TED2009
Saul Griffith: High-altitude wind energy from kites!
Saul Griffith 在風箏上看到再生性能源的未來
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在這段簡短的演說裡。Saul Griffith 公佈了一項他名叫 Makani Power 的新公司正在研發中的新產品：一個可以製造極大量乾淨再生性能源的巨大風箏渦輪。
Saul Griffith - Inventor
Inventor Saul Griffith looks for elegant ways to make real things, from low-cost eyeglasses to a kite that tows boats. His latest projects include open-source inventions and elegant new ways to generate power. Full bio
Inventor Saul Griffith looks for elegant ways to make real things, from low-cost eyeglasses to a kite that tows boats. His latest projects include open-source inventions and elegant new ways to generate power. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:22
If you're at all like me,
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如果你們跟我有一點點類似，
00:23
this is what you do with the sunny summer weekends in San Francisco:
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這就是你在晴朗的舊金山夏季周末裡會做的事：
00:26
you build experimental kite-powered hydrofoils
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你建造了能以三十節以上速度行駛
00:29
capable of more than 30 knots.
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的實驗性風箏發電水翼船。
00:31
And you realize that there is incredible power in the wind,
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然後你了解到風擁有不可思議的能量，
00:34
and it can do amazing things.
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它可以做出許多令人驚奇的事。
00:36
And one day, a vessel not unlike this
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終有一天，一艘像這樣的船
00:38
will probably break the world speed record.
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可能會打破船隻航速的世界紀錄。
00:40
But kites aren't just toys like this.
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但風箏不只是像這樣的玩具。
00:43
Kites: I'm going to give you a brief history,
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我將簡短地述說風箏的歷史，
00:45
and tell you about the magnificent future
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並告訴你們這個小孩們最愛的玩具，
00:47
of every child's favorite plaything.
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它宏偉的未來性。
00:50
So, kites are more than a thousand years old,
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風箏有一千年以上的歷史，
00:52
and the Chinese used them for military applications,
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中國人把風箏用在軍事用途上，
00:55
and even for lifting men.
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甚至用來飛行。
00:56
So they knew at that stage they could carry large weights.
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在那個時代，他們就知道風箏可以承受很大的重量。
00:59
I'm not sure why there is a hole in this particular man.
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不過我不清楚為何這名男子身上有個洞。
01:01
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
01:03
In 1827, a fellow called George Pocock
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在西元 1827 年，有個叫 George Pocock 的傢伙
01:06
actually pioneered the use of kites for towing buggies
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竟然首創用風箏來拖四輪車
01:09
in races against horse carriages across the English countryside.
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跟馬車在英國的各個鄉村地區比賽。
01:14
Then of course, at the dawn of aviation,
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當然接下來，在航空技術開始的時代，
01:16
all of the great inventors of the time --
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那個時期所有的偉大發明家 —
01:18
like Hargreaves, like Langley,
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例如：哈格里夫斯、蘭利
01:20
even Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, who was flying this kite --
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甚至在這張投影片中放風箏而後來發明電話的貝爾 —
01:23
were doing so in the pursuit of aviation.
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他們為了追求航空技術而這麼做。
01:26
Then these two fellows came along,
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接下來出現了這兩位傢伙，
01:28
and they were flying kites to develop the control systems
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他們放風箏是為了發展飛行控制系統，
01:31
that would ultimately enable powered human flight.
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最終導致了人類動力飛行的實現。
01:34
So this is of course Orville and Wilbur Wright,
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當然，他們就是奧維爾•萊特和維爾伯•萊特
01:37
and the Wright Flyer.
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和他們的萊特飛行器。
01:39
And their experiments with kites led to this
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他們的風箏實驗造就了
01:41
momentous occasion, where we powered up and took off for the
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這歷史性的一幕，人類利用動力離開了地表
01:44
first-ever 12-second human flight.
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經歷了首次 12 秒的飛行。
01:48
And that was fantastic for the future of commercial aviation.
