從豬糞池獲取清潔能源減少了個人與企業(yè)的碳排放

從豬糞池獲取清潔能源減少了個人與企業(yè)的碳排放

In a secluded corner of rural eastern North Carolina, at the end of a long and winding farm lane, a pit of stinking hog manure is doing its bit to save the world from climate change.

在北卡羅萊納東部農(nóng)村一個偏僻的角落，在一條蜿蜒的農(nóng)場小路的盡頭，一坑臭氣熏天的豬糞正在為拯救世界免受氣候變化做出自己的貢獻。

It may be a whiff of things to come.

這可能是一種預(yù)兆。

"You're standing in the middle of about 12,000 head" of hogs, says Kraig Westerbeek, an executive at Smithfield Foods, the country's biggest pork producer. The animals live in rows of buildings nearby, eating and excreting.

美國最大的豬肉生產(chǎn)商史密斯菲爾德食品公司的高管克瑞格•韋斯特比克表示，“你站在大約1.2萬頭豬的中間”。這些動物生活在附近一排排的建筑物里，吃東西，排泄。

Their manure flows into a big pond, called a lagoon, right in front of us. This is the standard form of treatment for hog waste in this part of the country. In the lagoon, bacteria go to work on the manure, breaking it down.

它們的糞便流進一個大池塘，叫做瀉湖，就在我們面前。這是這個地區(qū)處理生豬糞便的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)方式。在瀉湖里，細菌開始作用于糞便，將其分解。

"The bacterial action releases a biogas that's 60% to 65% methane," Westerbeek says.

韋斯特比克說:“細菌的作用釋放出60%到65%的沼氣。”

On most farms, that gas just goes floating off into the air — and contributes to the overheating of the planet. Methane is a greenhouse gas with a warming impact at least 25 times greater, per pound, than carbon dioxide.

在大多數(shù)農(nóng)場，這些氣體只是漂浮在空氣中，導(dǎo)致地球過熱。甲烷是一種溫室氣體，每磅產(chǎn)生的溫室效應(yīng)至少是二氧化碳的25倍。

At this lagoon, though, the gas is trapped by a blanket of rugged black plastic that covers the manure pond. The gas lifts the plastic layer and makes it bulge like the floor of a child's bouncy castle.

然而，在這個瀉湖，氣體被覆蓋在糞池上的一層堅固的黑色塑料所困住。氣體將塑料層掀起，使其膨脹，就像兒童充氣城堡的地板一樣。

The gas then gets pumped out to processing stations that remove water vapor and carbon dioxide. What's left is almost pure methane, also called natural gas, ready to burn in any gas-fired home furnace or electric power plant.

然后，這些氣體被抽到處理站，去除水蒸氣和二氧化碳。剩下的幾乎是純甲烷，也叫天然氣，可以在任何燃氣家庭爐或發(fā)電廠燃燒。

This basic idea — turning manure into energy — is not new. Many dairy farms are doing similar things, often using biogas on-site to power a generator.

將糞便轉(zhuǎn)化為能量這一基本理念并不新鮮。許多奶牛場也在做類似的事情，經(jīng)常使用沼氣發(fā)電。

But Smithfield and the electric and gas utility Dominion Energy have formed a partnership with much bigger plans. They want to expand this to industrial scale.

但史密斯菲爾德與電力和天然氣公用事業(yè)能源公司建立了合作伙伴關(guān)系，并制定了更大的計劃。他們想要擴大到工業(yè)規(guī)模。

'Audacious goals'

“大膽的”目標(biāo)

They're planning to spend $500 million building the infrastructure to capture methane from hundreds of hog farms, mostly in North Carolina. They'll connect farms with miles of underground pipes, collecting methane and feeding it into existing natural gas pipelines. If no pipelines are close by, the gas may have to be trucked to its destination.

他們計劃投資5億美元建設(shè)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，從數(shù)百個養(yǎng)豬場收集甲烷，這些養(yǎng)豬場主要位于北卡羅來納州。他們將把農(nóng)場和幾英里長的地下管道連接起來，收集甲烷并將其輸送到現(xiàn)有的天然氣管道中。如果附近沒有管道，天然氣可能要用卡車運到目的地。

"We've got audacious goals," says Ryan Childress, director of gas business development for Dominion Energy. "We've got half a billion dollars behind it.

“我們有大膽的目標(biāo)，”多米尼恩能源公司天然氣業(yè)務(wù)開發(fā)主管瑞安•切爾德里斯表示。“我們已經(jīng)投入了5億美元。

We intend to see that through and make a big difference for the environment, for farmers, and for customers who are looking for low-carbon energy."

我們打算堅持到底，為環(huán)境、農(nóng)民和尋求低碳能源的消費者做出重大貢獻。”

This methane, in fact, is even better than "low-carbon." Since capturing it actually prevents greenhouse emissions, it's considered a zero-carbon fuel under the rules of emissions accounting.

事實上，這種甲烷甚至比“低碳”更好。由于收集它實際上可以防止溫室氣體排放，根據(jù)排放核算規(guī)則，它被認(rèn)為是一種零碳燃料。

If you burn this "renewable natural gas," the carbon dioxide that's inevitably released isn't counted as part of your carbon footprint.

如果你燃燒這種“可再生的天然氣”，那么不可避免地釋放的二氧化碳就不會被計入你的碳足跡。

In fact, it's sometimes considered a "negative-carbon" fuel that cancels out other greenhouse emissions.

事實上，它有時被認(rèn)為是一種“負碳”燃料，可以抵消其他溫室氣體的排放。

That's the key to this business: People or companies who are trying to reduce their carbon emissions will pay extra for it — perhaps twice as much as regular natural gas.

這就是這項業(yè)務(wù)的關(guān)鍵所在:試圖減少碳排放的個人或公司將為此付出額外的代價——也許是普通天然氣的兩倍。

"What changed, fundamentally, is the market for renewable natural gas, [and] the market for carbon, have allowed us to develop a business model, an economic model, that works for everybody involved," Westerbeek says.

韋斯特比克說:“從根本上改變的是可再生天然氣市場和碳市場，這使我們能夠發(fā)展一種商業(yè)模式，一種經(jīng)濟模式，適用于所有相關(guān)的人。”