美国有线新闻 CNN 美国食物垃圾占供应量40% 新技术将垃圾变为电力

 

AZUZ: According to the United Nations, food waste is defined as food that's initial safe for people to eat, but it doesn't get eaten because it's left to spoil or it's thrown out. The U.S. government estimates that food waste in America could be as high as 40 percent of the food supply.

But there is a process that ensures that food left to waste doesn't stay that way.

REPORTER: Americans send more than 30 million tons of food to the landfill every year. But as the saying goes, "One person's trash is another's treasure" — really smell treasure.

BOB YOST, A1 ORGANICS, VICE¹ PRESIDENT: We're not dealing² with the Bed, Bath and Beyond. These are the smells of nature.

REPORTER: Welcome to Heartland Biogas, a facility in rural Colorado that takes food waste from all over the state and turns it into electricity.

YOST: The waste comes from grocery stores, from cafeterias, from restaurants, packing houses, meat preparation, dog food or pet food manufacturing facilities, food processors, just about any place that has a food-based waste.

REPORTER: The process Heartland uses is called anaerobic³ digestion⁴, and as the name implies, it works just like our human digestive systems, by breaking down food into energy, in this case, electricity.

The food waste that comes into the facility is separated from any packaging, chewed up into a more digestible state, and mixed with bacteria, in one of Heartland's 1.7 million gallon holding tanks. And while in human digestion, gas is far from being the goal. Gas is exactly what Heartland is after.

Remember the smell from before? It's methane⁵ and it's a great source of renewable energy.

YOST: We create three things: gas, liquid soil amendment⁶, and solid soil amendment of peat moss⁷ like material.

The digester is just like your stomach's bacteria. The bacteria eat the organics and then they create gas. Not unlike what we do.

REPORTER: Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. So, when food rots in a landfill and sends gas into the atmosphere, it's bad news for the environment. In fact, if global food waste were a country, it would be the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The methane made in Heartland's digesters is pumped into an interstate pipeline⁸ where it can be accessed as a source of clean renewable power, all while cutting on harmful emissions⁹.

YOST: The vast majority of the materials that we processed were originally landfill or disposed of. We can process up to 1,200 tons a day. That's really good size landfill. If you're doing 240,000 tons a year into a landfill, that's a lot of waste. This is a very efficient and impactful way to be capturing that resource.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 anaerobic   

adj.厌氧的

参考例句：

• Anaerobic respiration occurs only in particularly active tissues such as muscles during severe exercise. 厌氧呼吸只有在处于剧烈运动状态的肌肉等特别活跃的组织中才会发生。
• Infection,especially anaerobic infection, is much more apt to occur.感染，特别是厌氧感染很容易发生。

4 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

5 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。

6 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

7 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

8 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

9 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。