失去了两座煤矿的农村社区现在正在教孩子们安装太阳能电池板

失去了两座煤矿的农村社区现在正在教孩子们安装太阳能电池板

Colorado's Delta County is named after a delta of arable land in the western Rocky Mountains, formed by the confluence of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre rivers. In recent years, however, it has also embodied another meaning of its name: the Greek letter delta, used in math and science as a symbol for change.

科罗拉多州的三角洲县是以西部洛矶山脉的一片可耕地的三角洲命名的，它是由甘尼逊河和昂康普格里河汇合处形成的。然而，近年来，它还体现了其名称的另一种含义:希腊字母delta，在数学和科学中用作变化的象征。

Rising 11,400 feet above Paonia, Mount Lamborn is the tallest point in Colorado's Delta County. (Photo: Rachele A. Morlan/Shutterstock)

The economy of Delta County has long been led by agriculture and mining, but both industries have undergone notable changes lately. Drought and extreme weather events have taken a toll on many local farms and forests, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while one of the county's three coal mines closed in 2013, followed by another in 2016.

长时间以来，三角洲县的经济一直以农业和矿业为主，但最近这两个行业都发生了显著的变化。根据美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)的数据，干旱和极端天气事件已经对当地许多农场和森林造成了损失，而该县三家煤矿中的一家在2013年关闭，另一家在2016年关闭。

The mine closures alone were "catastrophic," according to a 2019 report by the Resource Legacy Fund, a nonprofit conservation group. Delta County went from 701 mining jobs in 2012 to 107 in 2016, a loss of more than 80%.

非营利环保组织“资源遗产基金”在2019年发布的一份报告称，仅关闭这些煤矿就造成了“灾难性的后果”。三角洲县的矿业工作岗位从2012年的701个增加到2016年的107个，减少了80%以上。

"Unlike some places that have a more gradual off-ramp or predictable decline, these mine closures came suddenly and significantly, allowing for little advance planning or preparation for what would come next," the report explained.

报告解释说:“与一些出口比较平缓或下降趋势可以预测的地方不同，这些矿井的关闭来得突然而又意义重大，几乎没有提前计划或准备。”

They were part of a broader decline in coal mining across the country, driven largely by cheap natural gas, which emits less carbon than coal, and the growing affordability of renewable energy. That decline is almost certainly a good thing overall, given the dangers of both mining and burning coal, but the short-term effects can also upend communities whose fates remain tethered to the coal industry.

它们是全国范围内煤炭开采量普遍下降的一部分，主要原因是廉价的天然气(其碳排放量低于煤炭)以及可再生能源的可承受性日益增强。考虑到开采和燃烧煤炭的危险，这种下降几乎可以肯定是一件好事，但短期的影响也可能颠覆那些命运仍与煤炭行业紧密相连的社区。

On the bright side

往好处想

Delta reportedly has one of the highest potentials for solar power in Colorado. (Photo: Jeffrey Beall [CC BY-SA 2.0]/Flickr)

The county may be growing less reliant on its coal deposits, but it is paying more attention to another local energy source: sunlight. Delta has one of the highest potentials for solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity in the state, according to NOAA, and since so few mining jobs now await students after graduation, a teacher at Delta High is preparing his students to capitalize on their hometown's solar potential instead.

这个县可能越来越不依赖于它的煤矿，但它更关注另一种当地能源:阳光。根据美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)的数据，三角洲地区是全州太阳能光伏发电潜力最大的地区之一，由于现在学生毕业后等待他们的矿业工作机会很少，三角洲高中的一名教师正准备让学生利用家乡的太阳能潜力。

Students pose with a solar array at Delta High School. (Photo: Ben Graves/NOAA Planet Stewards)

That hands-on training is a key part of the curriculum. On top of learning how to design and install solar panels, his students put those lessons to use by building a solar array in the school's Solar PV Lab Yard. Students lead every stage of the process, planning the layout of the panels, diagramming the wiring and installing the array. They also collect data on the panels' performance and try to maximize production across different seasons. In the 2017-2018 class, students laid groundwork for future solar installations, NOAA reports, both at their school and around the community.

动手训练是课程的关键部分。除了学习如何设计和安装太阳能电池板外，他的学生们还在学校的太阳能光伏实验室院子里建造了一个太阳能电池阵列，将这些课程付诸实践。学生们领导整个过程的每一个阶段，规划面板的布局，绘制线路图并安装阵列。他们还收集面板性能的数据，并试图在不同季节最大化生产。NOAA报告称，在2017-2018年的课程中，学生们为未来的太阳能装置奠定了基础，无论是在学校还是社区。

Time for a change

是时候改变了

U. S. Route 50 is one of the main highways through Delta, Colorado. (Photo: Jeffrey Beall [CC BY-SA 2.0]/Flickr)

Solar power is popular in Delta County, a politically conservative community that apparently diverges from many national Republicans on the subject, instead focusing on the conservative values inherent to cheap, decentralized and renewable energy. The local electric cooperative, Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA), is already working to shift from coal to renewable energy, thanks to a 2018 vote in which members opted to buy out their contract with a wholesale power provider that limited how much solar power they could produce locally. In addition to giving local residents more independence and self-sufficiency, Bowlin notes that using more renewable energy could also help DMEA cut costs for customers.

在德尔塔县，太阳能很受欢迎。德尔塔县是一个政治上比较保守的社区，在这个问题上，它显然与许多全国性的共和党人存在分歧，相反，它关注的是廉价、分散和可再生能源所固有的保守价值观。当地电力合作社德尔塔-蒙特罗斯电力协会(DMEA)已经在努力从煤炭转向可再生能源，这要归功于2018年的一次投票。在投票中，成员们选择买断与一家批发电力供应商的合同，限制了他们在当地可以生产多少太阳能。除了给予当地居民更多的独立性和自给自足，鲍林指出，使用更多的可再生能源也可以帮助DMEA降低客户成本。