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Science and technology
科技版塊
Renewable energy
可再生能源
A census of solar-cells
太陽能電池調查
An accurate count of the Earth's solar-power stations has now been made
現(xiàn)在已經對地球上的太陽能發(fā)電站進行了準確的統(tǒng)計
REBUILDING AN ENTIRE planet's energy system is a big job.
重建整個星球的能源系統(tǒng)是一項艱巨的工作。
Just ask the delegates at the COP-26 climate conference scheduled to kick off in Britain on October 31st.
只要問問10月31日在英國開幕的COP-26氣候大會的代表們就知道了。
The most basic problem is knowing what, exactly, you are trying to rebuild.
最基本的問題是確切地知道你重建的是什么。
Academic-research groups, think-tanks, charities and other concerned organisations try to keep track of the world’s wind turbines, solar-power plants, fossil-fuelled power stations, cement factories and so on.
學術研究團體、智囊團、慈善機構和其他相關組織試圖跟蹤世界上的風力渦輪機、太陽能發(fā)電廠、化石燃料發(fā)電廠、水泥廠等。
To this end, they rely heavily on data from national governments and big companies, but these are often incomplete.
為此，他們嚴重依賴各國政府和大公司的數(shù)據(jù)，但這些數(shù)據(jù)往往是不完整的。
The most comprehensive database covering American solar-power installations, for instance, is thought to miss around a fifth of the photovoltaic panels actually installed on the ground.
例如，覆蓋美國太陽能裝置最全面的數(shù)據(jù)庫被認為遺漏了大約五分之一的實際安裝在地面上的光伏電池板。
In a paper just published in Nature, a team of researchers led by Lucas Kruitwagen, a climate scientist and AI researcher at Oxford University, demonstrate another way to keep tabs on the green-energy revolution.
在剛剛發(fā)表在《自然》雜志上的一篇論文中，由牛津大學氣候學家兼人工智能研究員盧卡斯·克魯特瓦根領導的研究團隊展示了另一種密切關注綠色能源革命的方法。
Dr Kruitwagen and his colleagues have put together an inventory of almost 69,000 big solar-power stations (defined as those with a rated capacity of 10kW of electricity or more) all over the world—more than four times as many as were previously listed in public databases.
克魯特瓦根博士和他的同事們整理了一份全球近69000個大型太陽能發(fā)電站的清單（額定發(fā)電量為10kW或以上的發(fā)電站）——是之前公共數(shù)據(jù)庫中列出數(shù)量的四倍多。
This new inventory includes their locations, the date they entered service and a rough estimate of their generating capacity.
這份新的庫存包括它們的位置，它們投入服務的日期，以及對它們發(fā)電量的粗略估計。
Conceptually, the team's method is simple.
從概念上講，這個團隊的方法很簡單。
Instead of relying on top-down reports, they worked from the bottom up, looking at the entire planet from space and counting how many solar panels they could see.
他們不依賴于自上而下的報告，而是自下而上地工作，從太空觀察整個星球，并計算他們能看到多少太陽能電池板。
This is not the first time people have hunted from orbit for solar-power stations.
這已經不是人們第一次在軌道上尋找太陽能發(fā)電站了。
But previous analyses have been limited to a few countries.
但之前的分析僅限于少數(shù)幾個國家。
As far as Dr Kruitwagen knows, his is the first attempt to survey the entire planet for a particular type of infrastructure.
就克魯特瓦根博士所知，他是第一次嘗試在整個星球上勘測某種特定類型的基礎設施。
Earth is a big place, of course, which means practice is a great deal harder than theory.
當然，地球是一個很大的地方，這意味著實踐要比理論困難得多。
His approach has been made possible by two big technological trends.
兩大技術趨勢使他的方法成為可能。
One is a growing abundance of cheap, easily available satellite imagery.
其一是越來越多的廉價且容易獲取的衛(wèi)星圖像。
In the 20th century, reconnaissance satellites were the jealously guarded property of a handful of governments.
在20世紀，偵察衛(wèi)星是少數(shù)幾個政府小心翼翼守衛(wèi)的財產。
These days, a cottage industry of Earth-observation firms and agencies sells images on the open market.
如今，由地球觀測公司和機構組成的家庭式手工業(yè)已經開始在公開市場上出售圖像。
Dr Kruitwagen's pictures came from two sets of satellites, Sentinel-2 and SPOT, run by the European Space Agency and Airbus respectively.
克魯特瓦根博士的照片來自兩組衛(wèi)星，分別是歐洲航天局和空中客車公司的哨兵2號和SPOT。
These peer down on the world, recording visible light and also the infrared and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.
它們俯視著世界，記錄可見光以及光譜中的紅外和紫外線部分。
The images Dr Kruitwagen used amounted to around 550 terabytes of data, spanning the period between 2016 and 2018.
克魯特瓦根博士使用的圖像大約有550tb，時間跨度從2016年到2018年。
That is enough to fill more than a hundred desktop hard drives.
這足以填滿一百多個臺式機硬盤。
Sifting through this many pictures by eye would have been impractical.
用眼睛篩選這么多照片是不切實際的。
