[ti:Major Japanese Railway Now Powered Only by Renewable Energy] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Japanese railway company, Tokyu, [00:02.60]says it now uses only renewable energy [00:06.88]to power its train operations. [00:11.12]That means Tokyu’s huge network of train lines [00:15.00]in and around Tokyo [00:16.72]do not produce any carbon dioxide emissions. [00:21.88]The change took place April 1. [00:24.96]Tokyu employs 3,855 people and connects Tokyo [00:32.40]with the nearby city of Yokohama. [00:36.28]It has more than 100 kilometers of railway tracks [00:40.32]serving 2.2 million people a day. [00:44.80]It is the first railroad operator in Japan [00:47.92]to have reached the goal of zero carbon emissions. [00:52.80]It says the carbon dioxide reduction is equal [00:56.84]to the yearly average emissions of 56,000 Japanese households. [01:04.08]Nicholas Little is director of railway education [01:07.68]at Michigan State University. [01:11.16]He praised Tokyu for supporting renewable energy. [01:16.60]But he noted it is also important to improve [01:20.36]ways of creating renewable energy. [01:24.36]“...The bigger impacts come from increasing electricity generation [01:28.96]from renewable sources,” Little said. [01:33.60]“The long-term battle is to increase production of renewable electricity.” [01:40.12]So, is Tokyu’s move to renewables [01:43.16]just a campaign for good publicity? [01:47.00]Or, is the company moving [01:49.20]in the right direction for the environment? [01:53.12]There is no simple answer says one expert. [01:56.80]Ryo Takagi is a professor at Kogakuin University [02:02.84]and specialist in electric railway systems. [02:07.92]He says bigger environmental gains [02:11.04]would come from changing rural operations [02:14.28]from diesel fuel to hydrogen power [02:17.48]or switching to electric automobiles. [02:22.00]Tokyu’s action is better than nothing, but Takagi said, [02:26.76]“I am not going out of my way to praise it as great….” [02:31.88]Tokyu official Yoshimasa Kitano says [02:35.84]the company plans more action toward cleaner operations. [02:41.64]“We don’t see this as reaching our goal [02:44.96]but just a start,” Kitano said. [02:49.20]Such steps are critical for Japan, [02:52.08]the world’s sixth-biggest carbon polluter. [02:56.80]The country has a goal of becoming carbon-neutral by the year 2050. [03:03.48]About 20 percent of Japan’s electricity [03:06.56]comes from renewable sources, [03:08.60]says Japan’s Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies. [03:14.56]That is far behind New Zealand, for example, [03:18.20]where 84 percent of power used [03:21.00]comes from renewable energy sources. [03:25.32]New Zealand hopes to make that 100 percent by 2035. [03:31.44]The renewable sources driving Tokyu trains include hydropower, [03:36.28]geothermal-power, wind power and solar power. [03:42.60]That information comes from Tokyo Electric Power Co., [03:46.56]the utility that provides the electricity [03:49.72]and looks at its energy sourcing. [03:53.56]Since Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, [03:58.24]the country has shut down most of its nuclear plants [04:01.80]and increased use of coal-fired power plants. [04:07.20]Japan aims to have 36 to 38 percent of its [04:11.28]energy come from renewable sources by 2030. [04:16.80]I’m Jill Robbins. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM