来自寒冷黑夜的，全新的可再生能源技术

Two years ago, one freezing December night on a California rooftop, a tiny light shone weakly with a little help from the freezing night air. It wasn't a very bright glow. But it was enough to demonstrate the possibility of generating renewable power after the Sun goes down.

两年前，12月的一个寒冷的夜晚，在加利福尼亚的屋顶上，一盏微弱的灯光在寒冷的夜晚空气的帮助下微弱地闪烁着。那不是很明亮的光芒,但这足以证明太阳下山后产生可再生能源的可能性。

Working with Stanford University engineers Wei Li and Shanhui Fan, University of California Los Angeles materials scientist Aaswath Raman put together a device that produces a voltage by channelling the day's residual warmth into cooling air.

加州大学洛杉矶分校材料科学家aaswath raman与斯坦福大学工程师李玮(wei li)和范善惠(shanhui fan)合作，组装了一种装置，通过将白天剩余的热量输送到冷却空气中来产生电压。

(Aaswath Raman)

"Our work highlights the many remaining opportunities for energy by taking advantage of the cold of outer space as a renewable energy resource," says Raman.

拉曼说:“我们的工作突出表明，利用外层空间的寒冷作为一种可再生能源，还有许多剩余的能源机会。”

"We think this forms the basis of a complementary technology to solar. While the power output will always be substantially lower, it can operate at hours when solar cells cannot."

“我们认为这是太阳能互补技术的基础。虽然太阳能电池的输出功率总是会大幅降低，但它可以在太阳能电池无法工作的时候工作。”

For all the merits of solar energy, it's just not a 24-7 source of power. Sure, we can store it in a giant battery or use it to pump water up into a reservoir for later, but until we have more economical solutions, nighttime is going to be a quiet time for renewable solar power.

尽管太阳能有很多优点，但它并不是全天候供电的。当然，我们可以把它储存在一个巨大的电池里，或者用它把水抽到一个蓄水池里，以备以后使用。但是，在我们找到更经济的解决方案之前，夜间将是可再生太阳能发电的安静时间。

To keep costs down, the team used simple, off-the-shelf items that pretty much any of us could easily get our hands on.

为了降低成本，团队使用了一些简单的现成物品，我们中的大多数人都可以很容易地拿到这些东西。

They put together a cheap thermoelectric generator and linked it with a black aluminium disk to shed heat in the night air as it faced the sky. The generator was placed inside a polystyrene enclosure sealed with a window transparent to infrared light, and linked to a single tiny LED.

他们组装了一个廉价的热电发电机，并将它与一个黑色的铝盘相连，以便在夜间空气中向天空散发热量。发电机被放置在聚苯乙烯外壳内，用一个对红外线透明的窗口密封，并与一个微型LED相连。

At its best, the device generated around 0.8 milliwatts of power, corresponding to 25 milliwatts of power per square metre.

在最佳状态下，该装置产生的功率约为0.8毫瓦，相当于每平方米25毫瓦的电力。

(Aaswath Raman)

That might just be enough to keep a hearing aid working. String several together and you might just be able to keep your cat amused with a simple laser pointer. So we're not talking massive amounts of power.

这可能只够让助听器继续工作。那么把几个串在一起，你就可以有一个简单的激光笔逗猫开心了。所以我们说，这无法产生巨大的能量。

But as far as prototypes go, it's a fantastic starting point. The team suggests that with the right tweaks and the right conditions, 500 milliwatts per square metre isn't out of the question.

但就原型而言，这是一个极好的起点。研究小组认为，只要调整得当，条件合适，每平方米500毫瓦并不是没有可能。

"Beyond lighting, we believe this could be a broadly enabling approach to power generation suitable for remote locations, and anywhere where power generation at night is needed," says Raman.

拉曼说:“除了照明，我们相信这可能是一种广泛可行的发电方式，适用于偏远地区，以及任何需要夜间发电的地方。”

While we search for big, bright ideas to drive the revolution for renewables, it's important to make sure we don't let the smaller, simpler solutions like these slip away quietly into the night.

当我们在寻找推动可再生能源革命的伟大、光明的想法时，重要的是确保我们不会让这些更小、更简单的解决方案悄悄溜走。