改變火力發(fā)電廠的基礎(chǔ)技術(shù)

The invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas A. Edison in 1879 created a demand fora cheap, readily available fuel with which to generate large amounts of electric power. Coal seemed to fit the bill, and it fueled the earliest powerstations(which were set up at the end of the nineteenth century by Edison himself). As more power plants were constructed throughout the country, the reliance on coal increased throughout the country, the reliance on coal increased. Sincethe First World War, coalfired power plants had a combined in the United States each year. In 1986 such plants had a combined generating capacity of 289,000 megawatts and consumed 83 percent of the nearly 900 million tons of coal mined in the country that year. Given the uncertainty in the future growth of the nearly 900 million tons of coal mined in the country that year. Given the uncertainty in the future growth of nuclear power and in the supply of oil and natural gas, coalfired power plants could well provide up to 70 percent of the electric power in the United States by the end of the century.
火力發(fā)電廠托馬斯。愛(ài)迪生1879年發(fā)明的白熾燈導(dǎo)致對(duì)便宜、易得、可生產(chǎn)大量電能的燃料的需求。煤似乎符合這個(gè)要求，并成為第一批電廠的燃料(正是愛(ài)迪生本人在19世紀(jì)末建造了第一批電廠)。全國(guó)到處興建電廠時(shí)，對(duì)煤的依賴加深了。自第一次世界大戰(zhàn)以來(lái)，美國(guó)每年約有一半的電力是以煤為燃料的電廠提供的。1986年這些電廠的總發(fā)電能力達(dá)到28，900千瓦并且消耗了當(dāng)年全國(guó)開(kāi)采的九億噸煤的83%。考慮到核能發(fā)展以及石油、天然氣供應(yīng)中的不確定因素，到本世紀(jì)末，火力發(fā)電廠仍可能為美國(guó)提供多達(dá)70%的電力。
Yet, in spite of the fact that coal has long been a source of electricity and may remain on for many years(coal represents about 80 percent of United States fossilfuel reserves), it has actually never been the most desirable fossil fuel for power plants. Coal contains less energy per unit of weight than weight than natural gas or oil; it is difficult to transport, and it is associated with a host of environmental issues, among them acid rain. Since the late 1960’s problems of emission control and waste disposal have sharply reduced the appeal of coalfired power plants. The cost of ameliorating these environment problems along with the rising cost of building a facility as large and complex as a coalfired power plant, have also made such plants less attractive from a purelyeconomic perspective.
然而，盡管煤長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)一直是電力的原料之一并且可能會(huì)繼續(xù)如此(煤占美國(guó)化石燃料儲(chǔ)量的80%)，它卻不是電廠的理想燃料。煤的單位能量含量低于石油和天然氣，而且會(huì)導(dǎo)致包括酸雨在內(nèi)的一系列環(huán)境問(wèn)題。從1960年以來(lái)，排放控制和垃圾處理的問(wèn)題極大地削弱了燃煤電廠的魅力。由于減輕這些環(huán)境問(wèn)題需要大量資金，而且建造龐大復(fù)雜的燃煤電廠的費(fèi)用不斷上漲，也使得這些電廠從經(jīng)濟(jì)角度上不具備吸引力。
Changes in the technological base of coalfired power plants could restore their attractiveness, however. Whereas some of these changes are intended mainly to increase the productivity of existing plants, completely new technologies for burning coal cleanly are also being developed.
改變火力發(fā)電廠的基礎(chǔ)技術(shù)卻可能恢復(fù)它們的吸引力。雖然某些技術(shù)改進(jìn)是漸進(jìn)的，其目的只是提高現(xiàn)有電廠的生產(chǎn)率，但人們正在開(kāi)發(fā)全新的清潔燃煤的技術(shù)。