Americans waste more energy in the food they throw away, than Switzerland or Sweden consume in a year.
Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin say that points to a painless way to save energy: stop wasting food.
美国德克萨斯大学奥斯丁汀分校的研究人员发现了一个不费劲的节能途径，这就是停止浪费食品。
According to a new study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, food waste and the energy required to produce it, represent an unrecognized opportunity to conserve energy and reduce climate changing emissions.
环境和技术杂志新发表的一篇报告说，食品浪费以及生产浪费掉的食品所消耗的能源是人们尚未意识到的节省能源、减少温室效应气体的途径。
Scientists at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy set out to answer three questions about the relationship between food and energy use: how much energy is in food, how much food is wasted and how much energy is in the wasted food.
德州大学国际能源和环境政策中心的科学家们最初是探寻三个有关食品和能源消耗方面的问题。该中心的副主任迈克尔.韦伯说：“我们必须弄清楚食品里面到底包含多少能源，有多少食品被浪费掉，被浪费掉的食品包含多少能源。”
Wasting energy
Michael Webber, the center's associate director and co-author of the study, says between eight and 16 percent of U.S. energy consumption is tied up in food production, transportation, preservation and disposal. "And then we throw away at least a quarter of that food. Some people say even 50 percent."
韦伯是新发表的研究报告的作者之一。他说，研究报告提出一些令人意外的答案。“我们这个国家有百分之八到百分之十六的能源消耗用于食品系统，食品生产、运输、储存和处理。我们拿出美国百分之十的能源用于食品，然后，我们又扔掉这些食品中至少四分之一。有些人说，我们扔掉了百分之五十。”
What Americans spend on food has declined in relative terms for decades. And, because food is so abundant and cheap, Americans are not as concerned about tossing it out.
几十年来，美国人用于食品的消费相对来说下跌了。由于食品如此丰富，如此便宜，美国人也就不太在乎，随便丢弃。
So, Webber and his colleagues calculated how much energy was needed to produce the trashed food. "We found that there's at least two percent of the nation's energy consumption is embedded in food we throw away. And that ends up being a pretty big number because of how much energy we consume overall as a nation."
韦伯和他的同事计算了生产被丢弃的食品所需要的能源。他说：“我们发现，美国能源消耗量当中至少百分之二是用于被扔掉的食品中。这是一个相当大的数字，因为美国的能源消耗量非常大。”
Putting brakes on food waste
Two percent is more energy than Switzerland or Sweden consume in a year and the equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil.
美国能源消耗量的百分之二超过瑞士或瑞典全国一年的能源消耗量，相当于大约三亿五千万桶石油。
Webber's study suggests that putting the brakes on food waste would be good for the planet and the pocketbook. "It might reduce our emissions. It might reduce our environmental impacts. We just have to find a way to do it so that it is affordable as well. It might be we save money because we are wasting less money on food we don't eat."
韦伯的研究显示，停止食品浪费有利于保护环境，也有利于节约金钱。他说：“停止食品浪费可以减少我们的总体能源消耗，减少我们的温室效应气体排放，减少我们对环境的影响。我们必须找到一种低成本的途径停止食品浪费。我们可能由此节省资金，因为我们在我们不吃的食品上浪费的资金减少了。”
Webber says that the study is based on old data badly that needs to be revised. But still he says the numbers are good enough to make a point: food waste is a waste of energy. "I think the next step for us at a research level is to get a better sense of what's going on, get better data, get better scientific analysis. At the same time perhaps we could consider some policy options to reduce the waste."
韦伯说，他们的研究是根据旧的、需要修改的数据进行的。但他仍然认为，他们得出的数字足够正确，可以说明一个问题，这就是浪费食品就是浪费能源。他说：“我认为下一步的研究就是更好地了解目前的情况怎样，得到更好的数据，进行更好的科学分析。同时，我们或许可以考虑一些政策性方案来减少食品浪费。”
According to the study, the most wasted foods were fats and oils, dairy products, grains, eggs, fruits and vegetables.
根据他们的研究，被浪费掉的最多的食品是脂肪和油、奶制品、谷物、鸡蛋、水果以及蔬菜。 |