An Opportunity Rises Offshore
成本降技術升 離岸風電打入主流
By Stanley Reed

When engineers faced resistance from residents in Denmark over plans to build wind turbines on the Nordic country’s flat farmland, they found a better locale: the sea. The offshore wind farm, the world’s first, had just 11 turbines and could power about 3,000 homes.
當工程師想在丹麥平坦農地設置風力發電機卻遭遇居民反對時，他們發現了一個更好的地方－大海。這座世上第一個離岸風力發電場僅有11座風力發電機，約可為3000個家庭提供電力。

That project now looks like a minnow compared with the whales that sprawl for miles across the seas of Northern Europe.
相較目前在歐洲北部海上綿延好幾英里的巨大電場，上述計畫規模小得可憐。

Off this venerable British port city, a Danish company, DONG Energy, is installing 32 turbines that stretch 600 feet high. Each turbine produces more power than that first facility.
丹麥公司丹能風力正在這個古老英國港口城市（編按：利物浦）的外海，安裝32座高達600英尺的風力發電機。每座的發電量都比前述發電場的總發電量還大。

It is precisely the size, both of the projects and the profits they can bring, that has grabbed the attention of banks, money managers, private equity funds and wealthy individuals like the owner of the Danish toymaker Lego and the investment bank Goldman Sachs. As the technology has improved and demand for renewable energy has risen, costs have fallen.
而正是這個計畫可觀的規模與獲利能力引起了金融機構、基金經理人和私募股權基金的關注，諸如投資銀行高盛及丹麥玩具製造商樂高的老闆等富豪。隨著技術改善與再生能源需求增加，成本亦已降低。

And offshore wind, once a fringe investment, with limited scope and reliant on government subsidies, is moving into the mainstream. Europe, too, looks all the more attractive, as the United States under President Donald Trump rethinks its stance on renewables.
離岸風力發電曾經是範圍有限且仰賴政府補貼的邊緣投資項目，目前卻正打入主流。而在美國總統川普重新思考再生能源立場之際，歐洲看來也格外吸引人。

“If you had polled infrastructure investors five years ago, only a few would have been looking at offshore wind,” said Suzanne Buchta, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch global co-head of green bonds.
美銀美林綠色債券全球共同主管蘇珊娜．布赫塔說：「如果你在5年前調查基礎設施項目投資人的意見，會考慮離岸風力發電的寥寥無幾」。

Now, she said, they “are a little more comfortable.”
他們現在則「稍微多了些信心」。

Offshore wind has several advantages over land-based renewable energy, whether wind or solar. Turbines can be deployed at sea with fewer complaints than on land, where they are often condemned as eyesores.
離岸風力發電與陸上再生能源相比享有數項優勢，無論是陸上風能還是陸上太陽能。風力發電機在海上部署引起的抱怨少於陸地，它們在陸地上常被指為有礙觀瞻。

But the technology had been expensive and heavily dependent on government subsidies, leaving investors wary. That is now changing.
離岸風力發電技術成本一直很高且高度仰賴政府補助，讓投資人望而卻步，但情況正在改變。

Turbines today are bigger, produce much more electricity and are deployed on much larger sites than in the past. The result is more clean power and extra revenue.
現今的風力發電機機體更大，發電量更多，並且部署在遠比過去為大的地方，結果則是獲得更乾淨的電力與更多的收入。

The number of major players has also expanded, creating more competition. A joint venture of Vestas, the Danish turbine maker, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, is now competing with Siemens, which had long dominated the market for building offshore turbines. Others, like the American giant General Electric and Chinese manufacturers, are also jumping into the game.
主要玩家數量也增加了，使得競爭更激烈。一家丹麥風力發電機製造商Vestas與日本三菱重工合資的公司，目前正跟長期主宰離岸風力發電機興建市場的西門子競爭，而美國巨擘奇異與中國製造商等其他玩家也投入這場競賽。

“For us competition is great,” said Benj Sykes, Britain country manager for DONG. “It drives innovation. It drives performance. It also drives cost.”
丹能風力英國區經理班．塞克斯說：「我們認為有競爭很好，它推動創新和性能，也推動成本（下降）。」

Companies are developing specialized vessels and improving installation techniques (taking a cue from the oil industry), cutting construction timetables. DONG and its competitors are learning to better cope with the bad weather, corrosive saltwater and scouring currents that increase costs.
各公司正發展專用船隻且提升安裝技術（受石油工業影響），精簡施工程序。丹能風力及其競爭對手也正學習如何更好地應付惡劣天氣，腐蝕性海水以及會讓成本增加的水流沖刷情形。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/business/energy-environment/renewables-offshore-wind-green-power-dong.html

