VOA标准英语2013--南非利用排泄物转换成沼气燃料

 

South Africa Uses Biogas to Turn Waste into Power 南非利用排泄物转换成沼气燃料

JOHANNESBURG — Like many countries, South Africa is struggling to meet its energy needs.  But instead of developing new technologies, the nation is trying a different tack¹ - using waste to generate power. 

This is the unlikely source of South Africa’s future energy : a massive sewage pipe which runs through northern Johannesburg.

At a wastewater treatment plant, sewage is turned into energy, in the form of biogas.  Plant engineers say electricity price hikes in South Africa pushed them to look into generating their own power.

This facility produces methane² gas that powers about 15 percent of the plant’s electricity needs.  Engineers hope to add more facilities to get to 50 percent.

Biogas is fuel created by the fermentation of organic material, like animal and human waste.  It’s an age-old technology that has come back into fashion.

Engineer Peter Louw says South Africa has about 300 biogas-producing facilities, from home setups to large factories.  Those facilities largely use the energy for their own needs.

“Biogas is, it’s energy, life energy, and we thought, let’s use it," he said. "Let’s enhance it, clean it and put it back into use so that we can then obviously improve lives, the quality of life.”

South Africa's Department of Energy is looking into ways to use biogas to power areas without reliable electricity, like Johannesburg’s impoverished³ township of Diepsloot.  The department estimates some 3 million South African households have no power. 

Mark Tiepelt, chairman of the South African Biogas Industry Association, has set up a biogas facility at his home.

“What we’ve got here is an in-situ[ation] cast concrete digester,” he said.

Tiepelt's home apparatus⁴ cost about $5,000.  He powers it with horse manure⁵ from a nearby farm.  Unlike the wastewater plant, he does not use his biogas to generate much electricity.

His apparatus generates enough biogas to power a stove, a water heater and a small generator⁶. 

Tiepelt's organization hopes other homeowners will pick up on the trend.

“We’ve probably got a total of maybe 300 digesters in the whole of South Africa.  Now we compare it to a country like India, that’s got 12 million digesters, it just indicates the potential that we have in South Africa,” he said.

It’s a hot idea that could be ready to boil over. 

1 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

2 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。

3 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

5 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

6 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。