5000万人被炙烤--加州极端热浪持续 多地用电告急(上)

At least 50 million people in the western U.S. have been living with the devastating consequences of a record shattering heat wave for more than a week now.

一周多来，美国西部至少有5000万人一直生活在创纪录的热浪造成的毁灭性后果中。

There have been triple digit temperatures in parts of California every day, forcing the state's electrical grid to the brink of rolling blackouts.

加州部分地区每天持续高温，温度达到三位数，迫使该州的电网处于轮流停电的边缘。

This week Sacramento set an all-time temperature record for the city, a scorching 116 degrees.

本周，萨克拉门托创下了这个城市史上最高气温纪录，达到116华氏度。

Climate change is making the duration and intensity of heat waves worse, and more common.

气候变化正在使热浪的持续时间变得更长，强度变得更大，变得更常见。

Joining us now to talk about this is Sandy Roth, Energy and Environment reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

现在和我们连线的是《洛杉矶时报》能源和环境记者桑迪·罗斯。

It's good to have you with this. And give us a sense of just how massive and intense this heatwave really is.

欢迎来到我们的节目。让我们了解一下这股热浪到底有多大规模，有多严酷。

Well, I mean, I certainly don't remember anything like it, I've lived in L. A. most of my life.

我的意思是，我肯定不记得有这样的事，我大部分时间都住在洛杉矶。

And I have been sitting here in my apartment all week with no air conditioning, sweating pretty badly every day.

我整个星期都坐在我的公寓里，房间没有空调，每天都大汗淋漓。

But I mean, when you look at what is going on on the power grid, California set a record on Tuesday on its main electrical grid for energy demand.

我的意思是，你看看电网现在的情况，加州周二在其主要电网的能源需求方面创下了纪录。

And that speaks to the intensity of the heatwave because everyone has been blasting their air conditioners, the electric demand record on Tuesday was shattered.

这说明了热浪的强度很大，因为每个人都在开空调，周二的电力需求记录被打破了。

On Wednesday, we had the second-highest electric demand ever compared only to Tuesday the day before.

周三，我们的电力需求是有史以来第二高的，仅次于前天，也就是周二。

It's been 10 straight days at this point of the grid operator for this day warning that we are going to run out of power and potentially have rolling blackouts that hasn't happened, but it speaks to how hot it's been.

电网运营商已经连续10天警告我们将耗尽电力，可能会轮流停电，尽管这还没有发生，但这说明天气有多热。

So, on that point, I mean, how are states and the federal government responding to all of this?

在这种情况下，各州和联邦政府是如何应对这一切的？

I know, California has taken the uNPRecedented step as you mentioned, to try and stop the heatwave from causing rolling blackouts.

加州已经采取了你提到的史无前例的措施，试图阻止热浪造成轮流停电。

Tell us more about that.

请告诉我们更多有关这方面的信息。

Sure, part of it is on the blackout side.

好的，部分措施是停电。

Governor Newsom has been sort of pulling in all of his chips here, calling around the state, trying to get people who have diesel backup generators to put them online.

纽森州长已经动用了他所有的筹码，给全州各地打电话，试图让那些拥有备用柴油发电机的人将它们放到网上。

Natural gas plants that have spare capacity, sort of begging them to put out just a little bit more, calling up big businesses and saying please, please, please, during these critical hours in the evening, when the solar power goes away, use a little less of electricity.

那些有剩余产能的天然气厂，恳求他们多提供一点电力，打电话给大企业说，求求你，求求你，求求你，在晚上太阳能发电中断的关键时间里，请少用一点电。

That's on the blackout side.

这是停电方面的措施。

And then on the heat side, California is obviously looking at long-term, try to reduce emissions, try to solve climate change and stop these things from getting worse.

在高温方面，加州显然着眼于长远，努力减少排放，努力解决气候变化问题，阻止这些事情变得更糟。

And also looking at what can we do to protect people from the heat.

同时也在考虑我们能做些什么来保护人们免受高温之苦。

Because we know even if we reduce emissions quickly, it's going to keep getting hotter, at least for a while.

因为我们知道，即使我们迅速减少排放，气温也会继续上升，至少在一段时间内是这样。