Concrete source: MIT scientists turn the concrete jungle green
11 April 2011 Last updated at 23:03 GMT
Source: By Ian Hardy BBC News, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Advertisement
具體來源：
2011年4月11日由Ian Hardy 發佈於 BBC 劍橋馬薩諸塞州
WATCH: Concrete is ubiquitous, but most of us are unaware of its environmental impact
關注：混凝土是無處不在，但我們大多數人其對環境的影響失去警覺
The word "concrete" is not much fun to say out loud. It actually sounds like a cold, hard, grey word.
Concrete jungle: For every ton of cement a ton of CO2 is produced also
“混凝土”這個字彙大聲地說出來一點也不有趣。實際上它聽起來像一個冷，硬，灰色字眼。
水泥叢林：每噸水泥也產生一噸的二氧化碳。
The substance itself is even dull. Not even its assured place in the history books of the Roman Empire make it a less than sexy subject from the bystander's point of view.
Let's face it - concrete is boring. Most of us recognise it instantly, when we see hideous flats and offices from the 1960s and 1970s, that for a brief moment were the cutting edge of architecture.
該物質本身，甚至沉悶。從旁觀者的角度來看甚至在羅馬帝國的歷史書上並非性感的主體。
讓我們面對現實吧 - 混凝土很無趣。我們大多數人能立即辨識它，當我們看醜陋的地板和辦公室，在60年代和70年代，這一段短暫的時刻卻是最先端的建築。
So, with our expectations completely lowered, it's time to visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known better as MIT.
因此，讓我們的思緒放空，這是到美國麻省理工學院，最著名科技學院去訪問的時刻。
Concrete age
混凝土期
Here concrete is treated with an admiration more often reserved for diamonds or gold, especially by Franz-Josef Ulm, one of the top professors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
"Concrete is maybe one of the oldest man-made materials on earth," he says.
"Some people say it was used by the Egyptians for the second layer of the pyramids. Modern cement came about in the late 19th, early 20th Century."
在這裡，特別是對弗朗茨約瑟夫烏爾姆，土木與環境工程一流的教授之一，混凝土比鑽石或黃金更能保留欽佩與讚美。
他說“在地球上，混凝土是有可能的一個最古老的人造材料”。
“有些人說埃及人曾使用它來建造第二層金字塔。現代混凝約在19世紀末，20世紀初發明。”
When you meet the researchers their passion for concrete becomes infectious. It has, after all, had an immeasurable impact on mankind.
It has allowed us to cross rivers easily, live on top of one another in relative comfort and drive vehicles for hundreds of miles without becoming stuck in the mud.
Hamlin Jennings, the executive director of MIT's Concrete Sustainability Hub, a collection of academics from various departments brought together to examine concrete in detail, says it is a fascinating substance.
當你遇見研究者們對混凝土的熱情似乎也被感染。畢竟它對人類有不可估量的影響。
它使我們能夠輕鬆地跨越鴻溝，駕馭車輛數百英里而不陷在泥裡,同樣在生活上面有彼此相對的舒適性。
哈姆林詹寧斯，麻省理工學院的混凝土持續發展中心的執行主任，將來自不同部門的學者聚集在一起，研究混凝具體的細節，直說這是一個迷人的物質。
Professor Franz-Josef Ulm says the Egyptians may have used concrete in the construction of pyramids
"Concrete is a relatively inexpensive. It's a forgiving material - it can be mixed by ordinary labourers, and used in climates ranging from the South Pole to the tropical mid part of the Earth. It can also get hard under water."
教授弗朗茨約瑟夫烏爾姆說，埃及人可能已經用混凝土來建造金字塔。
“混凝土是一種相對便宜。用途寬廣的材料 -從地球的南極到熱帶中間地帶的氣候條件的使用範圍，都可以由普通勞動者混合。它也可以在水中凝固。”
Environmental impact
環境影響
But all that comes at a price to the environment. Thirty billion tons of concrete are manufactured globally each year.
The way that concrete is mixed is very simple says Professor Ulm.
但所有這些都讓環境付出代價。全球每年製造三億噸混凝土。
烏爾姆教授說：混凝土非常容易混合。
"It's made out of cement. Cement is basically limestone and clay. Cement is then mixed with water to form this ubiquitous material which shapes our landscapes and cities."
