你可曾想過飛機有朝一日能實現(xiàn)零排放嗎？這一天離我們不遠(yuǎn)了。空客公司日前公布了三款氫動力飛機的視覺概念圖，并表示氫動力飛機將在2030年到2040年間投入商業(yè)使用。

Zero-emission large passenger aircraft powered by hydrogen will be technically feasible in five years, according to Airbus, but they will not enter service for at least a decade as the price of the fuel needs to come down.

歐洲飛機制造集團(tuán)空客公司稱，零排放的大型氫動力客機將于五年內(nèi)掃清技術(shù)障礙，但由于氫燃料的價格因素，還需要至少十年才能投入使用。

The prediction comes from Glenn Llewellyn, vice-president of zero-emissions technology at the pan-European plane-maker.

空客公司零排放技術(shù)部副總裁格倫·盧埃林做出了這一預(yù)測。

He said that while Airbus planned to demonstrate hydrogen-powered aircraft in 2025, “over the next 10 years, hydrogen won’t be more economic than the fossil fuel equivalent”.

他表示，盡管空客公司計劃于2025年展示氫動力飛機，但是“未來十年內(nèi)，氫燃料不會比化石燃料更省錢”。

For passengers to be flying genuinely emissions free aboard hydrogen-powered planes - which emit only water and heat - their fuel needs to come from hydrogen produced via renewable sources such as wind and solar, he added.

他補充道，要讓乘客坐上真正零排放（只排放水和熱）的氫動力飛機，就必須使用以風(fēng)能和太陽能等可再生能源為動力生成的氫燃料。

In an interview ahead of the BloombergNEF London Summit, Mr Llewellyn said: “We already see massive increases in the amount of renewable energy being produced across the world. Wind energy production has multiplied by two over the last five years and solar energy production has multiplied by four.”

在彭博新能源財經(jīng)倫敦峰會開幕前接受采訪時，盧埃林稱：“我們已經(jīng)看到世界各地產(chǎn)出的可再生能源在大量增加。過去五年風(fēng)能產(chǎn)出量增加了一倍，太陽能產(chǎn)出量增加了三倍。”

A further hurdle is building up the ecosystem that hydrogen aircraft, along with other forms of transport, will need. This ranges from creating the fuel from electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen powered by renewable energy, to the actual transport of the gas and fuelling systems for it at airports.

還有一個要跨越的障礙，就是建立氫動力飛機和其他交通工具所需的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，包括以可再生能源為動力將水電解成氫和氧的氫燃料生產(chǎn)，運輸氫燃料的交通工具以及機場的燃料補給系統(tǒng)。

However, Mr Llewellyn predicted that there was enough interest in the sector to make this happen.

但是，盧埃林預(yù)測，業(yè)內(nèi)對氫動力飛機的濃厚興趣將助其實現(xiàn)。

He added: “There are a number of independent institutes that have mapped out how hydrogen costs can come down over the next decades. We see a 30pc reduction in renewable hydrogen costs in 2030 compared to where it is today, and a 50pc reduction in renewable hydrogen costs by 2050.

他補充道：“關(guān)于未來幾十年如何降低氫燃料成本，許多獨立機構(gòu)已經(jīng)做出了規(guī)劃。我們預(yù)測，到2030年可再生氫燃料的成本將比現(xiàn)在降低30%，到2050年將降低50%?！?/p>

"They are exactly the kind of cost figures that are interesting for us, because it makes zero-emission aviation commercially viable in the 2030s.”

“這一成本數(shù)據(jù)對我們很有吸引力，因為它使得零排放飛機在2030年后具有商業(yè)可行性?！?/p>

Last month UK-based ZeroAvia conducted the world’s first flight of a commercial-grade aircraft powered by a hydrogen fuel cell when it flew a six-seater Piper Malibu plane from Cranfield University’s airport.

上個月英國飛機公司ZeroAvia舉行了世界首架氫燃料電池驅(qū)動的商用級別飛機的試飛。這架有六個座位的派珀馬里布飛機從克蘭菲爾德大學(xué)的機場起飛。

The aircraft did two circuits of the Bedfordshire airfield, reaching 1,000ft and 100 knots, during the eight-minute flight.

在這次時長8分鐘的試飛中，該飛機圍繞貝德福德郡的機場飛了兩圈，飛行高度達(dá)到1000英尺（305米），航速達(dá)到100節(jié)（185公里/小時）。

A few days before, Airbus unveiled a series of design proposals for hydrogen-driven aircraft, including a “blended wing” concept that provides greater storage capacity.

幾天前，空客公司發(fā)布了一系列氫動力飛機的設(shè)計方案，包括提供更大存儲容量的“翼身融合”概念。

This design could be key to hydrogen-powered aircraft as the fuel is less energy dense than conventional fuel and so requires more space to match performance of existing aeroplanes.

這一設(shè)計對氫動力飛機可能很關(guān)鍵，因為氫燃料的能量密度沒有傳統(tǒng)的航空燃油那么大，所以要使用更大體積的氫燃料才能匹配現(xiàn)有飛機的性能。

英文來源：每日電訊報

翻譯&編輯：丹妮