你不好奇嗎?為什么日本上空有如此多的高壓電線(xiàn)(多圖)

TOKYO —Something many visitors to Japan notice isthe abundance of overhead powerlines. Whetheryou're in the suburbs, city center, or even ruralcommunities,it's rare to look up at the sky ortowards the horizon without the view being crisscrossed by thick, black cables.

東京——來(lái)日本旅游的游客可能會(huì)注意到日本天空中有大量的高壓電線(xiàn)。不管是在郊區(qū)，還是在市中心，甚至在農(nóng)村地區(qū)，當(dāng)你抬頭看天空或者遙望遠(yuǎn)處時(shí)總會(huì)看到這些厚黑的電線(xiàn)。

 

 

So why does Japan have so many above-ground power grids when so many other countrieshave gone subterranean? The easy answer is cost, but there're also somepurportedadvantages to stringing cables up on poles, and the country hasn'tquite reached a consensuson which is the better option.

在其他國(guó)家都把電線(xiàn)藏到地底的情況下，為什么日本的地表上面會(huì)有這么多的電網(wǎng)呢?簡(jiǎn)單的答案就是成本，但據(jù)說(shuō)把電線(xiàn)綁在電線(xiàn)桿上還有其他的好處，而且日本還沒(méi)達(dá)成共識(shí)到底那種方式更好。

Starting with the budgetary side of things, subterranean systems are a lot more expensive.With the added expenses of digging the ditches and properly installing thelines and conduits,the cost can balloon to ten times that of a comparablysized network of above-ground poles.

先從預(yù)算角度來(lái)說(shuō)，將電網(wǎng)埋藏在地下成本更高。首先要挖溝，然后將電線(xiàn)和導(dǎo)線(xiàn)埋在里面，所以其成本甚至可以是地表電網(wǎng)成本的十倍。

 

 

Still, some contend that, economic advantages aside, this isn't the place to cutcorners. Sincethe mid-1980s, the Japanese government has been enacting initiatives to replace existingpoles with underground lines. Not only do suchmoves please those who're tired of power linesmarring the scenery, there areeven safety and durability benefits, as below-ground powergrids are less exposed to the elements, making them resilient against wind and snow thatcandamage above-ground equipment.

然而有些人認(rèn)為如果不考慮成本，埋在地底下其實(shí)更好。自80年代中期以來(lái)，日本政府采取措施用地下線(xiàn)路替代地表的電線(xiàn)桿。這樣做不僅滿(mǎn)足了某些人的審美需求(美麗的風(fēng)景不再被這些電線(xiàn)所破壞)，還有安全和耐用上的優(yōu)勢(shì)，因?yàn)榈氐拙€(xiàn)纜更少的暴露在惡劣天氣中，所以風(fēng)雪不會(huì)對(duì)其造成影響。

 

 

A further safety benefit has been observed during earthquakes, according to the NPONon-PoleCommunity. The organization says that during the Hanshin Earthquakethat struck Kobe in1995, neighborhoods with above-ground power lines were muchmore extensively damaged.Non-Pole Community's Secretary Toshikazu Inoue alsoreferred to toppled poles blocking roadsand preventing emergency vehicles fromswiftly reaching victims in the disaster's aftermath.

根據(jù)非營(yíng)利性組織“不要電線(xiàn)桿社區(qū)”的看法，另外一個(gè)安全方面的好處是在發(fā)生地震時(shí)顯露出來(lái)的。該組織稱(chēng)在1995年襲擊神戶(hù)的阪神大地震中，那些擁有地表電線(xiàn)的社區(qū)被破壞的程度更甚。這些倒地的電線(xiàn)桿阻礙了道路，并阻止了緊急車(chē)輛在地震后對(duì)災(zāi)民進(jìn)行救援。

 

 

Still,the majority of Japan's power grid remains above ground. One argument againstsubterranean systems has been put forward by the Tokyo Electric Power Company,or TEPCO.While the company itself has publicized the superior aesthetics anddurability against windand snow mentioned above, it also acknowledges certainadvantages to the more commonabove-ground system. “In the events of floodingor landslides, it's harder to isolate damagedareas of a subterranean system,”the company points out. “That can increase the amount oftime necessary torestore power to damaged areas.”

然而，如今日本大部分的電網(wǎng)還是位于地面上空。日本東京電力公司也反對(duì)在地底建電網(wǎng)。該公司也承認(rèn)說(shuō)地底線(xiàn)纜不會(huì)對(duì)風(fēng)景造成破會(huì)，也有利于抵御風(fēng)雪，但是又稱(chēng)更加普遍的地上電網(wǎng)所具有的某些優(yōu)勢(shì)。“在發(fā)生洪水或者泥石流時(shí)，很難區(qū)分地底電纜系統(tǒng)的哪些部分遭到破壞，”該公司稱(chēng)。“這增加了搶救電力所需要的時(shí)間。”

 

 

TEPCO also mentions other, simpler roles performed by power poles, such as providing housingfor street lights and posting space for maps or address markers, whichcan be extremelyhelpful in navigating towns in Japan, where only a minusculefraction of streets have names.

該公司還指出了電線(xiàn)桿所扮演的其他簡(jiǎn)單的角色，比如可以用來(lái)布置街燈，為地圖和地址標(biāo)記提供定位空間，這對(duì)于日本的村鎮(zhèn)導(dǎo)航來(lái)說(shuō)非常有幫助，因?yàn)樵谶@些小地方只有一小部分街道有名字。