2017-03-12．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷

說文解字看新聞 陳韋廷

除了太陽能外，風力發電也是全球近年積極推展的再生能源類別，又以歐洲地區應用最為成熟，主要設於北部海域。跟陸上（land-based）風電相比，離岸（offshore）風電發電成本較高，因發電機組須在海上興建，且為避免天災而設置的防護措施也讓維修成本增加，但隨著不斷提升的技術拉低成本，投資人目光漸受吸引。

Nordic與Scandinavian（斯堪地那維亞的），兩者在英文中常用來指涉「北歐」，但兩者差別在於，前者泛指包括芬蘭與冰島在內的北歐國家，後者則是狹義的地域性稱呼，指位於斯堪地那維亞半島的三個國家挪威、瑞典和丹麥。

fringe指的是「邊緣的、非主流的」，當名詞用時也有「周遭、邊緣」之意，因而文中一詞fringe investment譯為邊緣投資，取其邊緣之意。此外，當我們說到頭髮的瀏海造型時，則會使用fringe這個單字，意思同於另一單字bangs，後者則常見於美式英語。至於fringe benefit指薪酬以外的附帶福利，取其邊緣的意思。

至於文中片語grab the attention of代表「引起...的注意」的意思，介系詞of後常接人，其中動詞grab也可用catch取代。

A Comeback for Clean Tech
潔淨科技再起 自然方法淨化工業
By Quentin Hardy

A decade ago, a group of biologists, venture capitalists and computer whizzes gathered under the name “clean tech.” They hoped to overturn polluting industries with microorganisms cheerily excreting industrial chemicals through the miracle of reprogramming nature’s genetic code.
十年前，一群生物學家，創投業者，電腦高手聚集在「潔淨科技」這塊招牌下，希望透過重新編寫大自然基因密碼的神奇方式，讓微生物快活的分泌工業用化學物質，從而顛覆會造成汙染的工業。

The idea lost billions of dollars. Genes may indeed be programmable code, akin to computer software, but it turned out nature was more complex than first believed.
這個構想造成的虧損，數以十億美元計。基因或許確屬可以編寫的密碼，類似電腦軟體，然而事實卻證明大自然要比最初以為的複雜。

Now, with less fanfare, a few clean tech companies are aiming for a comeback. And the big idea has not changed much: Create cheap, safe and natural materials for fuel, cosmetics and other goods, much the way yeast ferments sugars into alcohol.
而今，在比較不張揚的情況下，幾家潔淨科技公司企圖捲土重來。而大構想沒有太大改變：創造廉價、安全且天然的原料來製造燃料、化妝品和其他產品，頗似用酵母菌把糖發酵成酒精。

This time around, they believe they have better tools for editing genetic codes, measuring results and automating how chemicals are produced at a large scale. They have also set their sights lower, for now targeting just a few chemicals, not remaking how the world powers cars.
這一次，他們相信他們已擁有更好的工具來編寫基因密碼，測量結果，以及讓化學物質的大量生產自動化。他們目標也定得低了些，目前只鎖定幾種化學物質，而不是改造世界提供汽車動力的方式。

Most strikingly, the way they propose to create their bio-based “software” parallels recent changes in the way computer software is written. Instead of grand, complex projects, they are targeting little changes at a fast rate, and adjusting as clever analysis yields more information – a concept high-tech firms call agile programming.
最引人注目的是，他們提議用來創造他們生物「軟體」的方式，與最近電腦程式編寫方法改變的方向一致。不再是龐大、複雜的計畫，他們鎖定快速的微小改變，並在精巧的分析產生更多資訊後加以調整，高科技公司把這種觀念稱為敏捷編程。

“This is like agile programming, but for biology,” said Eric Steen, a co-founder of Lygos, a start-up here creating yeasts that make malonic acid, an ingredient in fragrances commonly derived from cyanide. “Evolution is the most powerful algorithm ever, but you have to figure out how to stack it in your favor.”
新創公司Lygos共同創辦人艾瑞克．史汀說：「這就像是敏捷編程，但用於生物學。進化是迄今最強大的演算法，但你必須想出如何以對你有利的方式堆疊。」這家公司創造用於製造丙二酸的酵母，丙二酸是芳香劑的一種成分，一般從氰化物取得。

In computer-based agile programming, small teams reinforce positive signals about the way their code is working online. The Lygos version of this is to rapidly measure the performance of a novel yeast strain, and quickly build on those results with gene-editing tools that are 100 times faster than when Dr. Steen was in graduate school 15 years ago.
在電腦的敏捷編程方面，小團隊強化他們的程式在網路上運作的正面訊號。就Lygos而言是快速測量一種新酵母菌株的效能，且用速度比史汀15年前讀研究所時快100倍的基因編碼工具，快速拓展既有成果。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/technology/clean-tech-rises-again-retooling-nature-for-industrial-use.html

2017-03-12．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 田思怡