時差N小時:啤酒能源

There's nothing like a cold beer on a hot, sunny day.And in our energy conscious world, that brew iseven better if it were made using fuel recycled frombrewery waste. That's exactly what a team ofGerman scientists is up to.

再沒有什么比在炎熱，陽光高照的一天喝杯涼爽的啤酒更過癮了。在有節(jié)能意識的世界里，如果利用回收的啤酒廠廢棄物加工成燃料來釀酒會更好。那正是一組來自德國的科學(xué)家們正在做的事情。

The brewing process results in piles of used grain.Beer makers have to get rid of the waste somehow—either by selling it to farmers as feed or fertilizer, or in some cases paying a wastemanagement company to do the job.

釀酒過程中會產(chǎn)生成堆的廢棄糧食。啤酒生產(chǎn)商們不得不處理這些廢物——要么當(dāng)做飼料或化肥賣給農(nóng)民，要么承包給廢物管理站處理。

And that can get expensive. So the German scientists thought of a third option—recycling thespent grain and wastewater as fuel. Using bacteria to break down the material, the scientistsproduced methane gas and an organic sludge. Gas and sludge are then burned to boil waterand make steam, which spins a turbine to create electricity—electricity used to brew more beer.

不過請人是昂貴的。因此德國科學(xué)家們想到了第三種選擇——回收廢棄谷物和廢水加工成燃料。科學(xué)家們利用細(xì)菌分解廢物，產(chǎn)生沼氣和有機污泥。再用沼氣和有機污泥污泥燒水，水變成蒸汽進(jìn)而推動渦輪機轉(zhuǎn)動發(fā)電，用產(chǎn)生的電來釀更多的酒。

So would this recycling process work on a large industrial scale? The Sierra Nevada BrewingCompany in Chico, California thinks so. They've been converting waste into energy on acommercial scale with great success. And if one brewer saves money by being more energyefficient, others may follow. Which means that, soon, the ice cold brew you enjoy after workwouldn't just taste great—it could also be helping reduce our collective carbon footprint.

那么，這種回收過程能大規(guī)模地利用在工業(yè)上嗎?加利福尼亞州奇科市的內(nèi)華達(dá)山釀酒公司贊同這一說法。他們在將廢物轉(zhuǎn)化為能量的商業(yè)模式上取得了巨大的成功。如果一家公司能通過節(jié)能而節(jié)省資金，那么其它公司會紛紛效仿。這就意味著你下班后享用的冰爽啤酒不僅味道好，而且還有助于減少碳的排放。