看陶氏化学如何用炸鸡改变人类

    在4月18日的《财富》（Fortune）“绿色头脑风暴”会议上，陶氏化学公司（Dow Chemical）首席执行官利伟诚做压轴演讲。他向听众介绍了陶氏打算如何开发符合特定条件的产品，其中一个条件便是以正面的方式“影响全人类”。

    利伟诚提到了肯德基。他介绍说，陶氏正致力于其消费产品业务，其中包括一种不含反式脂肪的菜籽油。“这是一款突破性产品，它可以使肯德基变成健康食品。”利伟诚说道。

    利伟诚提到的另一些杰出发明更符合人们熟知的绿色科技定义和对现代制造业奇迹的预期。

    例如，在美国一些州，陶氏正推出比传统的产品更像普通瓦片的光伏太阳能电池板。同时，该公司正在培训工人用这种新的太阳能瓦片铺盖房顶。今年4月，陶氏在加利福尼亚州北部推出了这项技术，现在此技术已经在科罗拉多州和得克萨斯州应用。利伟诚表示，如果房子密封良好，这些面板所收集的太阳能可满足家庭的能源需求，有效地创造一个零排放之家。

    利伟诚还介绍了陶氏化学在轻型汽车方面所做的工作。陶氏正与福特汽车（Ford）合作，开发能使车辆减重约750磅的材料，从而使得更多的燃料能用于驱动车轮，而非拖动车辆本身。

    陶氏这次可谓居功至伟，利伟诚列举的这些杰出发明帮助《财富》“绿色头脑风暴”会议画上了一个令人鼓舞的句号。这次会议的其他几个主题都相当让人头疼，比如气候变化的不可避免，又比如在美国国会通过任何政策都很困难，尤其考虑到在选举年中政治家们往往倾向于谨慎行事。

    利伟诚表示，有鉴于此，大公司里的聪明人正在做些有趣的事情，以促进可持续发展。“陶氏雇用了7,000多名博士，”利伟诚说道，而且这些人显然正在拼命解决问题。“当我参观这些实验室时，我的头都大了——当然，就应该这样。”

    译者：项航

    Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris closed out Fortune's "Brainstorm Green" conference on April 18, telling the audience about how his company plans to make products that hit certain criteria, one of which is "to affect all humanity" in a positive way.

    Then he began to talk about fried chicken.

    Dow (DOW) is working on its consumer product business, according to Liveris, which includes a canola oil that is free of trans-fats. "This is a breakthrough product that could make Kentucky Fried Chicken good for you," Liveris said. And humanity rejoices.

    The other whiz-bang inventions Liveris mentioned lean a little more towards the more expected green-tech, modern-miracle-of-manufacturing type of products.

    For example, in several states, Dow is rolling out photovoltaic solar panels that appear much more like typical shingles than previous versions. The company is also training workers to roof houses with these new solar shingles. This April, Dow rolled out the technology in northern California, and it's already available in Colorado and Texas. When those panels are applied to houses that are sealed correctly, Liveris says, power collected from the sun can fuel the home's energy needs, effectively creating a zero-emission home.

    Liveris also discussed his company's work in lightweight vehicles. Dow is pairing up with Ford (F) to make materials that should shed about 750 pounds from the weight of a car, allowing more fuel to go towards powering the wheels instead of lugging the vehicle's weight.

    Liveris' list of neat inventions helped close Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference on a positive note, no simple feat. The conference has focused on several upsetting themes, such as the inevitability of climate change and the frustration with getting any policy through Congress, especially given the caution politicians tend to exercise during an election year.

    In the face of all that, Liveris says, smart people at big companies are doing interesting things to promote sustainability. "Over 7,000 Ph.Ds are employed at Dow," Liveris says, and they're apparently problem-solving like crazy. "When I visit those labs, my brain hurts -- as it should."