VOA慢速英语2012 Agriculture Report - Making Power From Coconut Shells, Mango Pits

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

Seth DeBolt is a plant scientist at the University of Kentucky in the United States. He and other scientists wanted to find a source of fuel that poor people in rural areas of developing countries could use to make electricity.

赛斯·德博特（Seth DeBolt）是美国肯塔基大学一名植物学家。他和其他科学家希望找到一种燃料来源，这样发展中国家农村地区的贫困人口可以使用它来发电。

The United Nations Development Program says a billion and a half people have no electricity. A billion others have an undependable supply.

联合国发计划署表示，全球有15亿人没有电力。还有10亿人供电无法保证。

Professor DeBolt went on a study trip to rural Indonesia. He saw that, everywhere he went, there was very little waste in the use of agricultural products. Everything that farmers grew was used for something. Even the remains² of fruit that people did not eat were fed to chickens.

德博特教授到印尼农村地区进行了一次考察。他看到，在他所到之处，农产品使用很少有废弃物。农民种植的所有东西都有用途，甚至水果残渣也都用来喂鸡。

Little waste meant there was little that could be used for fuel. Growing a separate fuel crop would take land away from food crops. That was something Professor DeBolt did not want to do.

废弃物极少意味着可以被用作燃料的东西很少。种植一种单独的燃料作物将占用种植粮食的土地，这是德博特教授不愿意做的事情。

SETH DeBOLT: "The people at most risk with respect to energy poverty, typically they're the same people who have food insecurity issues as it is. And then any change in availability would be most detrimental³ to that group of people."

德博特：“在能源匮乏方面处于最大风险的人们通常也存在粮食安全问题。任何供应上的变动对这群人来说都是最不利的。”

But he found two items that were in plentiful⁴ supply and would not create competition between food and fuel. Coconut shells and mango pits are generally thrown out. Yet Professor DeBolt says they have a lot of energy stored in them. He says they have an "excellent" heating value which he compares to coal of low to moderate grade.

但他找到了两种供应充足而且不会在粮食和燃料之间形成竞争的东西。椰子壳和芒果核一般都扔掉了，但德博特教授说，它们储存了很多能量。他表示，与中低档煤炭相比，这两种东西的热值更佳。

The same is true for the pit of an olive, peach or cherry, or the shell of an almond or walnut⁵. All someone needs is a way to release that energy.

这对橄榄核、桃核、樱桃核，或杏仁壳、核桃壳来说也是如此。人们需要的只是一种释放这些能量的办法。

Seth DeBolt says a company in India, Husk Power Systems, is using small generators⁶ in villages to make electricity from rice hulls⁷. The process used is called gasification. Heating plant matter in a low-oxygen chamber⁸ releases gases. These can be burned in an engine that turns a power-generating turbine.

德博特说，印度一家名为Husk Power Systems（谷壳电力系统）的公司在村庄中使用小型发电机利用稻壳发电，所用到的工艺被称为气化。在低氧舱中加热植物会释放气体，这些气体可以在推动发电涡轮的发动机中燃烧。

Professor DeBolt says he and his team see possibilities for coconut and mango power.

德博特教授表示，他和他的团队成员看到了椰子和芒果能源的可能性。

SETH DeBOLT: "Hey, well these crops are growing here and these are the areas where there is potential for energy poverty to be alleviated⁹ at least in part by these small-scale production systems."

德博特：“这些作物在这里生长，这些地区存在这样一种可能性，即通过这些小规模的发电系统至少能部分缓解能源匮乏。”

The researchers have just published a study in the Proceedings¹⁰ of the National Academy of Sciences. They say these systems could provide as much as thirteen percent of the energy needs of a country like Indonesia. Other tropical countries with large crops of coconuts¹¹, mangoes and similar fruit could benefit, as well.

研究人员刚刚在《美国国家科学院院报》上发表了这项研究。他们表示，该系统最多可以提供像印尼这样一个国家的13%的能源需求。其它富有大量椰子、芒果和类似水果的热带国家也可以从中受益。

But Professor DeBolt says this is not a perfect solution. There are technical questions, like how to safely deal with the hazardous¹² waste that gasification can produce. And there needs to be money to get these projects started.

但德博特教授说，这并非一个完美的解决方案，还存在一些技术问题，像如何安全地处理气化产生的危险废料。同时还需要资金启动这些项目。

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. I'm Jim Tedder¹³.

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Contributing: Steve Baragona

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