Right now, solar panels are so expensive – about 10 times more than fossil fuels in terms of cost per unit of energy output – that only well-heeled, well-meaning (and, usually, well-subsidized) Westerners can afford to install them. But think where we’d be if we could improve the efficiency of solar cells by a factor of ten – in other words, if we could make them cheaper than fossil fuels.
目前，太阳能电池板非常昂贵——其能源输出成本相当于化石燃料的10倍之多——只有那些富有而热心（而且往往手握大把补贴）的西方人才能用得起。但试想，如果我们能把太阳能电池的效率提高十倍——换言之，如果我们能令其比化石燃料更便宜。那时我们根本不需要强迫（或补贴）人们停用化石燃料。世界上的每个人，包括中国和印度人民，会转向这种更廉价且清洁的替代方案——而全球减排目标也自动实现了。