This process of combining of water, cement paste, sand and rock creates an awful lot of CO2 gases - which are linked by some scientists to global warming - about five to 10% of the world's total emissions.
“這由水泥膠做出來的。水泥膠基本上是灰岩和粘土。與水混合形成這種無處不在的材料後，形塑成我們的景觀和城市。”
這種與水，水泥漿，沙子和岩石結合的的過程創製造大量可怕的二氧化碳氣體- 一些科學家與全球變暖鏈結 - 約佔世界總排放量 5至10％。
Professor Hamlin Jennings has been probing the secrets of concrete
哈姆林詹寧斯教授一直在探索混凝土的秘密
MIT wanted to see whether this could be lowered. After all, it has a habit of making giant steps from the tiniest of changes - so tiny in this case, it was invisible to the human eye.
Despite its availability all over the world and its ease of use, the molecular structure of concrete had remained elusive for decades. In particular one part of it - calcium silicate hydrate - refused all attempts to be analysed under an electron microscope or by nano-indentation.
麻省理工學院想看看是否可以降低二氧化碳的排量。畢竟，它從最微小變成巨大的步驟有一個慣性， - 太細小以至於肉眼看不見。
儘管它在世界各地具可用性和易用性，混凝土的分子結構幾十年來卻一直難以捉摸。特別是它的一個- 矽酸鈣水合物 -部分 無法在電子顯微鏡下或通過奈米壓痕所有進行分析的嘗試。
"Calcium silicate hydrate does not reveal its secrets easily." says Professor Hamlin Jennings.
"It's partly amorphous; it contains a lot of water, which evaporates, and the structure changes. So what you see in an electron microscope, which requires a vacuum, is substantially different from what is naturally there."
哈姆林詹寧斯教授說：“矽酸鈣水合物沒有那麼容易透露它的秘密。”
“這部分是無定形，它可含有大量的水，蒸發後，結構發生變化。你可在一個真空的環境藉由電子顯微鏡看到，但這和自然界的存在是大不相同的。”
So the scientists turned to their laptops, and using cutting-edge computational mathematics, modelled the concrete on the screen at a molecular level.
In 2009, after three years of almost constant hard-drive rotation, all the atoms fell into place in a nice colourful stable pattern on the monitor.
That was just the easy bit.
所以科學家改以使用筆記型電腦和運用尖端的計算機, 數理計算在螢幕上形塑混凝土的在分子水平的模型
2009年，經過三年的幾乎不斷的硬盤驅動器運轉，所有的原子在螢幕上以一種很好且豐富多彩穩定的樣式依序排列。
就那麼簡單輕鬆
For the next two years one MIT academic in particular, Roland Pellenq, played what amounted to a really tedious /'tidɪəs/ video game. He moved, removed, changed and added molecules to the traditional concrete model.
接下來的兩個年份之一，特別是一位麻省理工學院的羅蘭 Pellenq，玩起一個真的繁瑣的電動遊戲。他提出，刪除，修改和補充傳統的混凝土分子模型。
Re-inventing the wheel: MIT's green concrete is stronger and more durable than its dirtier ancestor
重新發明的巨輪：麻省理工學院的環保混凝土比它原先污穢的原形更強大更耐用
Then one day he made history. He re-invented concrete.
This version is stronger, more durable and greener. They call it green concrete, not to be confused with the scores of other products already available labelled green concrete, that have mostly been transformed by marketing rather than molecular experts.
終於有一天，他創造了歷史。他再次發明的混凝土。
這個版本更強大，更耐用，更環保。他們稱之為綠色混凝土，為了不要與其他大多已被行銷專家而不是由分子專家改造已經獲得綠色混凝土標記的產品分數混淆。
"Almost every civil-engineering department in the world, almost without exception, has a group of people who work on [the development of] concrete in one form of another," says Professor Jennings.
"They have beavered away trying this and trying that and the formulations have changed over the last 50 years, but not radically."
“在世界上幾乎每一位公務工程部門，幾乎沒有例外，擁有一批對 [發展]混凝土另一種形式工作的人”詹寧斯教授說。
“他們已經不斷的嘗試這嘗試那的已改變了過去 50年配方，但不是根本的改變。”
Test subject
測試項目
But don't look for green concrete at the local hardware shop quite yet.
Optimistically, the first structures to use the new technology are five years away from construction. MIT's job is done, but that job is only to provide a "proof of concept".
