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Notes
1. Work on research and development of photovoltaics is carried out by various institutes and universities.
参考译文:各个研究院所和高校正开展对太阳能电池的研究和开发工作。
2. Only a few modules used for garden light are encapsulated by transparent resin.
参考译文:花园的灯只用几个由透明树脂包裹的模块制成。
3. The photovoltaic industry continues to rapidly expand at rates comparable to the telecommunications and computer industries, the massive growth in the industry is leading to many
1.4 The Future of Photovoltaic
Though the photovoltaic industry has experienced a phenomenal annual 20% growth rate over the last decade, it has just started to realize its potential. While over a million households in India alone get their electricity from solar cells, more than two billion still have no electrical service. The continuing revolution in telecommunications is bringing a greater emphasis on the use of photovoltaics. As with electrical service, the expense of stringing telephone wires keeps most of the developing world without communication services that people living in the more developed countries take for granted. Photovoltaicrun satellites and cellular sites, and a combination of the two, offer the only hope to bridge the digital divide. Photovoltaics could allow everyone the freedom to dial up at or near home and of course, hook up to the Internet.
Opportunities for photovoltaics in the developed world also continue to grow. In the U.S. and Western Europe, thousands of permanent or vacation homes are too distant for utility electric service.
If people live in a vacation home that is more than 250 yards from a utility pole, paying the utility to string wires to their place costs more than supplying their power needs with photovoltaics. Fourteen thousand Swiss Alpine chalets and thousands of others from Finland to Spain to Colorado get their electricity from solar energy.
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Many campgrounds now prohibit recreational vehicle (RV) owners from running their engines to power generators that run appliances inside the campground. The exhaust gases pollute, and the noise irritates other campers, especially at night. Photovoltaic panels, mounted on the roofs of RVs, provides the electricity needed without bothering others.
Restricting carbon dioxide emissions to help moderate global warming could start money flowing from burning fossil fuels to photovoltaic projects elsewhere. The damage wrought by the 19971998 El Nino gives us a taste of the harsher weather expected as the Earth warms. The anticipated increase in natural disasters, brought about by a more disastrous future climate, as well as the growing number of people living in catastropheprone regions, make early warning systems essential.
The ultimate early warning device may consist of pilotless photovoltaicpowered weather surveillance airplanes, the prototype of which is the Helios. The Helios has flown higher than any other aircraft. Solar cells make up the entire top of the aircraft, which consists of only a wing and propellers. Successors to the Helios will have fuel cells on the underside of the wing. They will get their power from the photovoltaic panels throughout the day, extracting hydrogen and oxygen from the water discharged by the fuel cells the night before. When the sun sets, the hydrogen and oxygen will power the fuel cells, generating enough electricity at night to run the aircraft. Water discharged in the process will allow the diurnal cycle to begin the next morning. The tandem use of solar cells and fuel cells will allow the aircraft to stay aloft forever, far above the turbulence, watching for and tracking hurricanes, and other potentially dangerous weather and natural catastrophes.
Revolutionary lighting elements called lightemitting diodes (LEDs) produce the same quality of illumination as their predecessors with only a fraction of energy. LEDs therefore significantly reduce the amount of panels and batteries necessary for running lights, making a photovoltaic system less costly and less cumbersome. They have enabled photovoltaics to take over from gasoline generators the mobile warning signs used on roadways to alert motorists about lane closures and other temporary 16 John Perlin cis Group, LLC Copright 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC problems that drivers should know about. The eventual replacement of household lighting by LEDs will do the same for photovoltaics in homes.
To bring photovoltaics to mainstream will require further reductions in their cost. Many researchers believe that greater demand could do the trick because for every doubling of production, the price drops 20%. Others believe that new methods of producing silicon solar cells will drop the price significantly. Some researchers are exploring the development of producing less expensive silicon feed stock. At present, most photovoltaic material is made from silicon grown as large cylindrical single crystals or cast in multiplecrystal blocks. Cutting cells only 300 or 400 mm thick from such bulky materials demands excessive cutting, and half of the very expensive starting
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material ends up on the floor as dust.
