太阳能是地球最丰富的能源资源。太阳光没有地域的限制，不管是陆地、海洋、高山、岛屿，处处皆有，能直接开发与利用，方便采集，并且不需要开采以及运输，且开发利用太阳能是不会污染环境的，它是最清洁能源之一，也是现今世界上可开发的最大能源。
按照太阳所产生的核能速率估算，氢的贮量可以足够维持上百亿年，但地球的寿命大约为几十亿年，在这个意义上而言，可说太阳的能量是用之不竭的。
根据《可再生能源发展“十二五”》规划，各地能源主管部门要根据此规划要求，加强完善本地区的太阳能发电规划目标、布局以及开发时序，从而有序地推进太阳能发电项目建设。
而煤炭是地球上分布最广且储量最大的能源资源。构成煤炭有机质的元素主要有氢、氧、氮、碳以及硫等，另外，还有着极少数的磷、氟、砷与氯等元素。
加快光合作用以提高作物产量
简介： Photosynthesis actually is an inefficient process, but a biological chemist is trying to crank it up.
光合作用实际上是一个低效率的过程，但是一位生物化学家正试图强化这一过程。
撰稿/播音：史蒂夫·米尔斯基（Steve Mirsky）
翻译：姜帆
审校：杨枭
“Photosynthesis is surprisingly inefficient, only of the order of 1 to 2 percent. And one of the main culprits is an enzyme called RuBisCo.”
“光合作用的效率低得惊人，只有1％到2％左右。主要罪魁祸首之一是一种叫做RuBisCo的酶。
Laura Barter, a biological chemist at Imperial College London. Scientific American Editor in Chief Mariette DiChristina recorded these comments when they chatted at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos.
劳拉·巴特（Laura Barter）是伦敦帝国学院的生物化学家。科学美国人主编马里埃特·迪克里斯蒂娜（Mariette DiChristina）在最近的达沃斯世界经济论坛上发表了下面的评论。
That enzyme RuBisCo? Because it’s vital for the first major step in photosynthesis, it’s probably the most abundant enzyme on the planet. And it’s worked fine for a very long time. But for our needs, we humans want it to work better.
那种叫做RuBisCo的酶？因为它对于光合作用的第一个重要步骤至关重要，所以它可能是地球上最丰富的酶。而且它一直以来都很好地发挥作用。但为了满足我们的需要，我们人类希望它能起到更好的效果。
“And I’m very interested in trying to improve upon this enzyme because it’s both slow and it also suffers from a lack of specificity. And it can catalyze a reaction with carbon dioxide that you want, but also a competing reaction with oxygen. And, so we’re looking at ways that we can enhance the local concentration of carbon dioxide around RuBisCo to increase its efficiency—and ultimately increase crop yield.”
“我对如何改善这种酶非常感兴趣，因为它既作用缓慢又缺乏特异性。它既可以催化你想要的二氧化碳反应，也可以与氧气竞争反应。因此，为了提高它的效率，我们正在寻找一些方法，来提高RuBisCo酶周围二氧化碳局部的浓度——并最终提高作物产量。”
Barter explained how she’s trying to do that at a talk she gave at the Forum:
在论坛上发表的演讲中，巴特解释了她想如何去做到这点：
“There are a suite of enzymes that are involved in the capture and release of carbon dioxide and we’re synthesizing some molecules that can mimic this behavior. With the hope that they can be sprayed on crops much in the same way as a fertilizer. And will be taken up by the plant and will increase the concentration of carbon dioxide around RuBisCo inside the plant and increase its activity and photosynthetic yields. Now, we have already synthesized this suite of molecules and have shown that they can capture and release carbon dioxide and we’re testing their effect on RuBisCo that’s been extracted from plants and seeing really, really, exciting results.”
“有一套酶参与二氧化碳的捕获和释放，我们正在合成一些可以模拟这种行为的分子。希望它们可以像肥料一样喷洒在农作物上。并且将被植物吸收，增加植物体内RuBisCo酶周围的二氧化碳浓度，提高其活性和光合产量。现在，我们已经人工合成了这套分子，它们可以捕获和释放二氧化碳，我们正在测试它们对从植物中提取的RuBisCo酶的影响，并期待看到真正令人振奋的结果。”
