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Technology Catalog
技術前沿
Towering Beauty
高聳的美麗
Elegant way to convey electrical cables across the countryside may be coming soon to a field near you
輸電新法可能很快推出
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.
高塔應屬美之物，在古埃及，成對下粗上細的塔門標出廟宇的入口，基督教建筑師也借用哥特教堂前面豎上雙塔的想法。
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.
但誰能想到一個確切的詞，來描述鄉村上面那些傳送高壓電的丑陋高架建筑，它們總是糾結于公共關系的勝利和原始環境的破壞。
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.
不過，補救之法很快推出，看來，最新一代的電塔至少也能算得上個尤物吧。
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.
談論的電塔由Tennel T的工程師設計，該公司同荷蘭一家研究公司KEMA合作運營荷蘭國家電網，兩根細長的鋼柱撐著電碳，高65米，沒有桿，也不是一根架子塔。兩個高塔之間通著6根電纜，每根有兩個附在高塔上的絕緣體。
The resulting arrangement, though hardly invisible, is reasonably elegant.
這樣安排幾乎看不到什么，相對體面些。
As much to the point, though, it has technological advantages.
怎么說，這種電塔也具有技術上的優勢，
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.
傳統電塔傳輸三段交流電，會產生強烈的磁場和低頻電波連續不斷的嗡嗡聲，附近居民擔心這可能會對身體不好，而新式電塔倒還沒有這種事兒。
TenneT's pylons should help allay that fear.
TenneT的電塔應會減輕他們的疑慮。
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.
電塔之間的電纜都在一塊，而不是在向外伸出的桿上分開掛著，每根電纜產生單獨磁場，相互干擾，降低了電塔周圍的總磁場。
The result is far less low-frequency radiation.
新式電塔大大減少低頻輻射。
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希望不礙眼和低輻射能減少人們對修建新電塔的異議。
That is important for two reasons.
主要因為兩點，
One, the alternative—burying high-tension lines—is expensive and largely futile.
首先，掩埋高壓線這一替換既貴又不實用。
The cost of putting a cable underground is between four and ten times as much as that of carrying it on a pylon.
把電纜埋在地底的花費是架電塔的四到十倍。
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，在地下交流電相互影響產生的磁場比在空中強烈很多。
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.
地底鋪線比高空架線成本高了40倍。除非長距輸電系統轉換成直流電，地下輸電才不至于是個笑話。
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，不管這些，TenneT的電塔很重要是因為很快要修建不少新的長距輸電線路，北海和大西洋的風力將會需要。
So, more speculatively, will the idea of generating solar power in north Africa and transmitting it to Europe.
所以理論上北非太陽能發的電傳輸到歐洲的想法越來越有可能。
In the Netherlands alone, TenneT says, more than 400km of new lines are needed.
TenneT表示，單是荷蘭就需要400多千米的新電纜。
In Germany, the state-owned energy agency, DENA, reckons that figure is more than 3,500km.
德國國家能源部DENA估計得需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日舉辦最新的歐洲議會上，歐盟成員國領導人承認歐洲需要全新電網，估計工程花費大約2000萬歐元。
The overhead power problem is thus going to have to be solved one way or another.
頭頂電力難題因此會用這種或其他辦法解決。
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.
當然，在鄉村最美的風景是沒有電塔，但要是必須得有呢，整得好看點效率點，才不會顯得太糟吧。