但是，目前在當地園藝五金商店尚未提供環保混凝土。
樂觀來說 ，能使用新技術結構來建設約五年後。麻省理工學院的研究工作雖完成，但這項工作是僅提供“證明”的概念。
Roland Pellenq is the man who finally re-invented concrete
Roland Pellenq 終於重新發明混凝土。
It's up to the worldwide building industry to take the new concrete and pour it through its paces.
The compound will be pulled, pushed, squeezed, frozen, flattened and smashed until it begs for mercy from government regulators and industry panels.
這須仰賴全世界的建築行業採取新的混凝土並推展它以利其步伐。
該化合物直到能從政府法規控管和工廠授業調查之前都會被拖拉，推，壓擠，冷凍，粉碎，夷為平坦，打碎等一連串試煉。
Only when it can prove itself in the real world will it be allowed to claim the title of "most used material anywhere in the world" from its very close cousin.
只有當它能夠在現實世界證明自己，才能允許從它的近親中宣示申請的標題 “在世界任何地方最受用的材料”。
How our world could change is also not something that MIT really ponders too much.
我們的世界如何能改變也非麻省理工學院真能多慮的。
Their inventive phase will undoubtedly lead to a compelling innovative phase far from the Cambridge-based campus. But it's not hard to imagine all the possibilities, good and bad.
他們的發明相毫無疑問將迥異於劍橋的校園而引導至一個引人注目的創新階段。但是，不論好壞的，所有的可能性皆不難想像。
Fewer potholes on the roads? Fewer road works and traffic jams? Huge real-estate savings by companies and governments? And what will happen to the number of construction workers?
路上有些崎嶇坑洞？較少的道路工程和交通擁堵？巨大的房地產企業和政府儲蓄？建築工人的數量會發生什麼樣的變化？
Longer-lasting buildings mean fewer workers, but higher buildings and longer bridges made with the new tougher cement paste might mean more jobs.
更持久的建築意味著未來會使用更少的工人，但更高的樓宇和更長久的橋樑會以更堅固的水泥漿體被製造意味著更多的就業機會。
Nothing, as they say, is written in stone - or concrete.
輕而易舉’，就如他們說，雋”石”永存 - 或者說”混凝土”永存。
參考資料 :
綠建材標章
20110805 Aircafe Break
11 April 2011 Last updated at 23:03 GMT
Source: By Ian Hardy BBC News, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Advertisement
具體來源：
2011年4月11日由Ian Hardy 發佈於 BBC 劍橋馬薩諸塞州
WATCH: Concrete is ubiquitous, but most of us are unaware of its environmental impact
關注：混凝土是無處不在，但我們大多數人其對環境的影響失去警覺
The word "concrete" is not much fun to say out loud. It actually sounds like a cold, hard, grey word.
Concrete jungle: For every ton of cement a ton of CO2 is produced also
“混凝土”這個字彙大聲地說出來一點也不有趣。實際上它聽起來像一個冷，硬，灰色字眼。
水泥叢林：每噸水泥也產生一噸的二氧化碳。
The substance itself is even dull. Not even its assured place in the history books of the Roman Empire make it a less than sexy subject from the bystander's point of view.
Let's face it - concrete is boring. Most of us recognise it instantly, when we see hideous flats and offices from the 1960s and 1970s, that for a brief moment were the cutting edge of architecture.
該物質本身，甚至沉悶。從旁觀者的角度來看甚至在羅馬帝國的歷史書上並非性感的主體。
讓我們面對現實吧 - 混凝土很無趣。我們大多數人能立即辨識它，當我們看醜陋的地板和辦公室，在60年代和70年代，這一段短暫的時刻卻是最先端的建築。
So, with our expectations completely lowered, it's time to visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known better as MIT.
因此，讓我們的思緒放空，這是到美國麻省理工學院，最著名科技學院去訪問的時刻。
Concrete age
混凝土期
Here concrete is treated with an admiration more often reserved for diamonds or gold, especially by Franz-Josef Ulm, one of the top professors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
"Concrete is maybe one of the oldest man-made materials on earth," he says.
"Some people say it was used by the Egyptians for the second layer of the pyramids. Modern cement came about in the late 19th, early 20th Century."
