Clean Energy 洁净能源

写在前面：读英语，学翻译。此篇英文为我读后口头转译、修改而成，汉语译文为我的原创。❤️

The electricity that we use every day is most generated by burning coal—— a fossil fuel. Burning coal creates greenhouse gases and is very bad for the environment.  In recent times,  alternative energy forms are being used more and more to generate the electricity we need to run our world. For example, wind power is a very clean option.  However, solar energy is by far the most abundant power source that we have available to us. It is also very clean.

我们今天使用的电大多是通过燃烧化石燃料产生的。燃烧煤会产生温室气体，对环境非常有害。这些年来，可供选择的能源越来越多，用它们来发电，让这个世界得以运转。比如，风力就是一种非常洁净的能源选择。然而，到目前为止，太阳能是最丰富的可获得资源，它也非常洁净。

The sun sends an incredible amount of energy to Earth’s surface every day.  However, finding an efficient way to catch the Sun’s energy and change it into a usable form is still a challenge.

太阳每天释放出惊人的能量到地球上。然而，找到一种有效的方式，来获取太阳的能量，并把它转换成可用的形式，仍然是一大挑战。

Energy from the sun travels to Earth in the form of radiation and is felt as heat. One use we have found for the sun’s radiation is to heat things.  Mirrors and lenses can be used to focus huge amount of sunlight on to one area.  This creates a great amount of thermal energy,  which can be used to heat up water and other liquids. These are in turn used to heat homes.

太阳能以辐射的形式传到地球，以热能的形式被人感知。我们所发现的一种太阳辐射的用途，就是用它来加热。平面镜和透镜可以把巨大的太阳能聚集到一处。这样能够产生大量的热能，用来给水或其他液体加热。这些用途于是被用于家庭加热。

Another way sunlight can create electricity is through the use of solar cells.  These devices contain special chemical elements and compounds called semiconductors.

另外一种发电方式就是通过太阳能电池发电。这些设备包含有特殊的化学元素和复合物，叫做半导体。

There are some big disadvantages to using solar power.  For one thing, it is still expensive to create compared to other methods.  Another disadvantage is that the sun’s heat is not available at night and during some storms, so effective storage devices are needed.

使用太阳能也有一些很大的缺陷。比如，和其他的方式相比，它仍然是昂贵的。另外一个缺陷就是，太阳能在夜间和暴风雨中不可用。所以，有效的太阳能储存设备是必需的。

Sept.21

2022.9.21