经济学人428:空调行业 制冷方面的发明

 　　Business.

　　商业
　　Air conditioning
　　空调行业
　　Cool innovation
　　很酷的发明（制冷方面的发明）
　　An upstart hopes to make rival cooling companies sweat
　　这个挑战者渴望把与之竞争的空调公司逼出汗来
　　ON A hot July day in 1902, the world's first air conditioner was switched on in Brooklyn. Since then, air conditioning has saved lives, raised productivity and made the American South liveable in the summer. Yet as it turns 110, critics fume 1 that the technology cooks the planet even as it cools homes. As Stan Cox points out in his book, "Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World", America uses more energy for air conditioning than Africa uses for everything. Enter Advantix Systems, a firm that makes air-conditioning systems that consume 30-50% less energy than conventional ones.
　　1902年的炎热7月，世界上第一台空调在布鲁克林区开始运转。自从那时起，空调就开始拯救生命、提高生产力，并且让夏天的南非更适于生活。时值110年后，批抨者们却很不满，因为这项科技成果既加热了地球，也加热了我们的家。正如Stan Cox在他所写的《失去我们的清凉：我们这个被空调冷却的世界中，一些让人不安的事实》一书中指出的，美国在制冷方面消耗的能源比非洲总的能源消耗还多。Enter Advantix Systems是一家空调制作商，其产品能耗比普通产品少30%-50%。
　　Many air conditioners work something like this. First, cool the air to well below the desired room temperature. Then, blow it over a metal plate to make the moisture in it condense (and rain on the heads of passers-by, if the cooler is in New York). Then, warm the dry air back up to the desired temperature.
　　很多空调制商都在制产下面这样的产品：首先，将空气冷却到低于理想室温的程度。然后，将它吹过一个金属版，使其中的水分被压缩（如果是在纽约的话，这些水还会滴到路人的头上）。最后，将干燥的空气再加热回理想温度。
　　Advantix's "liquid desiccant" technology, by contrast, passes the air through a brine solution to dehumidify it, without the need to waste energy overcooling it. Its machines are especially effective in humid places, which is where much of the world's growth is.
　　Advantix的"液体干燥技术"则正相反，空气通过卤水系统被干燥，因而不需要浪费能源过度冷却它。这种机器在潮湿的地方尤其有效，而这些地方也正是世界的主要增长区域。
　　Advantix, which used to be known as DuCool, stumbled on the technology. It was founded in the 1980s by Israeli brothers who built ice rinks in the Middle East. They found that many coolers could not cope well with the humidity there, so they created ones that could. MatlinPatterson, a private-equity firm, bought a stake in 2010 and brought in managers who concocted 2 an ambitious plan to sell cooling systems for commercial and industrial buildings. Advantix recently announced a big deal to air condition a Procter & Gamble factory in India that makes laundry liquid pods.
　　过去被称为DuCool的Advantix公司曾在技术上遇到问题。它由建造了滑冰场的尤太人于19世纪80年代建造。他们发现许多冷却设备都不能应对潮湿的情况，因此他们制造了能解决这一问题的设备。私人股权公司MatlinPatterson在2011年入股并且带入了一位有雄心壮智将产品卖到商务和工业建筑中的经理。Advantix近期也宣布了一项大合约：该公司将为印度一家制造箱装洗衣液的宝洁公司安装空调设备。
　　Competition will soon heat up, however, as rivals develop their own liquid desiccant air conditioners. In this business, you have to sweat to keep up.
　　但是竞争对手也开发了他们自己的液体干燥技术空调，竞争将会越来越白热化。在这行，你得努力工作才能不被落下。