Can solar power be cheap? 太陽能發電能變便宜嗎？: Surya Namaska

Rooftops of solar powered houses in Ota, Japan on Oct. 28.
二００八年十月二十八日攝於日本大田區的屋頂有太陽能發電設備的房屋。

Photo: Reuters
照片：路透

New technologies will be needed for photovoltaics to become cheap.

Fact 1: The primary ingredient of most solar panels is purified sand. Fact 2: Enough sunlight hits the Earth in an hour to provide all of humanity’s energy needs for a year. So why isn’t solar power cheap and abundant?

For starters, building a device capable of turning incoming photons into electricity isn’t cheap. Add in installation and the cost of a solar system can still be more than US$10 per watt of electricity produced. That’s much higher than the cost per watt from burning coal or natural gas.

It’s going to take further technological breakthroughs to make photovoltaics cheaper.

New developments could include growing pure silicon wafers rather than sawing them from long ingots; or even fundamental shifts in the physics employed, like using so-called black silicon or quantum dots.

Of course, if all energy sources paid their full price, solar would be more competitive. After all, making solar panels doesn’t result in nearly as much mercury, CO2 and other pollution as spewed by coal-fired power plants. If the health and environmental costs of coal or natural gas were included in their prices, suddenly solar might look a whole lot cheaper.

(Courtesy of Liberty Times)

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. ingredient n.原料成分；要素 

例: What are the cake’s ingredients? (這蛋糕是用哪些原料做成的？)

2. breakthrough n.突破性進展 

(例: Researchers say they have made a breakthrough in cancer treatment.

(研究人員說他們在癌症治療方面已有突破性進展。)

3. spew v. 噴出；放出
 例: Smoke and ashes spewed from the volcano. (煙和灰燼從火山口噴發出。)

為了讓光能發電變便宜，新科技得派上用場。

事實一：大部分太陽能面板的基本成分是淨化後的砂子。事實二：太陽光照射在地球一小時的能量，足以提供人類一年的能源需求。如此說來，為什麼太陽能不能既便宜又豐沛？

對入門者來說，建造一個可以將光能轉為電能的裝置並不便宜。增添安置一套太陽能發電系統，其每瓦特發電費用仍超過十美元。這比燃煤或天然氣每瓦特發電成本還高出許多。

太陽能發電還需要更進一步的科技突破，讓它更便宜。

新的發展可能包括使用更純化的矽薄片，而不是將它鋸成長條的鑄塊。或者是物理學應用的重大改變，像是使用所謂的黑矽或是量子點。

當然，如果各種能量來源完全償付它的成本價格，太陽能會更具競爭力。畢竟，製造太陽能面板，不會像其他燃煤發電廠排放出那麼多水銀、二氧化碳和其他汙染物。如果燃煤或天然氣發電能計入健康和環境成本，太陽能馬上就看起來便宜許多。

（自由時報提供／翻譯：李信漢）

讓我們花片刻時間靜靜思考一下。Peace Meditation

Ex-boyfriend in Facebook rage attack臉友惹惱前男友 國三生毆國三生

Is Facebook the cause of this calamity? A male high-school student from Hsinchu, surnamed Wu, and a female student, both in the same grade, intimately interacted on Facebook. The female student’s ex-boyfriend, surnamed Lin, also in the third grade, became aware of this and unbelievably, together with classmates and wielding a wrench, dealt a blow to Wu’s head, causing injuries.

(Video for parents)

The judge found that Lin, on seeing Wu’s frequent intimate interaction on Facebook with his ex-girlfriend, became resentful and decided to wait for an opportunity to teach Wu a lesson. On the afternoon of March 2 last year, in league with fellow third-grade classmates surnamed Lo and Tsai — and carrying a wrench used for vehicle maintenance, approximately 40 centimeters in length — waited for Wu next to the Jiew Sheh Elementary School basketball court.