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對於後來的商業飛行時代來說，那是多麼美妙的一刻。
01:52
But unfortunately, it relegated kites once again to be considered children's toys.
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但不幸的是，風箏再一次地降級回小孩們的玩具。
01:56
That was until the 1970s, where we had the last energy crisis.
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直到 1970 年代，上一次的能源危機，
02:00
And a fabulous man called Miles Loyd
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一位住在舊金山的郊區，名為 Miles Loyd
02:02
who lives on the outskirts of San Francisco,
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且令人難以置信的男子
02:04
wrote this seminal paper that was completely ignored
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他在「能源期刊」發表了這篇極具發展性的論文，
02:07
in the Journal of Energy
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但當時卻完全被忽視，
02:08
about how to use basically an airplane on a piece of string
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論文有關如何運用一台連著繩子的飛機
02:12
to generate enormous amounts of electricity.
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來製造龐大的電力。
02:15
The real key observation he made is that
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而他真正最關鍵的發現是
02:17
a free-flying wing can sweep through more sky and generate more power
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風箏比起風車可以掃過更多天空，
02:21
in a unit of time than a fixed-wing turbine.
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可以在相同時間內產生更多電力。
02:25
So turbines grew. And they can now span up to three hundred feet at the hub height,
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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，
02:29
but they can't really go a lot higher,
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但這已經差不多是高度的極限了，
02:31
and more height is where the more wind is, and more power --
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但是越高的地方風越大，能產生的電力也越多 —
02:34
as much as twice as much.
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可以多到現在的兩倍。
02:36
So cut to now. We still have an energy crisis,
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回到現在，我們仍然有能源危機，
02:39
and now we have a climate crisis as well. You know,
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我們同時還有氣候的問題。你知道的，
02:42
so humans generate about 12 trillion watts,
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人類已經消耗了大約十二兆瓦
02:45
or 12 terawatts, from fossil fuels.
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來自於石化燃料的能源。
02:47
And Al Gore has spoken to why we need to hit one of these targets,
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高爾已經解釋過為何我們需要達到這其中一個目標，
02:51
and in reality what that means is in the next 30 to 40 years,
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在現實中，這意味著在接下來的三十到四十年間，
02:55
we have to make 10 trillion watts or more of new clean energy somehow.
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我們需要想辦法製造十兆瓦或更多的乾淨能源。
03:01
Wind is the second-largest renewable resource after solar:
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風力是僅次於太陽能第二大的再生能源：
03:05
3600 terawatts, more than enough to supply humanity 200 times over.
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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。
03:09
The majority of it is in the higher altitudes, above 300 feet,
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最主要的風力是來自於高度三百英呎以上的地方，
03:13
where we don't have a technology as yet to get there.
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我們目前還沒有可以到達那個高度所需的技術。
03:17
So this is the dawn of the new age of kites.
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所以這是新風箏時代的開端。
03:19
This is our test site on Maui, flying across the sky.
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這是我們位於夏威夷茂宜的測試站，風箏飛過天空。
03:23
I'm now going to show you
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我接著要向你展示
03:25
the first autonomous generation of power
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這每個小孩都愛的玩具，
03:28
by every child's favorite plaything.
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第一次獨立發電的影片。
03:31
As you can tell, you need to be a robot to fly this thing for thousands of hours.
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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。
03:35
It makes you a little nauseous.
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這會讓你有點厭煩。
03:37
And here we're actually generating about 10 kilowatts --
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我們這次大約生產了一萬瓦的電力 —
03:39
so, enough to power probably five United States households --
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足以供應約五個美國家庭的電力所需 —
03:42
with a kite not much larger than this piano.
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用的是只比這架鋼琴大一點點的風箏。
03:45
And the real significant thing here
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最重要的是
03:47
is we're developing the control systems,
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我們正在發展控制系統，
03:49
as did the Wright brothers, that would enable sustained, long-duration flight.
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跟萊特兄弟一樣，好讓風箏能長時間持續的飛行。
03:54
And it doesn't hurt to do it in a location like this either.
