首页
登录
职称英语
The appeal of hydrogen fuel cells has long been obvious. Because these device
The appeal of hydrogen fuel cells has long been obvious. Because these device
游客
2023-12-22
19
管理
问题
The appeal of hydrogen fuel cells has long been obvious. Because these devices use electrochemical reactions to generate electricity from hydrogen, emitting only heat and water in the process, they offer a particularly green source of power, especially for vehicles. What has not been so obvious, however, is how to make hydrogen fuel cells practical. In 2009, Steven Chu, then the U. S. Secretary of Energy,told an interviewer that in order for hydrogen fuel-cell transportation to work, "four miracles" needed to happen. First, scientists had to find an efficient and low-cost way to produce hydrogen. Second, they had to develop a safe, high-density method of storing hydrogen in automobiles. Third, an infrastructure for distributing hydrogen had to be built so that fuel-cell vehicles would have ample refueling options. Fourth, researchers had to improve the capacity of the fuel-cell systems themselves, which were not as durable, powerful, and low cost as the internal combustion engine. Chu concluded that achieving all four big breakthroughs would be unlikely. "Saints only need three miracles," he added.
Accordingly, the U. S. Department of Energy dramatically cut funding for fuel cells, reducing its support for various programs to nearly a third of previous levels. For the rest of Chu’s tenure, the department awarded nearly no new grants to develop the technology at universities, national labs, or private companies. Although the department’s total expenditures on fuel cells and hydrogen had always amounted to a small fraction of overall global investment in the sector, the change in posture sent a deeply pessimistic signal worldwide.
Immediately after Chu’s comments made the rounds, the hydrogen community issued a defense, contending that major progress had been made. But the damage was done. Universities stopped hiring faculty in an area perceived to be dying, top students fled to other subjects, and programs at national labs were forced to reconfigure their efforts. Established scientists saw an abrupt decrease in funding opportunities for hydrogen and refocused their research on other technologies. The overall effect was a drastic shrinking of the human-resource pipeline feeding hydrogen and fuel-cell research.
All of this was not necessarily a bad thing: new technologies come along all the time, pushing aside older ones that are no longer bound for the market. In the case of hydrogen fuel cells, however, scientists really had made big breakthroughs, and the technology was finally in the process of hitting the market. Rather than redirecting limited resources to more realistic technologies, the U. S. government’s policy arguably amounted to pulling the rug out from under hydrogen and fuel-cell research and development in the United States and handing over leadership in the sector to other countries. Patents are perhaps the best indicator of how much practical progress a technology is making, and even as the U. S. government decreased its support for research into hydrogen fuel cells(and increased its support for other clean energy technologies), the number of U. S. patents related to fuel cells continued to dwarf those of other energy technologies, with the exception of solar power. [br] The author’s attitude towards the U. S. government’s policy regarding hydrogen fuel cell can best be summarized as______.
选项
A、critical
B、ambiguous
C、impartial
D、appreciative
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3296730.html
相关试题推荐
TheGermancourtisfacingalegaldilemmabecausethelawhasn’tstipulatedthe
TheGermancourtisfacingalegaldilemmabecausethelawhasn’tstipulatedthe
TheGermancourtisfacingalegaldilemmabecausethelawhasn’tstipulatedthe
TheGermancourtisfacingalegaldilemmabecausethelawhasn’tstipulatedthe
TheGermancourtisfacingalegaldilemmabecausethelawhasn’tstipulatedthe
Thevaluesoftheprojectshouldbekeptinmindforallteammembersbecauseth
Thevaluesoftheprojectshouldbekeptinmindforallteammembersbecauseth
Thevaluesoftheprojectshouldbekeptinmindforallteammembersbecauseth
Thevaluesoftheprojectshouldbekeptinmindforallteammembersbecauseth
Thevaluesoftheprojectshouldbekeptinmindforallteammembersbecauseth
随机试题
Mostpeopleconsiderbacteriadangerous.Afterall,thesemicroorganismscau
[originaltext]W:GregorywillbeleavingthisSundayandit’salsohisbirthday
HowtoUsetheInternettoLearnaLanguage?Internethasmadecommunicationand
(1)TheWestlifestoryreallybeganwaybackinDecember1996whenthethree
某工程单代号搭接网络计划如下图所示,节点中下方数字为该工作的持续时间,其中关键工
密度计法进行颗粒分析试验时,用氨水作为分散剂,其用量为30g土样中加氨水()。A
2020年国内游客28.8亿人次,比上年下降52.1%。其中,城镇居民游客20.
共用题干 某生产性物业投资25000万元,预期寿命为5年,净残值为0。每年净现
云计算是一种全新网络服务方式,分布于全世界的成千上万台服务器被网络聚成了一片拥有
根据《通用安装工程工程量计算规范》(GB50856-2013),消防工程工程量
最新回复
(
0
)