|
- 帖子
- 5
- 积分
- 3
- 原创译作
- 2 篇
- 注册时间
- 2010-1-29
|
本帖{zh1}由 lilywizardry 于 2010-3-3 21:59 编辑
Hype about fuel cells
燃料电池，言过其实
Flower power
成熟能源
Feb 25th 2010 | SAN FRANCISCO
From The Economist print edition
A clean-tech start-up generates lots of excitement and a little electricity
清洁技术启动: 激动多多，电能少少
“WE BELIEVE that we can have the same kind of impact on energy that the mobile phone had on communications.” So says K.R. Sridhar, the boss of Bloom Energy, which on February 24th unveiled what it claims is a revolutionary fuel cell. Thanks to such grandiose pronouncements and a vigorous public relations blitz, the “Bloom Box”, as the company’s product has been dubbed, has attracted plenty of headlines. But there are good reasons for scepticism.
“我们相信我们给能源带来的影响就像手机带给交流的那般。”Bloom能源公司老板，K.R斯里达尔如是说。Bloom能源公司在2月24日发布了号称具有革命性的燃料电池。由于如此浮夸的声明和强有力的闪电公关战，Bloom Box，如同公司产品戏称的那样吸引了大量的头版标题。但仍有充分的怀疑理由。
That Bloom is now being promoted so loudly is hardly surprising. The firm, which has kept its work secret for the past eight years, has attracted a hefty $400m from venture capitalists, including some who bet on the Segway, a high-tech scooter that promised but failed to change the world. A successful initial public offering or a sale to a strategic investor would allow Bloom’s backers to reap a return on their investment. It would also give a fillip to the clean-tech sector, at which Silicon Valley’s moneymen have thrown billions of dollars in the hope of hitting a Google-like payday.
Bloom现在如此高调的推广并不为奇。在过去的八年里该公司对他们的工作绝口不提，吸引了4亿美金的风险资本，包括曾投资于赛格威——一家承诺改变世界但铩羽而归的高科技滑行车公司——的公司。一次成功的上市或向战略投资者做的一次销售都将使Bloom的投资者获得回报。Bloom还将给予清洁能源业一次刺激，硅谷的投资者已向清洁能源业投入数十亿美金以期有{yt}得到像Google那样的回报。
Mr Sridhar paints a glowing picture of the potential of Bloom’s technology, which uses a series of discs, made from zirconium oxide and coated in special inks, to induce a chemical reaction that turns natural gas, among other fuels, into electricity. This is more efficient, and therefore greener, than burning gas to generate electricity in a power plant and then transmitting it through the grid. The firm has produced some 100-kilowatt units for corporate customers, costing $700,000-800,000. But in five to ten years, Mr Sridhar says, it will be able to make smaller Bloom Boxes, designed to power single homes, for less than $3,000.
斯里达尔就Bloom技术的潜力描绘了一副生机勃勃的景象。Bloom是一系列的由氧化锆制造的陶瓷板，涂有特殊墨水层，以产生化学反应使在其他燃料中的天然气转变为电能。这相比在发电厂燃烧煤气以产生电，然后通过输电网传输更为高效和环保。公司已为公司客户制造了一些100千瓦的产品，造价为70-80万美元。斯里达尔表示，在未来的5到10年间，Bloom公司将制造稍小规模的家用Bloom Boxes，售价不到3000美金。
That claim has raised eyebrows in the fuel-cell industry. Mr Sridhar believes his target is achievable because Bloom will reap economies of scale as it ramps up production and because fuel-cell technology will improve in leaps and bounds. But a host of other firms have been trying for years to produce small cells cheaply. Andrew Neilson of Ceramic Fuel Cells, which has deals with several European utilities to develop domestic fuel cells and has sold a few two-kilowatt units, points out that it is especially difficult to shrink all of the components needed to feed air and fuel to the cells and to extract energy from them.
燃料电池业对该声明表示惊讶。斯里达尔先生因为Bloom公司可以通过增加产量形成的规模经济效应而获益以及燃料电池工业的飞速发展，他的目标可以实现。但其他一些公司在低价生产小电池方面已经尝试了许多年。陶瓷燃料电池有限公司与许多欧洲公用服务公司合作发展家用燃料电池，并已售出一些2千瓦的成品。来自该公司的安德鲁尼尔森指出压缩向电池输送空气和燃料并通过他们发电的必备设备极其困难。
Generous state and federal subsidies for fuel cells should help Bloom sell to big businesses. Thanks to these, and to savings on its electricity bill, eBay, which is one of several companies that has been trying out Bloom Boxes, reckons its investment in them will pay for itself in three years. But many firms, including experienced manufacturers such as General Electric, have their eye on the corporate market, too—which helps explain, along with filings from car companies working on fuel-cell batteries, why patents for fuel cells far exceed those for other sources of green power (see chart). Moreover, the more often subsidies are claimed, the less keen on them governments tend to become.
国家与xx给燃料电池的补助金极其慷慨，这对Bloom卖给大型企业起到了帮助。由于这些补助，以及它在电费账单上的节余，试用Bloom Boxes的公司之一Ebay，认为它对Boxes的投资会在3年内得到补偿。但包括例如通用电气等经验丰富的制造商在内的其他公司，则将他们的目光放在企业市场，这解释了随着致力于燃料电池的汽车公司的尘封归档，燃料电池专利数远超过其它类型的清洁能源专利数的原因。此外，申请的补贴金越多，政府对补贴金的用处越不感兴趣。 |
|
