2010年麻省理工学院清洁能源奖揭晓(有声)

Time for M.I.T.’s Clean Energy Prize. The annual competition gives teams of university students a chance to compete for $200,000 to kick-start their new clean energy business.

One finalist designed a compression technology for natural gas wells that will allow so-called marginal wells to produce much longer than they can today. They say this will reduce costs and increase production.

Another came up with a new technique to reengineer concrete at the molecular¹ scale––a process they say makes it stronger and uses significantly less energy. The students say their technology could save the equivalent output of 100 nuclear power plants per year.

And the winner? A team from Stanford called C3Nano. They’ve developed a novel material––a transparent² electrode, like the screens on computer monitors and phones. But while our screens are brittle³, theirs is flexible––at what they say is one tenth the price. The young inventors note that the somewhat transparent electrode used today in solar cells absorbs as much as 20 percent of available light––but theirs is significantly more transparent and will gobble up more light. Greater efficiency for less money? That’s an idea worth 200K
 

1 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

2 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

3 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。