Michael Strizki has a big screen television, a hot tub, and a 278m2 house. Running all his appliances takes a lot of electricity.
But Michael never has to pay an electricity bill.
That's because his house is powered totally by solar panels near his house.
PHOTO: AFP
During the summer, there is more than enough sunlight to power Michael's house. Some of the extra power is used to create hydrogen from water.
During the winter, that hydrogen powers anything in the house that the solar panels can't.
Part of the money used to pay for Michael's set up has come from New Jersey state, where he lives. The state government is trying to increase use of renewable energy sources.
In the future, many more houses might be like Michael's. Use of solar panels grew by 20 percent in 2006, and making them gets 7 percent cheaper every year.
(Jason Cox, staff writer with agencies)
麥克.史崔茲奇有大螢幕電視和一座按摩浴缸,佔地兩百七十八平方公尺的房屋,屋內所有的電器設備需要大量的電力才能運作。
但是麥克從來不必付電費。
因為他的房子完全是靠附近的太陽能板發電。
夏天陽光能為麥克的房子提供綽綽有餘的電力,部分剩餘電力會被用來將水轉化成氫氣。
冬天期間,氫氣就能為屋內太陽能板無法供電的電器提供電力。
麥克所居住的紐澤西州政府支付部份麥克的架設費用,因為州政府試圖增加可再生能源的使用範圍。
未來可能會有更多像麥克的房子。二○○六年,太陽能板的使用量增加了20%,製造太陽能板的費用則每年便宜7%。
(翻譯︰鄭湘儀)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into