有時(shí)候看新聞看光標(biāo)題是不夠的。比如這篇。譯完了才發(fā)現(xiàn)這居然是篇會議新聞通稿？居然沒談氫氣價(jià)格很快會下降的方法？只說了日本熊本大學(xué)的一個(gè)最新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)。
Cheap Hydrogen Could Soon Become A Reality
便宜的氫氣很快能變成現(xiàn)實(shí)
Few younger readers will remember how popular hydrogen fuel cells were in the media a couple of decades ago. They came beforeelectric cars. They were supposed to be the cleaner alternative to internal combustion engines. And they never really took off because hydrogen fuel cells were simply too costly to make. But people continued to work with hydrogen because it is the most abundant element in the universe, and its conversion into energy does not as a rule result in harmful by-products.
很少會有年輕的讀者能記得十幾年前燃料電池是多么的受媒體的歡迎。它們比電動汽車的出現(xiàn)更早。且被認(rèn)為是內(nèi)燃機(jī)的清潔替代品。而燃料電池之所以沒有真正的被推廣起來，是因?yàn)闅淠苋剂想姵氐某杀竞喼笔翘咛吡?。時(shí)至今日人們?nèi)匀辉趯θ剂想姵剡M(jìn)行研發(fā)，是因?yàn)闅涫沁@個(gè)宇宙中最含量最為豐富的元素，在氫利用的過程中不會有任何有害副產(chǎn)物的排放。
A recent study by researchers from Kumamoto University found a way to extract hydrogen from ammonia without the release ofnoxious nitrogen oxides. They added a new compound comprising copper, silicon,and aluminum, which made ammonia combust at lower than usual temperatures, andit eliminated the release of nitrogen oxides. Theoretically, this method couldproduce energy from hydrogen in a much cheaper way than other existing methods.Until it’s scalable, this breakthrough remains in the potential stage.
日本熊本大學(xué)最近的一項(xiàng)研究，找到了一種從氨氣中提取氫氣而不翻譯有毒的氮氧化物的過程。他們往里增加了一種新的化合物，包括銅，硅和鋁，這就使得氨的燃燒的溫度要低于平時(shí)的溫度，并且消除了氮氧化物的釋放。從理論上琰說，這種方法可以比其它現(xiàn)有的辦法，能夠更為便宜的提取到氫氣。而在大規(guī)模的利用以前，這種突破仍然處在一種潛在利用的階段。
Meanwhile in Europe, renewable power is becoming soabundant that it could be used to produce cheap hydrogen without the need forany scientific breakthroughs. Last month Euractiv cited a report from a Germananalytical firm, Energy Brainpool, that said surplus electricity from solar andwind farms can be used to convert water into hydrogen through hydrolysis.Hydrogen is relatively easy to store and use when needed or fed into the hydrogen fueling station network, which, truth be told, is a very sparse network.
同時(shí)在歐洲，可再生能源變得異常豐富，可以生產(chǎn)更為便宜的氫氣，而不用任何科學(xué)方面的突破。上個(gè)月歐洲動態(tài)，引用了德國一家分析公司Energy Brainpool的分析，說太陽能和風(fēng)能發(fā)電的多余電力，可通過電解水制氫將水轉(zhuǎn)化為氫氣。氫氣相對容易存儲和使用。說實(shí)話，氫氣的管道還是非常少的。
According to Energy Brainpool, using surpluselectricity for hydrogen production can become cheaper with time as the efficiency levels of solar and wind installations rise and maintenance costsdecline further. In fact, at some point in the future, hydrogen could become cheaper than natural gas, which would naturally have major implications for its adoption. Again, this is only a theory because power-to-gas facilities in some countries in Europe are subject to high feed-in tariffs and grid charges that make them uneconomical in the application outlined by Energy Brainpool.
據(jù)Energy Brainpool公司說，利用多余電力制氫，隨著時(shí)間的推移，太陽能和風(fēng)能發(fā)電裝置水平的提高，其維護(hù)成本也在進(jìn)一步的下降。實(shí)際上，在未來的某一天，氫氣可能會比天然氣更為便宜。同樣的是，這只是一種理論，因?yàn)闅W洲某些國家的能源和天然氫的設(shè)施受到高電價(jià)和電網(wǎng)費(fèi)用的制約，這就使得Energy Brainpool提出的氫能的應(yīng)用顯得不經(jīng)濟(jì)了。
Despite the challenges, work will certainlycontinue to find ways to use hydrogen as energy source or even as analternative to batteries. Hydrogen can be used for the storage of energy through hydrolysis—the process that breaks down water into its constituent elements. The hydrogen resulting from this process is then stored in caverns or tanks until the time comes when it needs to be converted back into electricityin gas-powered plants, for instance, or in fuel cells for vehicles. Again,costs are to date proving prohibitive for scaling this application of the gas.
盡管充滿了挑戰(zhàn)，但繼續(xù)尋找氫能作為能源的方法，或是作為電池的方法仍然在繼續(xù)進(jìn)行-將水分解成其它元素的過程-進(jìn)行能量的存儲。在這一過程中產(chǎn)生的氫氣會存儲在地下室或是儲氫罐中，直到，在天然氣發(fā)電廠或是汽車的燃料電池中，利用氫氣重新轉(zhuǎn)化為電能。同樣的是，同樣的是，目前的成本也證明了氫氣的大規(guī)模利用是受到了抑制的。
Early 2017 saw the launch of the Hydrogen Council,a group involving several leading automakers as well as Shell and Total,seeking ways to make hydrogen more commercially viable. The council allocated $1.4 billion to the development of energy storage and fuel cell project development until 2020, and has high hopes for the future. Indeed, the latest edition of gasworld that took place last month in Amsterdam had the Hydrogen Council’s Secretary Pierre-Etienne Franc talk about a hydrogen economy.
2017年被我們見證了世界氫能委員會的成立，這個(gè)由幾家世界級的汽車生產(chǎn)商，和殼牌公司，道達(dá)爾，一起來尋找使氫能可適用于大規(guī)模商業(yè)應(yīng)用的方法。世界氫能委員會將會投資14億美元，對能源存儲和燃料電池項(xiàng)目進(jìn)行開發(fā)，一直投資到2020年，并寄希望于未來。上個(gè)月在阿姆斯特丹的最新的GASWORLD的會議上，世界氫能委員會的秘書長Pierre-Etienne Franc就談到了氫能經(jīng)濟(jì)。
Hydrogen is tempting because of its abundance and the various ways in which it can be used as a cleaner alternative to oil and gas. Without solving the cost and scalability problems, however, it may never live to see its heyday.
氫能之所以有誘惑力，是因?yàn)樗S富多樣的制氫方式，可作為更清潔的可替代石油和天然氣的替代品。然而，如果不解決成本和規(guī)模利用的問題，我們永遠(yuǎn)也不會看到氫能發(fā)展的全盛時(shí)期了。
