英国水公司尝到“便便的威力”-英语点津

Britain's biggest water company lifted the lid on how it slashed costs by burning customers' faeces to make electricity.

英国最大的水公司日前揭露了其大幅降低成本的发电方法──焚烧顾客的粪便。

Thames Water said "poo power" saved them ￡15 million last year by generating renewable energy from the foulest of sources.

泰晤士水公司表示，他们将这一“万臭之源”转化为了再生能源。“便便发电”去年替他们省下了1500万英镑。

The company, which handles the waste of 13.6 million people in London and the River Thames valley, said it had met 14 percent of its energy needs by either burning sewage or methane derived from it in 2008-2009.

负责处理伦敦和泰晤士河谷地区1360万居民排泄物的该公司表示，2008年至2009年间，他们靠着焚烧水肥或从粪便中提炼出甲烷的方式，满了该地区14%的电力需求。

Energy is generated through either "thermal destruction," where dried blocks of "poo cake" are burned, or "anaerobic digestion," where the methane from sewage sludge is burned.

其发电方式有两种，一是透过焚烧干粪砖的“热解”技术，一是利用焚烧水肥所产生之甲烷的“厌氧消化”方式。

"There's no polite way of saying this but what we produce — our poo — isn't simply waste, it's a great source of energy," said Keith Colquhoun, Thames Water's climate change strategy manager.

泰晤士水公司气候变迁策略经理基斯·柯恩宽说：“谈这个可能不太礼貌，不过我们所生产的（粪便）不仅仅是废物，也是种绝佳的能源。”

"That's good news because we treat 2.8 billion liters of sewage every day at our 349 sewage works. The solids in sewage have a high calorific content that we use to generate electricity.”

“这是个好消息，因为我们349个污水处理厂每天要处理28亿公升的水肥。污水中的固体蕴藏高热能，可以用来发电。”

Colquhoun said everyone had to muck in and urged delegates at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen to produce more than just hot air.

柯恩宽说，每个人都应该尽一己之力，敦促联合国哥本哈根气候大会的代表不要只说空话，要拿出点成绩来。

"It' about all of us taking action — and in our case, that includes poo power," he said.

他说：“我们大家都应该采取行动─以我们公司而言，就包括了便便发电。”