企业开发无人机以减少温室气体排放

Company Develops Drone to Help Reduce Greenhouse Emissions 企业开发无人机以减少温室气体排放

All pipelines¹, including those carrying natural gas, are prone² to leaks, causing revenue losses and contributing to global warming. At present, most gas leaks are found by surveyors carrying hand-held devices. But a U.S. company says its flying drone will make the task much easier.

More than a million miles of pipelines carry natural gas from hundreds of thousands of wells to millions of consumers in the U.S. Its main component³, methane⁴, is also a greenhouse gas, much more potent⁵ than carbon dioxide.

The U.S. Department of Energy has a program aimed at reducing methane leaks as much as possible, especially at gas storage facilities and wellheads.

Hand-held devices, however, have limited capabilities⁶.

“The tool that's used in the industry routinely is just used for leak surveying, to locate the leaks,” according to Michael Frish, of Physical Sciences Inc.

Affordable⁷ device

Combining infrared⁸ laser technology with a drone, Physical Sciences Inc. is developing an affordable device that can monitor a much larger area.

“The drone sits on this platform and serves as a continuous monitor," said Frish. "When it detects a leak from whatever it's monitoring, the drone takes off autonomously⁹, surveys around, measures how much is leaking and locates where the leak is coming from.”

Still in the experimental phase, the drone only covers an area 10 x 10 meters square, but researchers are experimenting with many different configurations¹⁰ to someday extend its reach.

“For wellheads, we're envisioning a platform, perhaps one at every wellhead, and there could be many thousands of those. For other applications, we may have transportable platforms so that we allow the vehicle to go from one spot to another,” said Frish.

The operational price is set at about $3,000 a year, so the company says installation and maintenance costs will stay within those guidelines.

1 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

2 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

3 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

4 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

5 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

6 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

8 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

9 autonomously   

adv. 自律地，自治地

参考例句：

• To learn autonomously in the network environment is totally new to students. 基于网络环境下的自主学习对学生来说，是一种全新的学习方式。
• The QC-RS can operate autonomously or by remote control. QC-RS能实现自动操作或通过遥控来操作。

10 configurations   

n.[化学]结构( configuration的名词复数 )；构造；（计算机的）配置；构形（原子在分子中的相对空间位置）

参考例句：

• Such configurations, obtained theoretically by calculation, are called models of a star. 通过理论计算得到的恒星结构称为恒星模型。 来自辞典例句
• The other two configurations have overriding advantages for special applications. 其它两种接法对特殊应用具有突出的优点。 来自辞典例句