外刊 | 角逐千萬美元的"X獎"

# 經濟學人 #

Innovation prizes: Turning carbon into gold

創新獎：變碳為寶

Ten teams are left in the race

THE X Prize foundation, based near Los Angeles, exists to encourage particular innovations that might be useful but from which conventional financial backers are likely to shy away. Previous X Prizes have been awarded for feats such as flying a reusable spacecraft to the edge of space, and designing cheap sensors to measure oceanic acidity. Those still on offer would, among other things, reward the mapping of Earth』s sea floor, and a way of extracting water from air using renewable energy for less than two cents a litre.

X獎基金會是一個通過設計和實施創新性競賽模式以解決世界最嚴峻挑戰的非營利性組織。旨在鼓勵科技創新以造福人類。其頒發過的獎項里有可重複使用的航天器技術，以及價格便宜的測量海水酸度的感測器設計。正在進行的獎項競賽項目里（目前有八個），有地球海底測繪圖競賽(獎金7百萬美元)，還有使用可再生能源，在不高於每公升 2 美分的成本下，從大氣中提取水的競賽(獎金175萬美元)。

Another prize that is still up for grabs is for carbon capture and storage, a putative approach to stopping the rise of climate-changing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. To claim a share of the $15m on offer, winners will have to turn carbon dioxide extracted from power-plant flues into something useful—and do so profitably. On April 9th the ten-strong shortlist of those attempting this feat was announced.

另一項激烈的競賽是將碳轉化成為具有價值的產品。設計這個獎的目的是為了遏制在大氣中高漲的溫室氣體。4月9日宣布了進入這項競賽的十強（見上圖）。（這一競賽分為雙軌並進的兩個獎項，其中一個注重對火電站進行技術試驗，另一個則注重對天然氣發電廠進行技術實驗。能最大化的將二氧化碳轉化為價值最高產品的隊伍勝出。為了提高競爭力，各隊必須將自身對能源、水、土地和其他影響環境的資源投入降至最低。）

* putative: adj. believed to be something, 假定的

* flue: n. a metal tube that takes smoke and heat from a fire to the outside of a building

At the moment, demand for carbon dioxide as a raw material is a trifling 80m tonnes a year. That compares with annual emissions of 52bn tonnes from power stations, vehicle exhausts, cement factories and so on. Moreover, the biggest use of the gas is to inject it into the ground to displace, and thus force to the surface, otherwise-inaccessible crude oil, so the net benefit in terms of global warming is close to zero. If new uses could be found—ideally ones that locked its carbon up in solid or liquid form for a long time—the market might be expanded into something big enough to make a dent in emissions.

目前二氧化碳的年排放量在520億噸，主要來自發電廠、汽車尾氣、水泥廠等，所以能將二氧化碳作為原材料使用的區區八千噸的需求量顯得非常渺小。而且作為原材料使用的二氧化碳最大的作用是排入地下，去擠壓以得到本來不可及的原油。只是換了地方存在於地球，對減輕溫室效應的貢獻為零。如果能有新的技術可以將其長時間轉化為固態或液態，那前途將是不可估量。

* trifling: adj. not worth considering 微不足道的

* make a dent in sth.: 取得初步進展

The ten finalists hope to do this. They were selected from 27 teams (out of 47 original submissions) which managed to demonstrate, in a laboratory, that their ideas were feasible. Each was judged on how much carbon dioxide it extracted, net of any emitted in the production process or during subsequent use; by the value of the resulting product; and by the potential size of its market. Only those processes that needed less than 2,300 square metres of land and consumed less than four cubic metres of fresh water per tonne of carbon dioxide converted were deemed to qualify. As Marcius Extavour, who is in charge of the prize, explains, this stricture was intended to bar ideas like growing new forests—which are not exactly a novelty.

十強團隊正致力於此。他們是從27個團隊中挑選出來（一共有47個申請），在實驗室里闡述了他們可行的想法。評選標準是：1.能提取多少二氧化碳（要扣除在生產過程中釋放的，以及之後會用到的。）2.生成物的價值多高。3.潛在市場有多大。而且，這個生產過程不能在大於2300平方米的空間，每噸二氧化碳要消耗的水不能超過四立方米。這個獎項的負責人Marcius Extavour解釋，有這樣的限制是為了避免種植森林的想法，因為這樣就不是一種創新。

Four of the finalists plan to produce sturdy building materials such as cinder blocks made from the slag left over from steel production, cured with carbon dioxide. Another four will fashion the gas into plastics or carbon-fibre composites. The remaining two have invented ways to turn the stuff into carbon monoxide or methanol, which are industrial raw materials.

十強里有四個團隊的計劃是將其轉化為建築材料，就像煤渣磚是從鋼鐵製造的煤渣中生成的一樣，也可以將二氧化碳固化成差不多的。另外四個團隊想將其塑造為塑料或者碳纖維複合材料。剩下的兩個團隊打算將其轉化為一氧化碳或者甲醇，他們本身也是工業的原材料。

* cure: v. make (substances) hard and improve their usability

* fashion sth. into sth.: v. 塑造成

* methanol [?meθ?n?l] : n. a poisonous type of alcohol that can be used as a fuel 甲醇

Each team in the final now gets $500,000 to spend on proving that its lab-worthy ideas will work at a scale which might make them useful. Half of the shortlist will compete for a pot of $7.5m at a coal-fired power station in Wyoming. The rest, seeking a similar prize, will set up shop at a gas-fired station in Alberta, Canada.

十強里的每個團隊都得到五十萬美元用以實踐他們的實驗室想法。這個獎項是雙軌制，其中五個團隊爭奪750萬美元，對一個位於美國懷俄明州的火電站進行技術實驗。另外五個團隊，獎金金額也是750萬美元，對一個位於加拿大Alberta的天然氣發電廠進行技術實驗。

Some cynics have noted that a successful means of carbon capture and storage would be of great value to the prize』s sponsors—NRG, an American energy company, and Canada』s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance—since it would make it easier for them to keep their existing methods of business going. No doubt that is true. But in the fight against global warming many weapons will have to be deployed. If another can be added in this way, that is surely all to the good.

一些比較現實的人認為這個獎項最大的受益者是該獎的贊助商們——NRG（美國的一家能源公司）和Canada』s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance。誠然有理，但在對抗全球變暖上，任何一個有利的渠道都不應該放過。

p.s. X space...X prize...hmm...