盖茨联手马云、扎克伯格投资新能源

Bill Gates has pulled together a multinational band of investors to put billions into clean energy.
比尔·盖茨联合了多国投资者，将向清洁能源领域投资数十亿美元。

The Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist is set to announce his latest endeavor, the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, at the climate change summit in Paris alongside President Obama and French President Francois Hollande.
这位微软联合创始人、慈善家将于巴黎气候变化大会上宣布他的最新举措——创建“能源突破发展联盟”。届时，美国总统奥巴马、法国总统奥朗德也将在场。

The fund will be fed by a group that spans more than two dozen public and private entities -- including national governments, billionaire philanthropists, investment fund managers and tech CEOs.
项目出资方来自20多个公共和私人实体，包括国家政府、身家上亿的慈善家、投资基金经理以及科技公司的首席执行官。

"The renewable technologies we have today, like wind and solar, have made a lot of progress and could be one path to a zero-carbon energy future. But given the scale of the challenge, we need to be exploring many different paths -- and that means we also need to invent new approaches," Gates said in a statement.
盖茨在声明中说：“风能和太阳能等人类所具备的可再生能源技术已经得到了显著发展，这些能源很有可能是未来二氧化碳零排放的一条出路。但这项挑战极为艰巨，我们还需探索其它出路，也就是说，我们需要投资新领域。”

Among the list of backers are Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, Mark Zuckerberg ofFacebook, Meg Whitman of HP and Virgin Group's Richard Branson.
该项目的赞助者名单上，包括阿里巴巴集团CEO马云、脸书CEO马克·扎克伯格、惠普的梅格·惠特曼以及维珍集团的理查德·布兰森。

More than a dozen governments have also committed to double their spending on carbon-free energy development over the next five years.
此外，还有十多个国家的政府已承诺，将在未来五年内加倍投资无碳能源的发展。

"Private companies will ultimately develop these energy breakthroughs, but their work will rely on the kind of basic research that only governments can fund," Gates added.
盖茨补充道：“最终在能源研发上取得突破的将会是私营企业，但他们研发所依赖的基础研究只有政府才负担得起。“

According to government data, the U.S. spends about $5 billion on energy R&D compared to $31 billion on health care research and nearly $70 billion on defense research.
美国政府发布的数据显示，该国在能源研发领域的投资约为50亿美元。相比之下，医疗研究的投资为310亿美元，国防研究的投资则接近700亿美元。

There is no fund raising goal for private investors in the Gates initiative. But the fund represents billions in money to seed promising ideas in large-scale clean energy production.
盖茨的此项计划没有对私人投资者设定募资目标，但项目募资总额高达数十亿美元，这些资金将为清洁能源未来的大规模生产创造可能性。

The fund says it will invest broadly and focus on five key areas: electricity generation and storage, transportation, industrial uses, agriculture and projects that make energy systems more efficient.
该基金的投资范围很广，主要关注五个领域：发电与储电、交通运输、工业应用、农业生产以及那些能提高能源系统效率的项目。

For example, Gates says more research is needed in new kinds of batteries -- "flow batteries" -- that he says hold more promise than current battery technology.
盖茨表示，比如新型电池领域就需要进行更多的研究。他认为“液流电池”要比现在的电池技术更有前途。

According to Gates, the goal is to spur new clean energy tech while combating climate change by "keeping global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees."
盖茨认为，项目的目的是“将全球升温幅度控制在2摄氏度以内”，以应对气候变化，与此同时，该项目还会促进新型清洁能源技术的发展。

Reducing global reliance on fossil fuels also holds the potential for massive economic benefits, Gates added.
他补充道，降低全球对化石燃料的依赖也能带来巨大的经济效益。

"It would help millions more people escape poverty and become more self-sufficient," Gates wrote. "And it would stabilize energy prices, which will have an even bigger impact on the global economy as more people come to rely on energy in their daily lives."
盖茨写道：“这能帮数百万人脱离贫困、自给自足，还能稳定能源价格——在人们日常生活越来越依赖能源的今天，能源价格稳定对全球经济的影响愈发重要。

Vocabulary
philanthropist：慈善家
zero-carbon：不含碳的