时差N小时: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.

再没有什么比在炎热，阳光高照的一天喝杯凉爽的啤酒更过瘾了。在有节能意识的世界里，如果利用回收的啤酒厂废弃物加工成燃料来酿酒会更好。那正是一组来自德国的科学家们正在做的事情。

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.

酿酒过程中会产生成堆的废弃粮食。啤酒生产商们不得不处理这些废物——要么当做饲料或化肥卖给农民，要么承包给废物管理站处理。

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.

不过请人是昂贵的。因此德国科学家们想到了第三种选择——回收废弃谷物和废水加工成燃料。科学家们利用细菌分解废物，产生沼气和有机污泥。再用沼气和有机污泥污泥烧水，水变成蒸汽进而推动涡轮机转动发电，用产生的电来酿更多的酒。

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，这种回收过程能大规模地利用在工业上吗?加利福尼亚州奇科市的内华达山酿酒公司赞同这一说法。他们在将废物转化为能量的商业模式上取得了巨大的成功。如果一家公司能通过节能而节省资金，那么其它公司会纷纷效仿。这就意味着你下班后享用的冰爽啤酒不仅味道好，而且还有助于减少碳的排放。