NPR新聞:天然氣會減緩可再生能源的發(fā)展？(1/3)

Now, we're going to explore the impact of cheap natural gas in the U.S. The boom in natural gas is a good thing for the environment. That's because, relatively, clean gas is replacing dirty coal-fired power plants. In the long run, though, cheap natural gas could slow the growth of even cleaner sources of energy, such as wind and solar power. NPR's Richard Harris explains. The process of fracking for natural gas has stirred a lot of local opposition. But many people looking at cheap gas from the global perspective see it as a good thing. Henry Jacoby at MIT says cheap energy will help pump up the economy. Overall, this is a great boon to the United States. It's not a bad thing to have this new and available domestic resource. But we have to keep our eye on the ball long-term. His long-term concern is what cheap gas will do to much cleaner sources of energy. Wind and solar power are more expensive than natural gas. And though those prices have been coming down, they're chasing a moving target that has fallen fast: natural gas. It makes the prospects for large-scale expansion of those technologies more chancy. From an environmental perspective, natural gas could help transition our economy from fossil fuels to clean energy. It's often portrayed as a bridge fuel to help us through the transition because it's so much cleaner than coal and it's abundant. But Jacoby says that bridge could be in trouble if cheap gas kills the incentive to develop renewable energy.