经济学人下载:高耸的美丽

Technology Catalog 

技术前沿

Towering Beauty

高耸的美丽

A new way of transmitting electricity may soon be coming to a field near you

输电新法可能很快推出

A PYLON is supposed to be a beautiful thing. In ancient Egypt, pairs of tapering stone towers called pylons marked the entrances of temples. Christian architects borrowed the idea for the twin towers above the fa?ades of many Gothic cathedrals.

高塔应属美之物，在古埃及，成对下粗上细的塔门标出庙宇的入口，基督教建筑师也借用哥特教堂前面竖上双塔的想法。

Whoever thought of appropriating the word for the ugly metal-lattice structures that carry high-tension power lines over the countryside was therefore guilty of both a public-relations triumph and an act of etymological vandalism.

但谁能想到一个确切的词，来描述乡村上面那些传送高压电的丑陋高架建筑，它们总是纠结于公共关系的胜利和原始环境的破坏。

The latter, however, may soon be redeemed. The latest generation of electricity pylons are, in the eyes of some, at least, things of beauty in their own right.

不过，补救之法很快推出，看来，最新一代的电塔至少也能算得上个尤物吧。

The pylons in question have been designed by engineers at TenneT, the firm that runs the Netherlands' national electricity grid, in collaboration with KEMA, a Dutch research company. Instead of a single lattice tower, the cables are supported by two elegant steel poles up to 65 metres high. There are no arms. The six cables that pass from one pylon to another are each borne by two insulators attached to the poles.

谈论的电塔由Tennel T的工程师设计，该公司同荷兰一家研究公司KEMA合作运营荷兰国家电网，两根细长的钢柱撑着电碳，高65米，没有杆，也不是一根架子塔。两个高塔之间通着6根电缆，每根有两个附在高塔上的绝缘体。

The resulting arrangement, though hardly invisible, is reasonably elegant.

这样安排几乎看不到什么，相对体面些。

As much to the point, though, it has technological advantages.

怎么说，这种电塔也具有技术上的优势，

Though no harm has been proven from them, conventional pylon cables, which transmit a three-phase alternating current, generate a strong electric field and a continuous buzz of low-frequency radio waves which some people who live near them fear might be detrimental to their health.

传统电塔传输三段交流电，会产生强烈的磁场和低频电波连续不断的嗡嗡声，附近居民担心这可能会对身体不好，而新式电塔倒还没有这种事儿。

TenneT's pylons should help allay that fear.

TenneT的电塔应会减轻他们的疑虑。

Carrying all the cables in a “stack” between the poles, rather than hanging them separately on outward-facing arms, allows them to be arranged in a way that causes the individual fields generated by each cable to cancel each other, weakening the overall field around the pylons.

电塔之间的电缆都在一块，而不是在向外伸出的杆上分开挂着，每根电缆产生单独磁场，相互干扰，降低了电塔周围的总磁场。

The result is far less low-frequency radiation.

新式电塔大大减少低频辐射。

The  combination of being less of an eyesore and producing less electrical smog should, TenneT hopes, soften objections to the construction of new overhead power lines.

TenneT希望不碍眼和低辐射能减少人们对修建新电塔的异议。

That is important for two reasons.

主要因为两点，

One, the alternative—burying high-tension lines—is expensive and largely futile.

首先，掩埋高压线这一替换既贵又不实用。

The cost of putting a cable underground is between four and ten times as much as that of carrying it on a pylon.

把电缆埋在地底的花费是架电塔的四到十倍。

On top of that, the field generated by an alternating current interacts with the ground more strongly than it does with the air.

除此之外，在地下交流电相互影响产生的磁场比在空中强烈很多。

This creates losses 40 times higher in a buried cable than in an aerial one. Unless the long-distance-transmission system were converted to direct current, burial of transmission lines is not a serious option.

地底铺线比高空架线成本高了40倍。除非长距输电系统转换成直流电，地下输电才不至于是个笑话。

The second reason TenneT's pylons may be important is that despite these problems a lot of new long-distance-transmission lines are going to have to be constructed, soon. Wind power from the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean will require that.

其次，不管这些，TenneT的电塔很重要是因为很快要修建不少新的长距输电线路，北海和大西洋的风力将会需要。

 So, more speculatively, will the idea of generating solar power in north Africa and transmitting it to Europe.

所以理论上北非太阳能发的电传输到欧洲的想法越来越有可能。

In the Netherlands alone, TenneT says, more than 400km of new lines are needed.

TenneT表示，单是荷兰就需要400多千米的新电缆。

In Germany, the state-owned energy agency, DENA, reckons that figure is more than 3,500km.

德国国家能源部DENA估计得需3,500多千米。

At the most recent meeting of the European Council, on February 4th, the leaders of the European Union's member states acknowledged that Europe needs a completely new power grid, a project they reckon will cost about 200 billion.

2月4日举办最新的欧洲议会上，欧盟成员国领导人承认欧洲需要全新电网，估计工程花费大约2000万欧元。

The overhead power problem is thus going to have to be solved one way or another.

头顶电力难题因此会用这种或其他办法解决。

In truth, of course, no pylon is ever going to be a more attractive feature of the countryside than no pylon. But if pylons have to be built—which they do—then something elegant and efficient is the least bad way of doing it.

当然，在乡村最美的风景是没有电塔，但要是必须得有呢，整得好看点效率点，才不会显得太糟吧。