New less costly and wasteful ways of manufacturing solar cells promise much lower prices. A number of companies, for example, have begun producing cells directly from molten silicon; the hardened material, only about 100 mm thick, is then fitted into modules. Other companies have developed processes to spray photovoltaic material onto supporting material. All these new techniques have potential for mass production. There are skeptics, however, who believe that today’s techniques will never reach a low enough price for mass use. Some optimists see emerging nanotechnology as the answer. Authors contributing to this book are working with organic compounds that can absorb light and change it into electricity. They envision depositing these compounds on filmlike material, which would cost very little to produce, and could be easily adhered to building surfaces. Commercialization is yet to begin.
In truth, the number of potentially inexpensive ways to make solar cells being pursued is dazzling. When Bell Laboratories first unveiled the silicon solar cell, their publicist made a bold prediction: The ability of transistors to operate on very low power gives solar cells great potential and it seems inevitable that the two Bell inventions will be closely linked in many important future developments that will influence the art of living.
Already, the tandem use of transistors and solar cells for running satellites, navigation aids, microwave repeaters, televisions, radios, and cassette players in the developing world and a myriad of other devices has fulfilled the Bell prediction. It takes no great leap of the imagination to expect the transistor and solar cell revolution to continue until it encompasses every electrical need from space to Earth.
From Organic Photovoltaics, by SamShajing Sun, 2005.
New Words and Expressions
1. phenomenal [fɪ'nɒmɪn(ә)l] adj. 现象的;显著的;异常的;能知觉的;惊人的,非凡的 2. potential [pә t enʃl] n. 潜能;可能性;[电] 电势 adj. 潜在的;可能的;势的 3. households ['haʊshәʊld] adj. 家庭的;日常的;王室的 n. 家庭;一家人 4. emphasis ['emfәsɪs] n. 重点;强调;加强语气 复数 emphases
5. expense [ɪk'spens; ek'spens] n. 损失,代价;消费;开支 vt. 向…收取费用 vi. 被花 掉 过去式 expensed 过去分词 expensed 现在分词 expensing
6. permanent ['pɜ m( ː ә)nәnt] adj. 永久的,永恒的;不变的 n. 烫发(等于 permanent wave) 比较级 more permanent 最高级 the most permanent
7. utility [juː ɪlәti] n. 实用;效用;公共设施;功用 adj. 实用的;通用的;有多种 t 用途的 复数 utilities
8. campgrounds ['kæmpgrәʊnd] n. 露营场所;野营地
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9. recreational vehicle 野营旅游车;休闲车 10. appliance [ә'pla ә ɪ ns] n. 器具;器械;装置
过去式 applianced 过去分词 applianced 现在分词 appliancing
11. mount [maʊnt] vt. 增加;爬上;使骑上马;安装,架置;镶嵌,嵌入;准备上演; 14. diurnal cycle [植] 昼夜循环
15. tandem ['tændәm] n. 串联;串座双人自行车 adj. 串联的 adv. 一前一后地;纵排地
20. cumbersome ['kʌmbәs(ә)m] adj. 笨重的;累赘的;难处理的 21. adhere to 坚持;粘附;拥护,追随
22. commercialization [kә7mɜː ә ʃ laɪ'ze ә ɪʃ n] n. 商品化,商业化
23. dazzling ['dæzlɪŋ] adj. 耀眼的;眼花缭乱的 v. 使……眼花(dazzle 的 ing 形式)
24. unveil [ʌn'veɪl] vt. 使公之于众,揭开;揭幕 vi. 除去面纱;显露
25. transistors [træn'zistәz] n. [电子] 晶体管;晶体三极管(transistor 的复数)
26. navigation aid 助航设备;导航设施
27. encompass [ɪn'kʌmpәs; en'kʌmpәs] vt. 包含;包围,环绕;完成 Notes
1. As with electrical service, the expense of stringing telephone wires keeps most of the developing world without communication services that people living in the more developed countries take for granted.
参考译文:就像用电服务一样,延伸电话线的成本使得大部分发展中国家没有通讯服务,
而这样的通讯服务在发达国家被认为是理所应当的。
2. To bring photovoltaics to mainstream will require further reductions in their cost.
参考译文:让光伏发电成为主流能源需要进一步降低其成本。
3. There are skeptics, however, who believe that today’s techniques will never reach a low enough price for mass use.
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参考译文:然而怀疑论者认为,当前的科技水平无法支持光伏发电达到大规模应用的低 价格。