Pratique du Shadowing: Do we Need Nuclear Energy to Stop Climate Change? - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo
Création de la leçon...
1
Do we need nuclear energy to stop climate change?
2
More and more voices from science, environmental activists and the press have been saying so in recent years.
3
But this comes as a shock to those who are fighting against nuclear energy and the problems that come with it.
4
So, who's right?
5
Well, it's complicated.
6
To slow rapid climate change, the world needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero.
7
In 2018, three -quarters of global emissions were released through energy production, namely by burning fossil fuels.
8
Energy is a broad term that describes all sorts of stuff, from moving things and people around, to putting things big and small together, or heating our homes.
9
Currently, 84 % of the world's primary energy comes from fossil fuels, 33 % from oil, 27 % from coal, and 24 % from gas.
10
Around 10 % of the global oil supply is just used to burn in boilers to make our homes cozy and warm.
11
Only about 16 % of global energy is from low emission sources, almost 7 % from hydroelectric, 5 % from solar, wind,
12
bioenergy, wave, tidal and geothermal combined, and about 4 % from nuclear.
13
So we pretty much rely on coal, oil and gas to keep our civilization going, which means it's actually very hard to transition away from them.
14
To have a chance of escaping fossil fuels without throwing humanity back into the Stone Age,
15
one of the most impactful things we can do is to electrify as many sectors as possible.
16
Electricity is the stuff that appears like magic when you plug something into a socket so you can watch YouTube.
17
Every industry that can switch from burning fossil fuels to electricity needs to do so, from electric cars to electric heaters.
18
Why do we need to bet so hard on electricity?
19
Because we can produce electricity with low -emission technologies like solar, wind or nuclear.
20
So electricity is a real lever for a radical transition.
21
But there are a few problems making this transition really hard.
22
First of all, in most places in the world, electricity is still generated mostly by burning fossil fuels.
23
And not only that, in the last 20 years, the world's electricity usage increased 73 % in absolute terms.
24
While we are installing renewables at record speeds, at the same time, the amount of fossil fuel we're burning for electricity still keeps rising year by year.
25
Renewables have so far not been able to catch up with the demand for new electricity, and so despite our progress,
26
emissions from electricity are still rising worldwide worldwide.
27
The other alternative to fossil fuels is nuclear, and even though it's not renewable, its greenhouse gas emissions are tiny compared to burning stuff.
28
But in the last 20 years, nuclear has basically stagnated.
29
Countries like China, India, and South Korea built new reactors, while Germany and Japan have been actively taking their nuclear plants offline.
30
Which seems a bit weird
31
if we look at the countries with the most low -carbon electricity in the world
32
that get most of their juice mainly from two sources nuclear or hydropower.
33
Take France and Sweden.
34
In France only around 10 % comes from fossil fuels
35
while 67 % comes from nuclear and 23 % from renewables primarily hydro.
36
In Sweden almost 30 % comes from nuclear power and about 45 % from hydro.
37
So we know that nuclear energy can work at scale.
38
On the technical side, because of the lack of investment and innovation in the last few decades,
39
the majority of the world's nuclear reactors are pretty old technology that's very costly to replace.
40
In most Western countries, building nuclear reactors has become very expensive for a variety of reasons, like a loss of know -how in constructing them,
41
policy changes and increased regulatory constraints so it can take a decade or longer just to finish a power plant.
42
In contrast, countries like South Korea, China, India, and Russia are able to build new nuclear reactors comparatively quickly and at a competitive cost.
43
Still, generally in the West, the current generation of nuclear power plants are more expensive to build and maintain than most fossil fuel alternatives.
44
There are also the concerns about nuclear waste and the fear of accidents, but we cover those in other videos in more detail.
45
We have designs for nuclear reactors that solve many of their problems, namely small reactors that take less time and money to get started.
46
There are also next generation technologies that can already turn radioactive waste into new fuel,
47
but so far these have not been deployed at a scale where they can have a significant impact on the nuclear sector.
