高等学校英语拓展系列教程-科技英语阅读课文翻译

Text A

Unit2 The Future of Alternative Energy替代能源的前景

Residential energy use in the United States will increase 25 percent by the year 2025, according to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) forecasts. A small but increasing share of that extra power will trickle in from renewable sources like wind, sunlight, water and heat in the ground.

美国能源部(DOE)预测，美国居民所使用的能源将在2025 年前增加25%。增加的电能中将有一小部分来源于再生能源(如风、阳光、水、地热)，而且这部分还会不断增大。

Last year alternative e nergy sources provided 6 percent of the nation’s energy supply, according to the DOE.

美国能源部称，去年全国能源供应总量中有6%来自于替代能源。

“The future belongs to renewable energy,” said Brad Collins, the executive director of the American Solar Energy Society, a Boulder, Colorado-based nonprofit organization. “Scientist and industry experts may disagree over how long the world’s supply of oil and natural gas will last, but it will end,” Collin said.

“未来属于再生能源，”美国太阳能协会执行主席布拉德·柯林斯说。该协会是一个非赢利性质的组织，总部设在科罗拉多州的博尔德。柯林斯还说：“虽然科学家和行业专家对于世界石油和天然气究竟还能供应多久这一问题仍有争议，但可以确定的是这些能源的供应终究要枯竭的。”

While renewable energy is generally more expensive than conventionally produced supplies, alternative power helps to reduce pollution and to conserve fossil fuels.

较之传统方法生产的能源，再生能源虽然普遍昂贵一些，但是，这些替代能源有利于减少污染，节省矿物燃料。

“People sometimes get caught up in cost-effectiveness,” said Paul Torcellini, a senior engineer at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) in Golden, Colorado. “But it can be a question of values and what we spend our money on.”

位于科罗拉多戈尔登市的美国能源部国家再生能源实验室(NREL)的高级工程师保罗·托斯理尼说：“有时人们考虑的只是节省成本的问题。但它也是一个价值观的问题和我们应当把钱花在哪的问题。”

Below, a look at some recent developments in renewable-energy technology:

下面让我们看看再生能源技术的最新开发成果。

Solar Power太阳能

Photovoltaic, or solar-electric, systems capture light energy from the sun’s rays and convert it into electricity. Today these solar units power everything from small homes to large office buildings.

光电（或太阳能发电）系统的原理是将从太阳辐射中获得的光能转变成电力。现在，小到家用电器，大到办公楼的电气设备，都可以利用太阳能发电。

Technological improvements have made solar-electric modules more cost-effective. In the 1980s the average price of energy captured with photovoltaic was 95 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Today that price has dropped to around 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Collins, of the American Solar Energy Society.

科技的进步降低了太阳能发电设备的成本。美国太阳能协会执行主席柯林斯说，20 世

纪80 年代，通过光电器件获取的能源其平均价格为每千瓦时95 美分，而现在这个价格已降低到约20 美分。

The cheaper rate is still more expensive than the average national price of electricity, which in 2003 was a little over 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Annual Energy Review.

据美国能源部《能源年刊》报道，既使是这一比较低廉的价格仍然大大高于全国平均电价，2003 年的电价平均仅为每千瓦时8 美分多一点。

Other recent advances include “thin film” photovoltaic technology, a high-tech coating that converts any surface covered with the film into a solar-electric power source. Boats and RVs that use the film are now on the market.

其他的先进技术还包括“薄膜”光电技术，这是一种高科技涂层，它可以将任何表层贴有这种薄膜的物体转变太阳能电源。使用这种薄膜的船只和娱乐用车现在已经上市。

Engineers have also developed a roofing material coated with electricity-producing film. “The guy who puts on the roof (on a house now) puts on the solar panels at the same time,” Torcellini said. The roofing material withstands inclement weather and, on bright days, taps sunshine for electricity.

工程师还将这种可以发电的薄膜覆盖在屋顶材料上。托斯理尼说：“人们在安装屋顶的同时也安装了太阳能板。”这种材料能抵抗恶劣天气，在晴天吸收太阳光发电。

NREL researchers, meanwhile, are working to devise more efficient and cheaper solar-electric systems. Most traditional photovoltaic solar units on the market today convert between 11 and 13 percent of the sun’s light into energy. Engineers think they can improve on that.

同时，国家再生能源实验室正在研制开发更加廉价高效的太阳能发电系统。现在市面上许多传统光电太阳能器件仅能将11%到13%的太阳光转变成能量，而工程师认为这个比率还能提高。

Jeff Mazer, a Washington, D.C.-area photovoltaic engineer, notes that most thin-film photovoltaic systems today have a 7 to 11 percent efficiency rating. But he estimates that thin films could surpass that rating within three years. He also notes that some new traditional solar modules achieve 15 percent efficiency and believes that figure can climb to 17 percent in the near future.

华盛顿哥伦比亚特区的光电工程师杰弗·梅泽说，现在的薄膜光电系统具有7%到11%的效率额定值，但他预测三年之内薄膜效率额定值会超过这个数值。他还透露，某些传统太阳能组件新产品的效率额定值已经达到15%，并且在不久的将来还能提高到17%。

In the last two decades solar-thermal panels (units used to warm household hot water, pools and spas) have become highly efficient. “Energy costs have decreased from 60 cents to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour since the 1980s,” Collins said.

在过去的20 年里，太阳能加热板（用来加热家庭用水、游泳池和矿泉浴场的设备）的效率已经达到很高水平。柯林斯说：“自80 年代以来能源成本已经从每千瓦时60 美分降到8 美分。”

Solar-powered water heaters are typically more expensive than conventional ones, but, as with other products that harness alternative energy, consumers benefit by knowing their energy costs up-front Torcellini said. “Otherwise, you’re hedging your bets about the future cost of traditional energy sources by using standard appliances,” he said.

托斯理尼说，利用太阳能热水器明显比传统普通热水器要贵。但是，和其他使用替代能