VOA慢速英語:Turning Industrial Waste-Heat Into Electricity

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語科技報道。

Scientists say enough energy is being wasted in the oil and gas fields of Texas every year to provide electricity to one hundred thousand homes. Businessman Loy Sneary says he is using that waste to create a profitable company called Gulf Coast Green Energy.

科學家稱德克薩斯州的油氣田每年有足夠為10萬家庭提供電力的熱量被浪費。實業(yè)家洛伊·斯尼里(Loy Sneary)表示，他利用這些廢棄物創(chuàng)建了一個名為墨西哥灣沿岸綠色能源(Gulf Coast Green Energy)的盈利公司。

Mr. Sneary says sixty percent of all energy produced in the world today is being lost as wasted heat. He wants to capture some of that heat from -- among other places -- the thousands of oil and gas wells in Texas, and turn it into electricity.

斯尼里先生說，今天全球生產的60%的能源被作為廢熱損失掉。他希望從德克薩斯州數千口油氣井捕獲一些熱量，并將其轉化為電能。

LOY SNEARY: "We've got more electricity that could be generated than all of the coal-fired power plants, natural gas fired power plants and nuclear power plants in the world. That's what the potential is."

斯尼里：“我們可以比全球所有燃煤電廠、天然氣電廠和核電廠發(fā)出更多的電，這就是潛力所在。”

Deep underground, the earth is hot. If you drive a drill down into hard rock or shale, the drill bit gets hot. Mr. Sneary uses his "Green Machine" technology to help capture the energy that is produced when heat meets cold. The machine moves the hot well-water through one pipe next to another filled with a cooling material called refrigerant. This refrigerant boils, and steam is produced. This steam is used to make electricity.

地球地下深處是熱的。如果你用鑿巖機向堅硬的巖石或頁巖鉆下，鉆頭會變熱。斯尼里先生使用他的“綠色機器”技術幫助捕獲熱量遇冷時產生的能量。該機器使用一根緊挨一根的管道將熱井水注入被稱為冷卻劑的冷卻材料中。這些冷卻劑沸騰產生的蒸汽被用于發(fā)電。

LOY SNEARY: "And so we can take these lower temperatures, hot water sources, transfer the heat, and then once that refrigerant is expanded and pressurized, from there on it's just like a steam turbine."

斯尼里：“所以我們可以利用這些溫度不高的熱水資源來轉移熱量，一旦冷卻劑膨脹增壓，它就會像一臺蒸汽渦輪機。”

It is not just oil and gas wells that can provide waste heat for the Green Energy machines to use to make electricity. The heat-recycling technology can work with solar energy collectors, coal-fired power plants and internal combustion engines -- almost any industrial process that produces waste heat.

不僅是油氣井可以提供廢熱供綠色能源機器使用來發(fā)電。熱回收技術可以應用于太陽能集熱器、燃煤電廠以及內燃機等幾乎所有工業(yè)工程中產生的廢熱。

Last year, Mr. Sneary connected his device to the boilers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He used that system's waste heat to create electricity, helping to reduce the university's utility bills.

去年，斯尼里先生將他的設備與德克薩斯州達拉斯市南衛(wèi)理公會大學的鍋爐連接起來。他使用這一鍋爐系統的廢熱發(fā)電，幫助降低該大學的水電費。

Maria Richards is SMU's Geothermal Laboratory Coordinator. She says the lab's temperature maps help Mr. Sneary find hot areas near petroleum drilling operations. Those areas are where Mr. Sneary can deploy his machines. The school and Gulf Coast Green Energy have worked together for several years.

瑪麗亞·理查茲(Maria Richards)是南衛(wèi)理公會大學地熱實驗室協調員。她稱該實驗室的氣溫地圖幫助斯尼里先生找出了石油鉆井作業(yè)附近熱的地區(qū)。斯尼里先生可以在這些地區(qū)部署他的機器。這所大學和墨西哥灣沿岸綠色能源公司已經合作多年。

MARIA RICHARDS: "There is so much heat in the Gulf Coast, and that made us realize that by working with the oil and gas wells, it was an ability to tap into those resources."

理查茲：“墨西哥灣沿岸地區(qū)熱量如此豐富，這使得我們認識到，通過與油氣井合作能夠挖掘這些資源。”

LOY SNEARY: "The research that the SMU Geothermal Lab has done has allowed us to target the areas where there is adequate heat in these oil and gas wells to be able to be utilized."

斯尼里：“南衛(wèi)理公會大學地熱實驗室已完成的研究使得我們瞄準了油氣井能夠利用的熱量的這一領域。”

Loy Sneary is now negotiating with drillers in Texas and is working on a project in West Virginia. He also is looking at other states.

斯尼里正與德克薩斯州的鉆井方談判，并致力于西弗吉尼亞州的一個項目。他還在考慮其它州。