Saul Griffith: High-altitude wind energy from kites!

譯者: Rachel Yu 審譯者: Bill Hsiung

If you're at all like me,

如果你們跟我有一點點類似，

this is what you do with the sunny summer weekends in San Francisco:

這就是你在晴朗的舊金山夏季周末裡會做的事：

you build experimental kite-powered hydrofoils

你建造了能以三十節以上速度行駛

capable of more than 30 knots.

的實驗性風箏發電水翼船。

And you realize that there is incredible power in the wind,

然後你了解到風擁有不可思議的能量，

and it can do amazing things.

它可以做出許多令人驚奇的事。

And one day, a vessel not unlike this

終有一天，一艘像這樣的船

will probably break the world speed record.

可能會打破船隻航速的世界紀錄。

But kites aren't just toys like this.

但風箏不只是像這樣的玩具。

Kites: I'm going to give you a brief history,

我將簡短地述說風箏的歷史，

and tell you about the magnificent future

並告訴你們這個小孩們最愛的玩具，

of every child's favorite plaything.

它宏偉的未來性。

So, kites are more than a thousand years old,

風箏有一千年以上的歷史，

and the Chinese used them for military applications,

中國人把風箏用在軍事用途上，

and even for lifting men.

甚至用來飛行。

So they knew at that stage they could carry large weights.

在那個時代，他們就知道風箏可以承受很大的重量。

I'm not sure why there is a hole in this particular man.

不過我不清楚為何這名男子身上有個洞。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

In 1827, a fellow called George Pocock

在西元 1827 年，有個叫 George Pocock 的傢伙

actually pioneered the use of kites for towing buggies

竟然首創用風箏來拖四輪車

in races against horse carriages across the English countryside.

跟馬車在英國的各個鄉村地區比賽。

Then of course, at the dawn of aviation,

當然接下來，在航空技術開始的時代，

all of the great inventors of the time --

那個時期所有的偉大發明家 —

like Hargreaves, like Langley,

例如：哈格里夫斯、蘭利

even Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, who was flying this kite --

甚至在這張投影片中放風箏而後來發明電話的貝爾 —

were doing so in the pursuit of aviation.

他們為了追求航空技術而這麼做。

Then these two fellows came along,

接下來出現了這兩位傢伙，

and they were flying kites to develop the control systems

他們放風箏是為了發展飛行控制系統，

that would ultimately enable powered human flight.

最終導致了人類動力飛行的實現。

So this is of course Orville and Wilbur Wright,

當然，他們就是奧維爾•萊特和維爾伯•萊特

and the Wright Flyer.

和他們的萊特飛行器。

And their experiments with kites led to this

他們的風箏實驗造就了

momentous occasion, where we powered up and took off for the

這歷史性的一幕，人類利用動力離開了地表

first-ever 12-second human flight.

經歷了首次 12 秒的飛行。

And that was fantastic for the future of commercial aviation.

對於後來的商業飛行時代來說，那是多麼美妙的一刻。

But unfortunately, it relegated kites once again to be considered children's toys.

但不幸的是，風箏再一次地降級回小孩們的玩具。

That was until the 1970s, where we had the last energy crisis.

直到 1970 年代，上一次的能源危機，

And a fabulous man called Miles Loyd

一位住在舊金山的郊區，名為 Miles Loyd

who lives on the outskirts of San Francisco,

且令人難以置信的男子

wrote this seminal paper that was completely ignored

他在「能源期刊」發表了這篇極具發展性的論文，

in the Journal of Energy

但當時卻完全被忽視，

about how to use basically an airplane on a piece of string

論文有關如何運用一台連著繩子的飛機

to generate enormous amounts of electricity.

來製造龐大的電力。

The real key observation he made is that

而他真正最關鍵的發現是

a free-flying wing can sweep through more sky and generate more power

風箏比起風車可以掃過更多天空，

in a unit of time than a fixed-wing turbine.

可以在相同時間內產生更多電力。

So turbines grew. And they can now span up to three hundred feet at the hub height,

風車葉片越做越大。現在可以把風車軸提昇到離地三百英呎高的地方，

but they can't really go a lot higher,

但這已經差不多是高度的極限了，

and more height is where the more wind is, and more power --

但是越高的地方風越大，能產生的電力也越多 —

as much as twice as much.

可以多到現在的兩倍。

So cut to now. We still have an energy crisis,

回到現在，我們仍然有能源危機，

and now we have a climate crisis as well. You know,

我們同時還有氣候的問題。你知道的，

so humans generate about 12 trillion watts,

人類已經消耗了大約十二兆瓦

or 12 terawatts, from fossil fuels.