48
Considering these uncertainties, some argue that nuclear power is a dangerous relic of the past
49
and that we should just let it go and focus on renewables.
50
But while renewables undoubtedly are the future of electricity,
51
they still have their own huge challenges to overcome before they can take over the vast majority of the electricity grid.
52
The main problem is reliability and consistency.
53
It's not always windy and the sun doesn't always shine especially in the mornings and evenings when humans need the most electricity.
54
The variations between seasons don't make this issue easier.
55
To make renewables reliable
56
and not risk blackouts we need massive storage capacities where we can save energy collected
57
when the sun or wind are at their peak and release it later when we actually need it.
58
Until this is possible other sources of electricity need to provide a controllable load
59
that creates the reliability of supply that our civilization needs to run properly.
60
Eventually, we will be able to do this with renewables, but we need a lot of batteries or storage power plants.
61
Right now, we simply don't have the tech and the capacities to make this transition fast enough to replace fossil fuels.
62
But even if we could, there's another aspect we have to take into account.
63
We're not just trying to kick fossil fuels out of electricity, we're trying to replace energy with electricity.
64
If we're going to electrify sectors that currently use fossil fuels,
65
like cars or heating, we will need significantly more electricity than we're currently using everywhere around the world.
66
And if the electricity needs of the world population continue to grow as they have over the last 20 years, we'll need even more.
67
It all comes down to one thing.
68
No energy source is perfect, all have their own unique problems.
69
Both renewables and nuclear energy require time, investment and technological innovation.
70
On their own, neither is ready to remove fossil fuels from our electricity grid, although activists on both sides claim that they are.
71
In the end, the question is how we want to deal with all these challenges.
72
Should we give up nuclear immediately and at least temporarily accept higher emissions?
73
Will we try to extend the life of current nuclear reactors and shut them down afterwards while solving the shortcomings of renewables?
74
Or will we invest in new nuclear technology to get new nuclear reactor types that are cheaper and safer?
75
Or will we maybe do both?
76
Opinion part starts here.
77
Considering the risks that climate change poses for the biosphere
78
and humanity any technology
79
that has a chance of contributing to a solution should be pursued that's just good risk management and strategy
80
if preventing rapid climate change as quickly as possible is our
81
goal it might be a good idea to see nuclear
82
and renewables not as opponents but as partners we know there's no time to waste
83
so we should keep all of our low emission players on the field as things are both nuclear
84
and renewables need innovation and investment but But if we don't know yet which technology will be ready how quickly, why not just invest in both and see what happens?
85
And on the topic of current capacities, if we take nuclear energy offline right now, then that missing capacity will be replaced,
86
at least partially, by fossil fuels.
87
Even if new nuclear power plants in the West are expensive, in the long run it may be cheaper to build them
88
as long as they prevent more fossil fuel capacity being added and paying for the consequences of rapid climate change.
89
So, do we need nuclear energy?
90
Well, it really depends how hard we choose to make things for ourselves.
91
And in a world that's already having a really hard time quitting fossil fuels, why should we make things harder than necessary?
📺 Même chaîne
B221
Your Skeleton Is Electric
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C1114
Could Humans Evolve Flight?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2133
Can Earth Run Out of Water?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B232
Your Brain Peaked at Birth
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C133
Why Ebola Keeps Coming Back
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2555
What If You Never Slept?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B27
3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Terrible! 2/3
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C18
Would You Upload Your Mind?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
Your Brain on Magic Mushrooms
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B264
What the Flu Does to Your Body
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
Is War Over? — A Paradox Explained
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C15
How ADHD Medication Works
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
The Most Complex Language in the World
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B25
Let’s Steal a New Moon
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C1758
How Stress Changes Your Brain
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B23
What Happens AFTER Nuclear War?
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Awesome! 3/3
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B252
Can We Stop the Extinction?
