国家地理 聚焦燃料电池（在线收听）

For something that could revolutionize the world, it's come along very slowly. The fuel cell was invented in 1839, but there was little development until the 1950s when NASA started to use them in space where they are still used today. Now, after years of continuous development, things are speeding up. At its core, the fuel cell is very simple. It uses hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, as fuel. One type of fuel cell uses a membrane and it looks something like plastic wrap.

有一个东西能让世界发生变革，但同时它也来之不易。燃料电池发明于1839年，但直到20世纪50年代才略有起色，因为当时美国宇航局在太空里启用燃料电池，直到今天也依然沿用着这种用途。如今，在经过多年来连续的发展后，事物的发展速度更快了。燃料电池的核心原理很简单。它将氢气这个宇宙里含量最丰富的元素作为燃料。还有一种燃料电池会用到膜，这让它看起来塑料包裹膜一样。

It allows the hydrogen's proton to pass through while the electron is forced to take a different course. This produces electricity. The fuel cell runs as long as it's fed hydrogen. The cleanest, the most readily available source of hydrogen is very easy to find. It's water. Of course, it couldn't be this simple. Somehow, the hydrogen in the water molecule must be stripped and stored, and that takes power. Peter Lehman at Humboldt State University in Northern California decided to build a renewable hydrogen fuel cell system for a research aquarium.

有了膜，氢原子的质子就可以穿过膜，而电子被迫要绕道而行。这样就产生了电。所以只要有氢，燃料电池就可以持续运转。寻找氢最干净、最丰富的源头也很容易找，它就是水。当然了，也不是不费吹灰之力。要把水中的氢提取出来并进行存储，这就很费力了。北加利福尼亚州洪堡州立大学的彼得·雷曼决定建造一个可再生的氢燃料电池系统供某研究水族馆使用。

I think the legacy of the 20th century is that we were very good at burning things. Fuel cells offer a clean and efficient way to generate electricity. They are totally pollution-free and they are significantly more efficient than traditional ways of generating electricity. He bought solar panels to provide power to remove the hydrogen from water and tanks to store the hydrogen fuel. The problem was the fuel cell. No one produced one that would work with the aquarium.

我认为20世纪遗留给我们的宝藏就是：焚烧物体的绝技。燃料电池可以以清洁高效的方式发电。这样的方式无污染，比传统发电方式更高效。他用太阳电池板来提供能量，从而将氢从水分子和贮水池中提取出来，然后存储氢燃料。问题在于燃料电池。没有人造的出可以在水族馆里工作的燃料电池。

So Peter went ahead and built it. During the day, it uses power from the solar panels, but only part of that power. The rest is turned into hydrogen for use later by the fuel cell. That creates a completely renewable full-time system. The goal of fuel cell makers is to offer totally reliable, independent systems, but the competition is tough. To thrive in the marketplace, fuel cell makers must compete against the cheap and reliable power provided by fossil fuels. Peter's reliable fuel cell system has already satisfied customers who are off the power grid. Now, he's ready to convince the rest of us.

所以彼得迎难而上，建造了这种电池。白天的时候，电池会从太阳电池板提取能量，但只有这部分能量而已。剩余的能量被燃料电池转化为氢，供后续使用。这就创造出了一个完全可再生的全日制系统。燃料电池的目标是提供完全可靠独立的系统，但竞争很激烈。为了在市场上赚的盆满钵满你，燃料电池厂商必须与通过化石燃料提供便宜可靠能量的厂商竞争。彼得的燃料电池系统十分可靠，已经可以满足不再使用电网的用户了。现在，他很愿意继续说服剩下的用户群。