周二，一家默默無(wú)聞的清潔能源公司Heliogen脫穎而出，該公司表示已發(fā)現(xiàn)一種途徑可以利用人工智能和鏡面充分反射陽(yáng)光來(lái)產(chǎn)生1000攝氏度以上的極高熱量。
實(shí)質(zhì)上，Heliogen發(fā)明了一個(gè)太陽(yáng)能烤箱——并且這個(gè)烤箱的溫度能達(dá)到太陽(yáng)表面四分之一的溫度。
這一突破意味著，收集到的太陽(yáng)能首次可以用于制造水泥，鋼鐵，玻璃和其他需要高溫處理的工業(yè)過程。換句話說，無(wú)碳太陽(yáng)能可以替代化石燃料，這可是清潔能源革命中尚未觸及的經(jīng)濟(jì)重碳排放區(qū)。
“我們推出的技術(shù)可以打擊化石燃料的價(jià)格，而且不會(huì)有二氧化碳的排放?！盚eliogen的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官Bill Gross在接受CNN Business采訪時(shí)說： “這才是我們一直追求的使命”
此外，Heliogen還得到了億萬(wàn)富翁《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》所有者帕特里克·順雄（Patrick Soon-Shiong）的支持，Heliogen認(rèn)為，這項(xiàng)專利技術(shù)將能夠大大減少工業(yè)中的溫室氣體排放。以水泥為例，根據(jù)國(guó)際能源署的數(shù)據(jù)，生產(chǎn)水泥的二氧化碳排放量就占全球排放的7％。
比爾和他的團(tuán)隊(duì)現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)能夠充分利用太陽(yáng)能”Heliogen董事會(huì)上陳頌熊對(duì)CNN Business說：“人類的潛力是巨大的。 ...商業(yè)潛力深不可測(cè)。”
傳統(tǒng)的太陽(yáng)能利用屋頂?shù)拿姘鍋?lái)吸收太陽(yáng)的能量，與傳統(tǒng)技術(shù)不同的是，Heliogen在聚光太陽(yáng)能發(fā)電技術(shù)上進(jìn)行了改進(jìn)。然而，這次改進(jìn)也并不是使用了什么新技術(shù)，只是利用鏡子將太陽(yáng)光反射到單個(gè)點(diǎn)上。
過去，集中式太陽(yáng)能已用于發(fā)電，并以有限的方式為工廠提供熱量。它甚至能夠提供石油鉆探所需要的動(dòng)力。
然而，問題在于，過去所收集到的太陽(yáng)能沒有足夠高的溫度來(lái)生產(chǎn)水泥和鋼鐵。
清潔能源投資銀行Greentech Capital Advisors的合伙人Olav Junttila說：“您終結(jié)了無(wú)法真正提供超級(jí)熱量系統(tǒng)的技術(shù)的局面。”該公司過去曾為集成太陽(yáng)能公司提供咨詢服務(wù)
Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough
New York? (CNN Business) - A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet.
Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Essentially, Heliogen created a solar oven — one capable of reaching temperatures that are roughly a quarter of what you'd find on the surface of the sun.
The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial processes. In other words, carbon-free sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon-emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution.
"We are rolling out technology that can beat the price of fossil fuels and also not make the CO2 emissions," Bill Gross, Heliogen's founder and CEO, told CNN Business. "And that's really the holy grail."
Heliogen, which is also backed by billionaire Los Angels Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, believes the patented technology will be able to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industry. Cement, for example, accounts for 7% of global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
Bill and the team have truly now harnessed the sun," Soon-Shiong, who also sits on the Heliogen board, told CNN Business. "The potential to humankind is enormous. ... The potential to business is unfathomable."
Unlike traditional solar power, which uses rooftop panels to capture the energy from the sun, Heliogen is improving on what's known as concentrated solar power. This technology, which uses mirrors to reflect the sun to a single point, is not new.?
Concentrated solar has been used in the past to produce electricity and, in some limited fashion, to create heat for industry. It's even used in Oman to provide the power needed to drill for oil.
The problem is that in the past concentrated solar couldn't get temperatures hot enough to make cement and steel.
"You've ended up with technologies that can't really deliver super-heated systems," said Olav Junttila, a partner at Greentech Capital Advisors, a clean energy investment bank that has advised concentrated solar companies in the past.
