五项将改变世界的技术

UTILITY STORAGE  电力储存技术

Everybody's rooting for wind and solar power. How could you not? But wind and solar are use-it-or-lose-it resources. To make any kind of difference, they need better storage.
所有人都在支持风能和太阳能技术，你怎能置身事外？但风能和太阳能是那种要么利用要么流失的资源。要改变现状，它们需要更好的储存技术。

Scientists are attacking the problem from a host of angles -- all of which are still problematic. One, for instance, uses power produced when the wind is blowing to compress air in underground chambers; the air is fed into gas-fired turbines to make them run more efficiently. One of the obstacles: finding big, usable, underground caverns.
科学家正在从诸多角度应对这个问题，但各个方面都面临难题。举例来说，一项技术是通过风能将地下洞穴内的空气压缩产生电能；将空气输送至燃气涡轮机以提高燃烧功效。这其中面临的一个障碍是：要寻找到大空间以及可用的地下洞穴。

Similarly, giant batteries can absorb wind energy for later use, but some existing technologies are expensive, and others aren't very efficient. While researchers are looking at new materials to improve performance, giant technical leaps aren't likely.
类似的，还有能够吸收风能待日后使用的巨型电池，但当前的一些技术成本昂贵，其他技术则不是很有效率。尽管研究人员正在寻找新材料以提高性能，但要出现显著技术飞跃的可能性不大。

Lithium-ion technology may hold the greatest promise for grid storage, where it doesn't have as many limitations as for autos. As performance improves and prices come down, utilities could distribute small, powerful lithium-ion batteries around the edge of the grid, closer to customers.
锂离子技术可能是电网存储前景最好的技术，在这个领域内该技术不会面临像在汽车业中那样多的限制。随着性能提高和价格降低，公共事业机构可能会向电网边缘，较为靠近用户的地方输送小体积大容量的锂离子电池。

There, they could store excess power from renewables and help smooth small fluctuations in power, making the grid more efficient and reducing the need for backup fossil-fuel plants. And utilities can piggy-back on research efforts for vehicle batteries.
这样，这些锂离子电池可以从可再生能源中存储多余的能源，有助于平抑电能供应的小波动，提高电网的效率，降低对备用火电厂的需求。公用事业机构可以利用汽车电池的研究成果。

CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE 碳捕捉和储存技术

Keeping coal as an abundant source of power means slashing the amount of carbon dioxide it produces. That could mean new, more efficient power plants. But trapping C02 from existing plants -- about two billion tons a year -- would be the real game-changer.
继续将煤炭作为一种主要的能源意味着需要努力去降低碳燃烧生成的二氧化碳。这可能意味着要建设更高效的新发电厂。但从当前的电厂捕捉二氧化碳（每年大约为20亿吨）可能是一个真正能够改变游戏规则的技术。

Techniques for modest-scale CO2 capture exist, but applying them to big power plants would reduce the plants' output by a third and double the cost of producing power. So scientists are looking into experimental technologies that could cut emissions by 90% while limiting cost increases.
目前已经出现了小规模的二氧化碳捕捉技术，但如果将这些技术用于大型发电厂会导致发电量减少三分之一，并导致发电成本增长一倍。因此，科学家正在寻找既能够将碳排放量降低90%，又能限制成本增长的试验性技术。

Nearly all are in the early stages, and it's too early to tell which method will win out. One promising technique burns coal and purified oxygen in the form of a metal oxide, rather than air; this produces an easier-to-capture concentrated stream of CO2 with little loss of plant efficiency. The technology has been demonstrated in small-scale pilots, and will be tried in a one-megawatt test plant next year. But it might not be ready for commercial use until 2020.
几乎所有技术目前都处于初步阶段，目前断言哪种方法能够最终胜出还为时过早。一个前景看好的技术是以金属氧化物的形式燃烧煤炭和纯净氧，而不是在空气中燃 烧；这种方法会产生较容易捕捉的二氧化碳集中气流，几乎不会影响电厂的效率。这种技术已经在小规模试点项目中进行了展示，明年将用于一个装机容量为一百万 瓦的试验电厂。但2020年之前，这种技术可能还难以投入商用。

NEXT-GENERATION BIOFUELS 下一代生物燃料

One way to wean ourselves from oil is to come up with renewable sources of transportation fuel. That means a new generation of biofuels made from nonfood crops.
一个令我们逐步摆脱对石油依赖的途径就是研制出可再生的运输燃料。这意味着从非食品作物中研制出新一代的生物燃料。

Researchers are devising ways to turn lumber and crop wastes, garbage and inedible perennials like switchgrass into competitively priced fuels. But the most promising next-generation biofuel comes from algae.
研究人员正在想办法将木材、作物废料、垃圾以及柳枝稷等不可食用植物转化为具有价格优势的燃料。但前景最为看好的新一代生物燃料来自于藻类。

Algae grow fast, consume carbon dioxide and can generate more than 5,000 gallons a year per acre of biofuel, compared with 350 gallons a year for corn-based ethanol.
藻类生长迅速，会消耗二氧化碳，一英亩藻类每年可以生成超过5,000加仑的生物燃料，而一英亩玉米每年只能生产350加仑的乙醇。

Algae-based fuel can be added directly into existing refining and distribution systems; in theory, the U.S. could produce enough of it to meet all of the nation's transportation needs.
藻类燃料可以直接添加进当前的提炼和分销系统。理论上来说，美国可以生产大量的藻类燃料，足以满足美国所有的交通运输需求。

But it's early. Dozens of companies have begun pilot projects and small-scale production. But producing algae biofuels in quantity means finding reliable sources of inexpensive nutrients and water, managing pathogens that could reduce yield, and developing and cultivating the most productive algae strains.
但现在还为时过早。数十家公司已经开始了试点项目和小规模生产。但量产藻类燃料意味着要寻找到可靠的、价格低廉的养分和水资源，控制可能导致减产的病原体，研发和培育产量最高的藻株。