After Wu had been invited to the court, he was surrounded by the three students. Lin suddenly took out the previously concealed wrench and struck Wu on the right temple and left cheekbone twice in quick succession, then ran off. Wu’s face, scalp and neck were bruised and there was an open wound to the right side of his face two to three centimeters wide. The attack also caused nervous anxiety, insomnia, recurring thoughts of the incident, associated post-traumatic stress reaction and mental and physical illness. Lo and his father have been asked to pay NT$200,000 in joint damages.

(Liberty Times, Translated by Edward Jones)

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. interact v. 互動 

例: John never interacted with anyone outside of his close circle of friends.

(約翰從不與自己親密交友圈外的人互動。)

2. in league with phr. 夥同 

例: We suspect the mayor was in league with the construction industry.

(我們懷疑市長與建築業同流合污。)

3. surround v. 包圍 

例: The police surrounded the criminal, forcing her to surrender.

(警察包圍罪犯迫使她投降。)

都是臉書惹的禍？新竹市吳姓國三男學生與一名同年級女學生在臉書上互動熱絡，女學生的林姓國三前男友得知，竟與同學持鐵扳手痛擊吳生頭部成傷。

法官調查，林生疑因看到吳生在臉書常與其前女友互動熱絡，心生不滿，計畫伺機教訓他，去年三月二日下午攜帶長約四十公分鐵製修車用扳手，夥同羅姓與蔡姓國三生在舊社國小籃球場旁等候吳生。

吳生被約出到場後，遭三人包圍，林生突然拿出預藏鐵扳手，朝吳生右額頭太陽穴與左邊臉部顴骨連續重敲二下後逃逸，吳生臉部、頭皮及頸部挫傷，右臉開放性傷口達二至三公分，且造成精神焦慮、失眠、反覆回想事件等創傷後壓力反應，身心受創，訴請羅生與其父親連帶賠償二十萬元。

（自由時報記者蔡彰盛）

Heads up, people! 抬頭吧，低頭族！

Many travelers are “phubbers,” staring at their smartphones while waiting on the platform in Taipei on Feb. 17 this year.
今年二月十七日，許多乘客在月台等車時都成了低頭族，埋頭看手機。

Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者廖振輝

Due to the popularity of smartphones and tablets, more and more teenagers have become members of the “heads down,” or phubbers, group. To safeguard the physical and psychological development of the youth, the National Communications Commission (NCC) has instructed manufacturers of these devices to add warnings on the devices, packages and manuals of smartphones and tablets, reminding people that they should not spend a long period of time staring at the screens.

The amendment of the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act was passed by the legislature on the third reading on Jan. 23, stipulating that children and youths may not spend a long period of time using electronic devices.

In addition to reminding people that overusing electronic devices can harm visual acuity, the NCC also urged people should take a 10-minute break after using smartphones or tablets for 30 minutes; children younger than 2 years of age should not stare at screens; children older than 2 years of age should not stare at screens for longer than 1 hour per day.

(Liberty times, translated by Ethan Zhan)

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. manual n.

說明書 (shuo1 ming2 shu1)

例: I’ve never read such an interesting manual before.

(我從沒讀過這麼有趣的說明書。)

2. legislature n.

立法院 (li4 fa3 yuan4)

例: Laws are made by the legislature, but legislators are elected by the people.

(法律是立法院制定的，但立法委員是人民選出來的。)

3. visual acuity phr.

視力 (shi4 li4)

例: If you want to grow up to be a pilot, you must have good visual acuity.

(如果你長大後想當機長，視力一定要好。)

智慧型手機、平板滿街跑，愈來愈多青少年加入「低頭」一族。為保障兒少身心發展，國家通訊傳播委員會（NCC）輔導業者在手機、平板的機身、外包裝及說明書上加註警語，提醒民眾勿長時間看螢幕。

立法院在今年一月二十三日三讀通過兒童及少年福利與權益保障法（簡稱兒少法）修正案，明定兒童及少年不得長時間使用電子類產品。

除了提醒3C產品使用過度恐傷害視力，NCC也呼籲，國人使用三十分鐘手機、平板請休息十分鐘；二歲以下幼兒不看螢幕，二歲以上每天看螢幕不要超過一小時。

（自由時報記者蔡穎）