美农场新技术---采摘蓝莓与收集太阳能两不误(下)

Alan Knapp, an ecologist at Colorado State University, has already seen successful agrivoltaics projects -- in Colorado grasslands used for cattle grazing.

科罗拉多州立大学的生态学家艾伦·纳普已经看到了成功的农业综合发电项目——在科罗拉多的草原上放牧。

The first barrier to overcome is can it be done biologically?

要克服的第一个障碍是，这能从生物学角度实现吗?

Can it be done physically? Can it be done?

可以用物理方法吗? 能做到吗?

And then the next barrier would be adoption?

下一个障碍是采用项目吗?

How do you convince people who own the lands to be willing to change the way they've done things in the past, and integrate, for example, energy generation?

你如何说服拥有土地的人愿意去改变他们过去的做法，比如整合能源生产?

Luckily for Sweetland, since blueberries aren’t grazing animals, bushes can’t bump up against and break solar panels.

对于斯韦特兰来说，幸运的是，由于蓝莓不是食草动物，灌木不会撞坏太阳能电池板。

And recently climatic uNPRedictability is already a motivating factor.

最近，气候的不可预测性已经成为一个推动因素。

In 2020, Maine blueberry yields dropped by 50% because of frosts in May and June, followed by a statewide drought.

2020年，缅因州蓝莓产量下降了50%，原因是5月和6月的霜冻，以及随后全州范围的干旱。

For this farm, a second, reliable income stream could really come in handy.

对于这个农场来说，第二个可靠的收入来源真的会派上用场。

But not everyone is on board.

但并不是所有人都支持。

Some people feel that farmland should remain farmland.

有些人认为农田就应该是农田。

And why would we not put the solar panels on a building over a parking lot space that's already industrial?

为什么我们不把太阳能电池板安装在已经工业化的停车场上呢?

But solar panels require a lot of area to generate power and effectively replace fossil fuels.

但是太阳能电池板需要很大的面积来发电、有效地替代化石燃料。

There must be many panels, tightly packed together to maximize energy output.

必须有许多面板，紧密地放在一起，来最大限度地输出电能。

They also require unrestricted access to the sun, which is not always possible in a populated area.

电池板还需要自由地接触太阳，这在人口密集的地区并非常常是可能的。

Where rare we going to put all this energy?

我们将把这些稀有的能源放在哪里?

There's a lot of interest and motivation behind finding ways to have clean energy in Maine.

在缅因州，人们对寻找清洁能源的方法很感兴趣，也很有动力。

So farmers and blueberry farmers have a place in that space.

所以农民和种植蓝莓的农民在那里有一席之地。

We're just trying to figure out where that might be.

我们只是想找出太阳能电池板可能存在的地方。

Alan Knapp in Colorado would like to see more farmers give this approach a try.

科罗拉多州的艾伦·纳普希望看到更多的农民尝试这种方法。

He says that if it works, it could be an important strategy to help the U.S. meet renewable energy goals.

他说，如果这个项目成功，这将是帮助美国实现可再生能源目标的重要战略。

You can use the scorched earth approach, where you just put the solar panels in as dense as you can to optimize energy generation and usage.

你可以使用焦土法，你只要把太阳能电池板尽可能密集地放在里面，以优化能源的生产和使用。

The ecosystem underneath is not going to be valuable.

下面的生态系统将没有价值。

Or you can try and integrate the two to maintain aspects of both.

或者也可以尝试将两者结合起来，以维护两者的各个方面。

And I really think that's the future.

我真的认为这就是未来。

We have the ability to co-locate energy generation and natural ecosystem services.

我们有能力让能源生产和自然生态系统服务共存。

Over the winter, Sweetland will check on the blueberry bushes from time to time, but the real work will begin this spring when he harvests the first crop grown under solar panels.

整个冬天，斯韦特兰会不时地检查蓝莓丛，但真正的工作将在今年春天开始，那时他将收获第一批在太阳能电池板下种植的蓝莓。

When asked if he thinks the blueberries will thrive or even survive with the solar panels, Sweetland says…

当被问及蓝莓是否会在太阳能电池板下茁壮成长甚至生存时，斯威特兰说……

I'm not sure where I stand. Time will tell.

我不确定进展到哪里了。时间会证明一切。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Teresa Carey.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是特蕾莎·凯里。