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這不會對環境造成傷害，即使是在像這樣的地方也一樣。
03:59
So this is the equivalent for a kite flier of peeing in the snow --
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它的傷害如同放風箏的人在雪地裡小解。
04:02
that's tracing your name in the sky.
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那是在天空中寫你的名字。
04:04
And this is where we're actually going.
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這正是我們未來的目標。
04:06
So we're beyond the 12-second steps.
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我們已經過了「12秒」時代。
04:08
And we're working towards megawatt-scale machines
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我們正在朝向製造百萬瓦規模機器的路上邁進
04:10
that fly at 2000 feet and generate tons of clean electricity.
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這機器可以在兩千英呎高度飛行並製造大量的乾淨電力。
04:14
So you ask, how big are those machines?
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你可能會問，這些機器會有多大？
04:16
Well, this paper plane would be maybe a -- oop!
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這個嘛，像這個紙飛機也許可以 — 喔！
04:19
That would be enough to power your cell phone.
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它足夠供應你手機的電力。
04:22
Your Cessna would be 230 killowatts.
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你的西斯那私人小飛機可以產生 23 萬瓦電力。
04:25
If you'd loan me your Gulfstream, I'll rip its wings off and generate you a megawatt.
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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。
04:29
If you give me a 747, I'll make six megawatts,
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若你給我一架 747 客機，我可以製造六百萬瓦電力，
04:32
which is more than the largest wind turbines today.
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這比現在最大的風車所能製造的電力多很多。
04:35
And the Spruce Goose would be a 15-megawatt wing.
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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。
04:38
So that is audacious, you say. I agree.
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你會覺得太瘋狂了，這我同意。
04:41
But audacious is what has happened many times before in history.
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但這樣的瘋狂事件在歷史上已經發生過好幾次。
04:44
This is a refrigerator factory,
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這個冰箱工廠
04:46
churning out airplanes for World War II.
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在第二次世界大戰時期，製造了大量的飛機。
04:49
Prior to World War II, they were making 1000 planes a year.
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二戰前，他們每年製造一千架飛機。
04:52
By 1945, they were making 100,000.
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到了 1945 年，他們一年製造十萬架飛機。
04:55
With this factory and 100,000 planes a year,
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有了這個工廠及一年十萬架飛機，
04:57
we could make all of America's electricity in about 10 years.
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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。
05:01
So really this is a story about the audacious plans of young people
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這是一個關於一群有大膽計畫的夢想青年的故事。
05:04
with these dreams. There are many of us.
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我們有很多人。
05:06
I am lucky enough to work with 30 of them.
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我很幸運能和這其中的三十位一起工作。
05:08
And I think we need to support all of the dreams
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而我覺得我們需要支持有夢想的年輕人
05:10
of the kids out there doing these crazy things.
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來做這些瘋狂的事情。
05:13
Thank you.
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謝謝大家。
05:14
(Applause)
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（掌聲）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Saul Griffith - InventorInventor Saul Griffith looks for elegant ways to make real things, from low-cost eyeglasses to a kite that tows boats. His latest projects include open-source inventions and elegant new ways to generate power.
Why you should listen
Innovator and inventor Saul Griffith has a uniquely open approach to problem solving. Whether he's devising a way to slash the cost of prescription eyeglasses or teaching science through cartoons, Griffith makes things and then shares his ideas with the world.
A proponent of open-source information, he established Instructables , an open website showing how to make an array of incredible objects. He is the co-founder of numerous companies including Squid Labs, Low Cost Eyeglasses, Potenco and Makani Power, where he is President and Chief Scientist. His companies have invented a myriad of new devices and materials, such as a "smart" rope that senses its load, or a machine for making low-cost eyeglass lenses through a process inspired by a water droplet. He is a columnist at Make magazine and co-writes How Toons! He's fascinated with materials that assemble themselves, and with taking advantage of those properties to make things quickly and cheaply.
Saul Griffith | Speaker | TED.com