張祖平

A new study out of Minnesota found that 70 percent of the states electricity could come from wind and solar energy by 2050—and it would cost about the same as natural gas.

State officials plan to use the report， which was commissioned1 by the Minnesota Department of Commerce， as it considers future energy policy decisions.

The state has been a national leader in pushing renewable energy since 2007 when Tim Pawlenty， a Republican2， enacted legislation to increase renewable energy use and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

“The best time to have taken action on energy issues wouldve been 30 years ago，” Pawlenty said after signing the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007. “The nation has been asleep at the switch3， but here in Minnesota we are kick-starting the future.”

Today， around 20 percent of the states electricity comes from wind， and around 1 percent from solar， said Josh Quinnell， a senior research engineer at the Center for Energy and Environment， one of the organizations that completed the report.

“We have a thriving wind industry，” Quinnell said， “and solar has kicked off this year.”

According to the report， Minnesota could get 10 percent of its energy from solar by 2025.

The results of this study could signal to other states that renewable energy may be cost effective， said Jeff Ressler， CEO of Clean Power Research， which also worked on the report.

“Minnesota is kind of unique in that it has an outstanding wind resource and also good solar，” Ressler said. “But there are other places in the Midwest like that. We can look to repeat this analysis in other locations.”

Though this report is just one of many steps toward that goal， the researchers are confident the state will achieve it. And as technology continues to improve， they say， eventually all electricity will come from renewable sources.

“Im confident well get there in my lifetime，” Quinnell said.

來自明尼蘇達(dá)州的一項(xiàng)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，到2050年，該州70% 的電力將來自風(fēng)能和太陽能——其成本將與天然氣大致相當(dāng)。

州政府計(jì)劃利用明尼蘇達(dá)州商務(wù)部委托的這份研究報(bào)告，因?yàn)樗紤]到了未來的能源政策決定。

自2007年共和黨人蒂姆·波倫蒂實(shí)施了法令，以增加可再生能源的使用，并減少溫室氣體的排放以來，該州一直是全美推動(dòng)可再生能源的引領(lǐng)者。

“在能源問題上采取行動(dòng)的最佳時(shí)機(jī)應(yīng)該是30年前?！辈▊惖僭诤炇?007年《下一代能源法》后表示?！罢麄€(gè)國家對這個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)變熟視無睹，但是在明尼蘇達(dá)，我們正在開創(chuàng)未來?！?/p>

來自完成這個(gè)研究報(bào)告的組織之一，能源與環(huán)境中心的高級研究工程師喬什·昆內(nèi)爾說，現(xiàn)在該州約20%的電力來自風(fēng)能，約1%的電力來自太陽能。

“我們有蓬勃發(fā)展的風(fēng)能產(chǎn)業(yè)。”昆內(nèi)爾說，“太陽能產(chǎn)業(yè)今年已經(jīng)啟動(dòng)。”

根據(jù)這份研究報(bào)告，到2025年，明尼蘇達(dá)州10%的能源將來自太陽能。

清潔能源研究公司首席執(zhí)行官杰夫·雷斯勒也參與了這項(xiàng)研究，他說，這項(xiàng)研究的結(jié)果可以向其他州發(fā)出信號，即可再生能源可能是非常劃算的。

“明尼蘇達(dá)州的獨(dú)特之處在于它擁有豐富的風(fēng)能資源和良好的太陽能資源?！崩姿估照f，“但在中西部還有其它類似的地方。我們可以期待在其它地方重現(xiàn)這一分析。”

盡管這份報(bào)告只是朝著這一目標(biāo)邁出的眾多步驟之一，但研究人員相信，明尼蘇達(dá)州將實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)。他們說，隨著技術(shù)的不斷進(jìn)步，最終所有的電力都將來自可再生能源。

“我有信心，在有生之年能實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)?！崩?nèi)爾說。