University StudentsWorking Adults
B26
YOU Own the Moon. And Mars. And Venus.
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C1209
The True Cost of War
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
✨ Vidéo recommandée
B21
109 phrases
How ELECTRICITY works - working principle
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2471 phrases
This Carbon Emissions Video Also Doubles as Economic Development… and That’s Awkward
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
67 phrases
Elon Musk on Education
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B1258
12 phrases
Climate Change — A Global Problem That Affects Everyone#dailyenglish #spokenenglish #englishpractice
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
222 phrases
How the Worst Oil Crisis in History is Backfiring
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
C12
65 phrases
Chernobyl (2019) It's not 3 roentgen its 15000
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
195 phrases
How Solar Is Beating Nuclear's Best Idea
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
220 phrases
consumerism makes us boring and it shows
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B267 phrases
Can cycling reduce global warming?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
42 phrases
How does a nuclear power plant work?
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulaire et conseils d’expression pour cette leçon
Cette vidéo contient 91 phrases et 1396 mots à répéter en shadowing. La partie parlée dure 9:02. Le locuteur parle à un rythme naturel d’environ 155 mots par minute, proche d’une conversation courante. 84 % des mots font partie des 3 000 mots les plus courants en anglais ; le reste mérite d’être vu avant de commencer.
Vocabulaire clé de cette vidéo
15 mots de la vidéo à retenir, avec leur prononciation et leur sens :
| Mot | Prononciation | Sens |
|---|---|---|
| fossil nom | /ˈfɑsl̩/ | fossile |
| renewable adjectif | /ɹɪˈnu.ə.bl̩/ | renouvelable |
| reactor nom | /ɹiˈæktɚ/ | réacteur |
| emission nom | /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/ | émission |
| transition nom | /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/ | transition |
| rapid adjectif | /ˈɹæp.ɪd/ | rapide |
| innovation nom | /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/ | innovation |
| solve verbe | /sɒlv/ | résoudre, régler |
| humanity nom | /hjuˈmænɪti/ | humanité |
| invest verbe | /ɪnˈvɛst/ | investir, consacrer |
| grid nom | /ɡɹɪd/ | grille |
| activist nom | /ˈæk.tɪ.vɪst/ | militant, militante |
| namely adverbe | /ˈneɪmli/ | nommément, c'est-à-dire |
| civilization nom | /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/ | civilisation |
| reliability nom | fiabilité |
Les verbes à particule que vous entendrez
| Mot | Sens |
|---|---|
| give up verbe | se rendre |
| take over verbe | reprendre |
La grammaire de cette vidéo
Les structures que le locuteur utilise le plus, avec les mots exacts de la vidéo :
| Structure | Dans la vidéo |
|---|---|
| Voix passive be + participe passé — l’accent est mis sur ce qui arrive, pas sur qui le fait | were released · is still generated · have not been deployed |
| Present perfect have/has + participe passé — une action passée qui compte encore maintenant | have been · has become · have not been deployed |
| Propositions relatives who / which + proposition — une précision sur une personne ou une chose | those who are · going, which means |
Prononciation à surveiller
Le locuteur utilise 10 contractions et formes réduites, comme we're, don't, doesn't. Prononcez-les sous leur forme courte, telles que vous les entendez.
- Les sons « sh » et « zh »: emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, innovation /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/, civilization /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/
- Mots longs — placez bien l’accent: electricity /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/, innovation /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/, humanity /hjuˈmænɪti/, civilization /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, primarily /ˈpɹaɪ.mə.ɹə.li/
Comment s’entraîner avec cette vidéo
- Écoutez la vidéo en entier une fois sans parler et notez les mots que vous ne connaissez pas.
- Commencez à la vitesse 0,75×, répétez phrase par phrase, puis revenez à la vitesse normale quand cela devient facile.
- Enregistrez-vous et comparez avec l’original, en faisant attention à des mots comme fossil, renewable, reactor.
Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?
Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.