來自於石化燃料的能源。

And Al Gore has spoken to why we need to hit one of these targets,

高爾已經解釋過為何我們需要達到這其中一個目標，

and in reality what that means is in the next 30 to 40 years,

在現實中，這意味著在接下來的三十到四十年間，

we have to make 10 trillion watts or more of new clean energy somehow.

我們需要想辦法製造十兆瓦或更多的乾淨能源。

Wind is the second-largest renewable resource after solar:

風力是僅次於太陽能第二大的再生能源：

3600 terawatts, more than enough to supply humanity 200 times over.

能產生 3600 兆瓦的能量，足以供應整個人類文明從頭來過兩百次以上。

The majority of it is in the higher altitudes, above 300 feet,

最主要的風力是來自於高度三百英呎以上的地方，

where we don't have a technology as yet to get there.

我們目前還沒有可以到達那個高度所需的技術。

So this is the dawn of the new age of kites.

所以這是新風箏時代的開端。

This is our test site on Maui, flying across the sky.

這是我們位於夏威夷茂宜的測試站，風箏飛過天空。

I'm now going to show you

我接著要向你展示

the first autonomous generation of power

這每個小孩都愛的玩具，

by every child's favorite plaything.

第一次獨立發電的影片。

As you can tell, you need to be a robot to fly this thing for thousands of hours.

你可以看到，你需要像一個機器人一樣連續放上千小時的風箏。

It makes you a little nauseous.

這會讓你有點厭煩。

And here we're actually generating about 10 kilowatts --

我們這次大約生產了一萬瓦的電力 —

so, enough to power probably five United States households --

足以供應約五個美國家庭的電力所需 —

with a kite not much larger than this piano.

用的是只比這架鋼琴大一點點的風箏。

And the real significant thing here

最重要的是

is we're developing the control systems,

我們正在發展控制系統，

as did the Wright brothers, that would enable sustained, long-duration flight.

跟萊特兄弟一樣，好讓風箏能長時間持續的飛行。

And it doesn't hurt to do it in a location like this either.

這不會對環境造成傷害，即使是在像這樣的地方也一樣。

So this is the equivalent for a kite flier of peeing in the snow --

它的傷害如同放風箏的人在雪地裡小解。

that's tracing your name in the sky.

那是在天空中寫你的名字。

And this is where we're actually going.

這正是我們未來的目標。

So we're beyond the 12-second steps.

我們已經過了「12秒」時代。

And we're working towards megawatt-scale machines

我們正在朝向製造百萬瓦規模機器的路上邁進

that fly at 2000 feet and generate tons of clean electricity.

這機器可以在兩千英呎高度飛行並製造大量的乾淨電力。

So you ask, how big are those machines?

你可能會問，這些機器會有多大？

Well, this paper plane would be maybe a -- oop!

這個嘛，像這個紙飛機也許可以 — 喔！

That would be enough to power your cell phone.

它足夠供應你手機的電力。

Your Cessna would be 230 killowatts.

你的西斯那私人小飛機可以產生 23 萬瓦電力。

If you'd loan me your Gulfstream, I'll rip its wings off and generate you a megawatt.

如果你借我你的灣流噴射機，我將把它機翼拆下來，然後給你一百萬瓦的電力。

If you give me a 747, I'll make six megawatts,

若你給我一架 747 客機，我可以製造六百萬瓦電力，

which is more than the largest wind turbines today.

這比現在最大的風車所能製造的電力多很多。

And the Spruce Goose would be a 15-megawatt wing.

休斯 H-4 大力士（史普魯斯之鵝）的翅膀將可以製造 1500 萬瓦電力。

So that is audacious, you say. I agree.

你會覺得太瘋狂了，這我同意。

But audacious is what has happened many times before in history.

但這樣的瘋狂事件在歷史上已經發生過好幾次。

This is a refrigerator factory,

這個冰箱工廠

churning out airplanes for World War II.

在第二次世界大戰時期，製造了大量的飛機。

Prior to World War II, they were making 1000 planes a year.

二戰前，他們每年製造一千架飛機。

By 1945, they were making 100,000.

到了 1945 年，他們一年製造十萬架飛機。

With this factory and 100,000 planes a year,

有了這個工廠及一年十萬架飛機，

we could make all of America's electricity in about 10 years.

我們約可在十年內用此方法製造出足以提供全美國的電力。

So really this is a story about the audacious plans of young people

這是一個關於一群有大膽計畫的夢想青年的故事。

with these dreams. There are many of us.

我們有很多人。

I am lucky enough to work with 30 of them.

我很幸運能和這其中的三十位一起工作。

And I think we need to support all of the dreams

而我覺得我們需要支持有夢想的年輕人

of the kids out there doing these crazy things.

來做這些瘋狂的事情。

Thank you.

謝謝大家。

(Applause)

（掌聲）