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Telling people that buying an electric car is a great way to fight climate change,
告诉别人说，购买电动汽车是对抗气候变化的好方法
is a pretty reliable way to start an argument in some circles.
在某些圈子里，这么做绝对会引发争论。
People will say that you still burn fossil fuels with electric cars, it just happens at the power plant instead of the engine.
人们会说电动车烧的还是化石燃料，只不过电动汽车的化石燃料是发生在发电厂而不是引擎里。
And while that's at least partly true, over their lifespans, electric cars don't consume anywhere near the fossil fuels
这么说不全对，在电动汽车的寿命中，它们的耗油量远不及
that gas-powered cars do especially in the United States.
燃油动力汽车，尤其是在美国。
With electricity getting cleaner all the time, they're even better than you might expect.
随着电力变得越来越清洁，它们甚至比你想象的还要好。
There are a few variables to keep in mind though, starting with the cars themselves.
不过有几个变量需要记住，首先就是汽车本身。
In the US as of 2016, the average pure-gasoline passenger car goes about nine kilometers for each liter of gas it burns,
在2016年的美国，纯汽油轿车每燃烧一升汽油，平均行驶约9公里，
or about twenty-two miles per gallon, but that's just an average.
或者每加仑22英里，但这只是平均值。
Some go four kilometers or so; others go fourteen.
一些能行驶4公里；其他的可以行驶14公里。
But the fuel efficiency hits higher highs, and lower lows, when we start talking about hybrid cars or trucks on the interstate.
但当我们开始谈论州际公路上的混合动力汽车或卡车时，燃油效率达到了更高的水平，也达到了更低的水平。
Plus, the act of manufacturing a car leads to greenhouse gas emissions whether it's electric or not.
此外，制造汽车的行为会导致温室气体的排放，不管是不是电动汽车。
So does refining gasoline. But the major complicating factor here is electricity.
精炼汽油也是如此。但这里最复杂的因素是电力。
And where you live determines how clean your electricity really is.
你的居住地决定了你所使用电力的清洁度。
Most electricity in the US uses a combination of natural gas, coal, and nuclear fission
美国大部分电力使用的是天然气、煤炭和核裂变的混合物
with a bit of water, wind, solar, oil, and a few others thrown in.
再加上一点水能、风能、太阳能、石油和其他。
But those numbers change from state to state,
但是这些数字会随着州的不同而变化，
and depend on things like local natural gas sources or how windy it is today.
这取决于当地的天然气资源或者今天的风有多大。
For example, Alaska has plenty of natural gas and hydroelectric resources,
例如，阿拉斯加有着丰富的天然气和水电资源，
so its power plants create very little waste when generating electricity.
所以其发电厂发电时产生的废物很少。
That means a full electric vehicle charge using Alaskan electricity
这意味着一辆使用阿拉斯加电力的全电动汽车
creates roughly the same emissions as a gas engine that drives 48 kilometers per liter or 112 mpg.
产生的排放量大致相当于每升48公里或每加仑112英里的汽油发动机。
That's roughly five times the national average, and two or three times better than even some of the best hybrids.
这大约是全国平均水平的五倍，甚至比一些最好的混合动力车还要好两到三倍。
It's pretty efficient! But at the other extreme are places like Colorado,
这相当高效了！但在一些极端地方，比如科罗拉多州，
which, energetically speaking, is one of the dirtiest states. Sorry Colorado.
从能源上讲，这里是最脏的州之一。对不起啦，科罗拉多州。
About half of Colorado's electricity is from coal, which produces more emissions than just about any other source.
科罗拉多州约有一半的电力都来自煤炭，其产生的排放量几乎超过任何其他来源。
But even there, electric cars still outperform gas cars.
但即使在那里，电动汽车的表现仍然优于汽油汽车。
A full charge off of Colorado electricity equates to about twenty kilometers per liter (46 mpg) –
在科罗拉多州充满一次电，相当于每升跑20公里（每加仑46英里）—
about double the national average, based on 2016 figures. That's pretty good.
根据2016年的数据，这大约是全国平均水平的两倍。这非常好。
Better still, most of the country is closer to Alaska's numbers than Colorado's.
更好的是，相比科罗拉多州，美国大部分地区的这个数值更接近阿拉斯加州。
It comes down to this: Power plants are just better at making power than car engines are.
归根结底，发电厂比汽车引擎更擅长发电。
One reason is that they're simply bigger. Bigger things don't waste as much energy staying hot and that makes them more efficient.
一个原因是发电厂更大。更大的事物在保温方面不会浪费这么多的能量，因而更加高效。
And the story is similar across most of the world, although again the details change depending on where your electricity comes from.
世界大部分地方都是相似的，虽然其中细节的变化取决于你使用的电来自哪里。
In countries that tend to use more coal, like India or China, electric cars break even with the average gas-powered car in the US
在倾向于使用煤炭的国家，如印度或中国，电动汽车和美国普通的汽油动力汽车持平
although they're still less efficient than the average Indian gas-powered car.
虽然它们的效率仍然低于印度普通的汽油动力汽车。
But in water-powered Paraguay or geothermal-rich Iceland,
但在水动力的巴拉圭或地热资源丰富的冰岛，
gas engines need to get more than 90 kilometers per liter to beat an electric one.
燃气发动机每公升需要跑90多公里才能打败电动汽车。
So are electric vehicles really more efficient than gas?
所以电动汽车真的比燃气汽车更加高效么？
Yes, they absolutely are unless you have some very dirty electricity.
是的，它们绝对更高效，除非你的电力来源很脏。
So much for the "well, actually"s. But climate change isn't just one problem; it's a hot mess of many problems at once.
事实就讲这么多了。但气候变化不仅是一个单一的问题；而是同时纠结着很多的问题。
And it'll take some pretty radical changes from people all over the world to keep that hot mess from getting even hotter.
世界各地的人们需要作出非常彻底的改变才能阻止这个种混乱局面变得更加棘手。
Thanks for asking. And before you go, you may or may not be aware that I wrote a book!
感谢提问。在大家离开前，你们或许还不知道我写了一本书！
And that book is out in paperback now. I didn't tell you about it when it was just hardcover,
那本书现在有平装版了。只有精装版的时候，我没有告诉大家，
but now you can get it in value discounted, not-as-hard edition!
但现在大家可以以折扣价购买平装版啦。
It's a book about a girl who gets famous on the internet, which is something I know a little bit about.
这是一本关于一个女孩成为网红的故事，这个我还是了解一点的。
And it's also about like, space aliens, some.
其中还有关于太空外星人的故事等等。
So if sci-fi mixed with fame destroying people sounds like an interesting story to you, check it out!
如果你对科幻以及名利毁人的故事感兴趣，就去看看吧！
It's available wherever books are sold. It's called An Absolutely Remarkable Thing.
各处书店均有销售，书名是《An Absolutely Remarkable Thing》。