在這裡，特別是對弗朗茨約瑟夫烏爾姆，土木與環境工程一流的教授之一，混凝土比鑽石或黃金更能保留欽佩與讚美。
他說“在地球上，混凝土是有可能的一個最古老的人造材料”。
“有些人說埃及人曾使用它來建造第二層金字塔。現代混凝約在19世紀末，20世紀初發明。”
When you meet the researchers their passion for concrete becomes infectious. It has, after all, had an immeasurable impact on mankind.
It has allowed us to cross rivers easily, live on top of one another in relative comfort and drive vehicles for hundreds of miles without becoming stuck in the mud.
Hamlin Jennings, the executive director of MIT's Concrete Sustainability Hub, a collection of academics from various departments brought together to examine concrete in detail, says it is a fascinating substance.
當你遇見研究者們對混凝土的熱情似乎也被感染。畢竟它對人類有不可估量的影響。
它使我們能夠輕鬆地跨越鴻溝，駕馭車輛數百英里而不陷在泥裡,同樣在生活上面有彼此相對的舒適性。
哈姆林詹寧斯，麻省理工學院的混凝土持續發展中心的執行主任，將來自不同部門的學者聚集在一起，研究混凝具體的細節，直說這是一個迷人的物質。
Professor Franz-Josef Ulm says the Egyptians may have used concrete in the construction of pyramids
"Concrete is a relatively inexpensive. It's a forgiving material - it can be mixed by ordinary labourers, and used in climates ranging from the South Pole to the tropical mid part of the Earth. It can also get hard under water."
教授弗朗茨約瑟夫烏爾姆說，埃及人可能已經用混凝土來建造金字塔。
“混凝土是一種相對便宜。用途寬廣的材料 -從地球的南極到熱帶中間地帶的氣候條件的使用範圍，都可以由普通勞動者混合。它也可以在水中凝固。”
Environmental impact
環境影響
But all that comes at a price to the environment. Thirty billion tons of concrete are manufactured globally each year.
The way that concrete is mixed is very simple says Professor Ulm.
但所有這些都讓環境付出代價。全球每年製造三億噸混凝土。
烏爾姆教授說：混凝土非常容易混合。
"It's made out of cement. Cement is basically limestone and clay. Cement is then mixed with water to form this ubiquitous material which shapes our landscapes and cities."
This process of combining of water, cement paste, sand and rock creates an awful lot of CO2 gases - which are linked by some scientists to global warming - about five to 10% of the world's total emissions.
“這由水泥膠做出來的。水泥膠基本上是灰岩和粘土。與水混合形成這種無處不在的材料後，形塑成我們的景觀和城市。”
這種與水，水泥漿，沙子和岩石結合的的過程創製造大量可怕的二氧化碳氣體- 一些科學家與全球變暖鏈結 - 約佔世界總排放量 5至10％。
Professor Hamlin Jennings has been probing the secrets of concrete
哈姆林詹寧斯教授一直在探索混凝土的秘密
MIT wanted to see whether this could be lowered. After all, it has a habit of making giant steps from the tiniest of changes - so tiny in this case, it was invisible to the human eye.
Despite its availability all over the world and its ease of use, the molecular structure of concrete had remained elusive for decades. In particular one part of it - calcium silicate hydrate - refused all attempts to be analysed under an electron microscope or by nano-indentation.
麻省理工學院想看看是否可以降低二氧化碳的排量。畢竟，它從最微小變成巨大的步驟有一個慣性， - 太細小以至於肉眼看不見。
儘管它在世界各地具可用性和易用性，混凝土的分子結構幾十年來卻一直難以捉摸。特別是它的一個- 矽酸鈣水合物 -部分 無法在電子顯微鏡下或通過奈米壓痕所有進行分析的嘗試。
"Calcium silicate hydrate does not reveal its secrets easily." says Professor Hamlin Jennings.
"It's partly amorphous; it contains a lot of water, which evaporates, and the structure changes. So what you see in an electron microscope, which requires a vacuum, is substantially different from what is naturally there."
哈姆林詹寧斯教授說：“矽酸鈣水合物沒有那麼容易透露它的秘密。”
“這部分是無定形，它可含有大量的水，蒸發後，結構發生變化。你可在一個真空的環境藉由電子顯微鏡看到，但這和自然界的存在是大不相同的。”
So the scientists turned to their laptops, and using cutting-edge computational mathematics, modelled the concrete on the screen at a molecular level.
In 2009, after three years of almost constant hard-drive rotation, all the atoms fell into place in a nice colourful stable pattern on the monitor.
