VOA标准英语2012--Despite Near-Term Energy Woes, Experts Optimistic

Despite Near-Term Energy Woes¹, Experts Optimistic

The biggest development of an alternative to oil in recent years has been the expansion of natural gas production in the United States, using technologies that free up gas trapped in shale² rock.

That is one of the reasons experts speaking at the annual IHS-CERA conference here in Houston earlier this month expressed optimism about the world's energy picture.

John Larson, vice³ president of consulting group IHS-Global Insight, says the shale production not only favors the prospect⁴ of producing more vehicles that run on natural gas, but also favors the expansion of renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar.

"One of the things that natural gas does and, sort of, the lower prices, is that it actually creates a reserve energy that can enable or allow the expansion of these renewables," said Larson.

Larson says gas can be used to run electrical generators⁵ when the wind doesn't blow or the sun isn't shining, but he says low-cost natural gas also provides a market challenge that wind is, so far, better able to meet.

"Wind and natural gas are actually fairly close -- they are cost comparable in terms of how much it costs to generate one megawatt hour for wind versus⁶ one megawatt hour for natural gas. Solar is about five times higher," Larson explained.

The expansion of U.S. natural gas production could also help revitalize U.S. manufacturing, says Royal Dutch Shell's Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser. 

"If you have affordable⁷ and abundantly available gas… there could be a great rebirth of manufacturing industries in the United States," noted⁸ Voser.

Transportation fuel costs might also be brought down by using natural gas, instead of corn, to produce the ethanol that is now a required additive⁹ in gasoline.

Steven Sterin is chief financial officer of the Dallas-based Celanese Corporation, which has developed a way of doing it.

"It is a thermochemical process that either uses natural gas or coal or other carbon sources, hopefully in the future, bio-sources, as those develop, to produce very large scales of very economically attractive ethanol," Sterin noted.

A change in U.S. law is needed for this to happen here, but Celanese is now working with China to produce ethanol from coal.

Petroleum¹⁰ will be the dominant¹¹ transportation fuel for many years to come, but experts say the world's dependency on it can be greatly reduced by the development of alternative fuels. 

1 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

2 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

7 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 additive   

adj.附加的；n.添加剂

参考例句：

• Colour is often an additive in foods.颜料经常是各种食物中的添加物。
• Strict safety tests are carried out on food additives.对食品添加剂进行了严格的安全检测。

10 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

11 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。