VOA标准英语2014--Eagerly-awaited Technology Turns Garbage into Fuel

 

Eagerly-awaited Technology Turns Garbage into Fuel

When a garbage truck dumps its smelly cargo¹ onto the tipping floor at the Fiberight company’s pilot plant in southern Virginia, manager Randy Garrett sees fuel in the making.

“This is the truly remarkable² part,” he said. “This was slated³ for the landfill. This was going to be buried.”

Fiberight is one of several companies that plans to turn garbage ? and in other cases, corn stalks and wheat straw ? into biofuel ethanol that can power vehicles, in a development that lends credence⁴ to the old adage⁵, "one person's trash is another's treasure."

 It's one of the most eagerly awaited technologies in alternative fuel and is expected to break into the mainstream⁶ this year.

The biofuel is known as cellulosic ethanol, and if successful, supporters say it could provide an abundant source of energy while quieting critics who say the growth of the biofuel business has put a strain on food prices and the environment.

Ethanol makes up about 10 percent of the U.S. fuel supply and is expected to grow under a 2007 law.

Nearly all of it, however, has been made from corn. Critics say the demand for corn ethanol has created competition between food and fuel that is raising food prices. Environmentalists say farmers are plowing⁷ more land to grow corn and using more fertilizers and pesticides⁸, generating more pollution.

Fuel from trash

Back at the Fiberight company's pilot plant, after recyclables, used clothes, and the occasional dead animal are filtered out, about half of the garbage will be turned into energy.

A giant pressure cooker turns the rotten vegetables, paper, cardboard, and any other plant-based matter into a steaming mass of grey pulp⁹, unimpressive to an outsider.  But Garrett sees it differently.

“This is the good stuff,” Garrett said. “This is what we’re after for our energy conversion¹⁰.”

That grey pulp is mostly composed of cellulose, a natural polymer that, under the right conditions and with the right enzymes¹¹, can be broken down into sugar.

It’s then a simple job to turn that sugar into ethanol.

Other companies are exploring ways to use cellulose from crops grown specifically for energy like switchgrass or miscanthus, which would produce far fewer greenhouse gases than petroleum¹² fuels do.

Unanticipated challenge

When President George W. Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007, it was anticipated that cellulosic ethanol was right around the corner.

For example, for 2013, the bill mandated¹³ that gasoline makers¹⁴ use 62.6 billion liters of renewable fuels, of which 3.8 billion liters were to be cellulosic ethanol.

That turned out to be easier said than done.

University of Illinois agricultural economist¹⁵ Madhu Khanna says scientists know how to make cellulosic ethanol in the lab but, “The main problem is doing that in a continuous way, cost effectively on a large scale.”

Regulators had to lower the requirement to 22.7 million liters.

Market limits

This year could be a turning point as several bio-refineries come online, but there is a limit as to how much the industry can grow.

“Even if we can begin to produce this cost effectively, we need to be able to consume it as well,” Khanna said.

Only a few models of cars can handle high ethanol fuel.

She said that consumers have little incentive¹⁶ to buy them, or to buy the fuel, which can be more expensive than gasoline.

That means without a change in the market, there is only so much gas from garbage that will sell.

1 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

4 credence   

n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证

参考例句：

• Don't give credence to all the gossip you hear.不要相信你听到的闲话。
• Police attach credence to the report of an unnamed bystander.警方认为一位不知姓名的目击者的报告很有用。

5 adage   

n.格言，古训

参考例句：

• But the old adage that men grow into office has not proved true in my experience.但是，根据我的经验，人们所谓的工作岗位造就人材这句古话并不正确。
• Her experience lends credence to the adage " We live and learn!"她的经验印证了一句格言: 活到老，学到老！

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 plowing   

v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀，宝贝儿。 来自飘（部分）
• Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后，他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句

8 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pulp   

n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆

参考例句：

• The pulp of this watermelon is too spongy.这西瓜瓤儿太肉了。
• The company manufactures pulp and paper products.这个公司制造纸浆和纸产品。

10 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

11 enzymes   

n. 酶，酵素

参考例句：

• It was said that washing powders containing enzymes remove stains more efficiently. 据说加酶洗衣粉除污更有效。
• Among the enzymes which are particularly effective are pepsin, papain. 在酶当中特别有效的是胃朊酶、木瓜酶。

12 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

13 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

14 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

16 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。