That was just the easy bit.
所以科學家改以使用筆記型電腦和運用尖端的計算機, 數理計算在螢幕上形塑混凝土的在分子水平的模型
2009年，經過三年的幾乎不斷的硬盤驅動器運轉，所有的原子在螢幕上以一種很好且豐富多彩穩定的樣式依序排列。
就那麼簡單輕鬆
For the next two years one MIT academic in particular, Roland Pellenq, played what amounted to a really tedious /'tidɪəs/ video game. He moved, removed, changed and added molecules to the traditional concrete model.
接下來的兩個年份之一，特別是一位麻省理工學院的羅蘭 Pellenq，玩起一個真的繁瑣的電動遊戲。他提出，刪除，修改和補充傳統的混凝土分子模型。
Re-inventing the wheel: MIT's green concrete is stronger and more durable than its dirtier ancestor
重新發明的巨輪：麻省理工學院的環保混凝土比它原先污穢的原形更強大更耐用
Then one day he made history. He re-invented concrete.
This version is stronger, more durable and greener. They call it green concrete, not to be confused with the scores of other products already available labelled green concrete, that have mostly been transformed by marketing rather than molecular experts.
終於有一天，他創造了歷史。他再次發明的混凝土。
這個版本更強大，更耐用，更環保。他們稱之為綠色混凝土，為了不要與其他大多已被行銷專家而不是由分子專家改造已經獲得綠色混凝土標記的產品分數混淆。
"Almost every civil-engineering department in the world, almost without exception, has a group of people who work on [the development of] concrete in one form of another," says Professor Jennings.
"They have beavered away trying this and trying that and the formulations have changed over the last 50 years, but not radically."
“在世界上幾乎每一位公務工程部門，幾乎沒有例外，擁有一批對 [發展]混凝土另一種形式工作的人”詹寧斯教授說。
“他們已經不斷的嘗試這嘗試那的已改變了過去 50年配方，但不是根本的改變。”
Test subject
測試項目
But don't look for green concrete at the local hardware shop quite yet.
Optimistically, the first structures to use the new technology are five years away from construction. MIT's job is done, but that job is only to provide a "proof of concept".
但是，目前在當地園藝五金商店尚未提供環保混凝土。
樂觀來說 ，能使用新技術結構來建設約五年後。麻省理工學院的研究工作雖完成，但這項工作是僅提供“證明”的概念。
Roland Pellenq is the man who finally re-invented concrete
Roland Pellenq 終於重新發明混凝土。
It's up to the worldwide building industry to take the new concrete and pour it through its paces.
The compound will be pulled, pushed, squeezed, frozen, flattened and smashed until it begs for mercy from government regulators and industry panels.
這須仰賴全世界的建築行業採取新的混凝土並推展它以利其步伐。
該化合物直到能從政府法規控管和工廠授業調查之前都會被拖拉，推，壓擠，冷凍，粉碎，夷為平坦，打碎等一連串試煉。
Only when it can prove itself in the real world will it be allowed to claim the title of "most used material anywhere in the world" from its very close cousin.
只有當它能夠在現實世界證明自己，才能允許從它的近親中宣示申請的標題 “在世界任何地方最受用的材料”。
How our world could change is also not something that MIT really ponders too much.
我們的世界如何能改變也非麻省理工學院真能多慮的。
Their inventive phase will undoubtedly lead to a compelling innovative phase far from the Cambridge-based campus. But it's not hard to imagine all the possibilities, good and bad.
他們的發明相毫無疑問將迥異於劍橋的校園而引導至一個引人注目的創新階段。但是，不論好壞的，所有的可能性皆不難想像。
Fewer potholes on the roads? Fewer road works and traffic jams? Huge real-estate savings by companies and governments? And what will happen to the number of construction workers?
路上有些崎嶇坑洞？較少的道路工程和交通擁堵？巨大的房地產企業和政府儲蓄？建築工人的數量會發生什麼樣的變化？
Longer-lasting buildings mean fewer workers, but higher buildings and longer bridges made with the new tougher cement paste might mean more jobs.
更持久的建築意味著未來會使用更少的工人，但更高的樓宇和更長久的橋樑會以更堅固的水泥漿體被製造意味著更多的就業機會。
Nothing, as they say, is written in stone - or concrete.
輕而易舉’，就如他們說，雋”石”永存 - 或者說”混凝土”永存。
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