太陽能潛力——這是關(guān)鍵的一步，因?yàn)槌鞘欣^續(xù)貢獻(xiàn)了世界上超過70%的溫室氣體排放。

Technology is also helping communities adapt to the effects of?climate change that are already apparent.?As one example, we are able to use satellite?data to map wildfires in real time and better?predict how they might spread.?In India,?flood forecasting models use AI to predict when floods will hit and how deep the waters will get, helping save lives. Machine?learning is also being?applied to?"nowcast"?rainfall sooner and with more accuracy than conventional forecasting methods, helping people make safer, more informed decisions.

技術(shù)也在幫助社區(qū)適應(yīng)已經(jīng)很明顯的氣候變化影響。舉個例子，我們能夠使用衛(wèi)星數(shù)據(jù)實(shí)時繪制野火地圖，更好地預(yù)測它們可能如何蔓延。在印度，洪水預(yù)測模型應(yīng)用人工智能來預(yù)測洪水何時發(fā)生以及水深，幫助拯救生命。機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)還被用于“臨近預(yù)報”降雨，比傳統(tǒng)預(yù)測方法更快、更準(zhǔn)確，幫助人們做出更安全、更明智的決定。

Driven by these promising trends and tools, companies have made bigger sustainability commitments in shorter time frames. At Google, we have eliminated our carbon legacy using high-quality offsets,?and set a goal to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy?in all our data centres and campuses worldwide by 2o3o.?Our aim is to demonstrate that?a 1oo% carbon-free electrical?grid is not?just possible but also economically?viable.We hope that companies of all sizes will?join us?in this?effort.

在這些有前景的趨勢和工具的推動下，企業(yè)在更短的時間框架內(nèi)做出了更大的可持續(xù)發(fā)展承諾。在谷歌，我們已經(jīng)通過高質(zhì)量的抵銷交易消除了我們的碳遺留問題。并設(shè)定了一個目標(biāo)：到2030年，在全球所有的數(shù)據(jù)中心和校園實(shí)現(xiàn)24小時無碳能源運(yùn)營。我們的目標(biāo)是證明100%無碳電網(wǎng)不僅是可能的，而且在經(jīng)濟(jì)上也是可行的。我們希望各個公司都能加入我們的努力。

In addition to concrete and ambitious company commitments, the world also needs enabling policies and?global frameworks to ensure we are working towards the same goals. We know it's possible: we have seen this kind of collaboration during the pandemic,?as the private sector worked with governments?to?deliver personal protective equipment, medical devices and contact-tracing apps needed to fight the virus.?Stronger public-private partnerships will be?just as critical in fighting climate change.

除了企業(yè)做出具體而有野心的承諾外，世界還需要有利政策和全球框架，以確保我們朝著同樣的目標(biāo)努力。我們知道這是可能的:在新冠大流行期間，我們看到了這種合作，私營部門與政府合作，提供抗擊病毒所需的個人防護(hù)設(shè)備、醫(yī)療設(shè)備和接觸者追蹤應(yīng)用程序。更強(qiáng)大的公私伙伴關(guān)系在應(yīng)對氣候變化方面同樣至關(guān)重要。

Throughout history, every generation has confronted big challenges.?Climate change will be our generation's most profound challenge—and in 2o21,the world will take its biggest steps yet to meet it.

縱觀歷史，每一代人都面臨過巨大的挑戰(zhàn)。氣候變化將是我們這代人面臨的最深刻的挑戰(zhàn)——在2021年，世界將采取迄今為止最大的措施來應(yīng)對氣候變化。