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M.I.T. professor Ely Sachs gave up his faculty position to go all-in on a company that he believes can make solar energy competitive with coal via smart photovoltaic manufacturing. Larry Greenemeier reports
M.I.T.的Ely Sachs教授放棄了他的教職，全力投入到一家公司的工作中。他認(rèn)為這家公司通過制造智能光電池能使太陽能與煤的競爭力相當(dāng)。
As a professor at M.I.T., Ely Sachs was a strong supporter of alternative energy research. How strong? Earlier this month, he gave up his tenured faculty position after 25 years. His new company, 1366 Technologies, promises to drive down the cost of solar energy over the next 15 years until it is competitive with coal.
作為M.I.T.教授，Ely Sachs強(qiáng)烈支持替代能源的研究。有多強(qiáng)烈？本月初，已工作25年的他放棄了終身職位。他的新公司，1366技術(shù)公司，承諾在未來15年內(nèi)降低太陽能成本，直到太陽能與煤的競爭力相當(dāng)。
The company specializes in making silicon crystal wafers to be used in photovoltaic cells. Speaking at the recent Technology Review Emtech conference, Sachs says he can lower costs using a new manufacturing process called "direct wafer." Normally silicon wafers are cut from a larger piece of silicon. This wastes about half of the wafer material. Direct wafer makes individual wafers straight from molten silicon—no cutting required.
該公司專攻用于光伏電池的硅晶片。在《創(chuàng)業(yè)科技》雜志舉辦的Emtech世界新興技術(shù)峰會上，Sachs說他利用一種叫做“直接硅片技術(shù)”的新制造工藝降低成本。通常硅片是由一片較大的硅切割而成的。這浪費了大概一半的晶圓材料。直接硅片技術(shù)能直接在熔融晶中制成單片晶圓，不需要切割。
1366's next move is to build a small manufacturing facility in Massachusetts. The Department of Energy is buying into Sachs's vision—they've offered him a $150-million loan to continue his work in Massachusetts and to build a second facility elsewhere, as long as it's in the U.S. So he can continue to not burn the midnight oil.
1366技術(shù)公司接下來要在馬薩諸塞州建一個小型制造工廠。能源部為Sachs的愿景提供了支持，為他提供了1.5億美元的貸款以繼續(xù)在馬薩諸塞州的工作及在美國其他地方建立第二家工廠。所以他能繼續(xù)投身于替換能源的工作。
—Larry Greenemeier
n. 水晶，晶體
adj. 晶體的，透明的
