This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, from
http://voaspecialenglish.com | http://facebook.com/voalearningenglish
Seth DeBolt is a
plant scientist at the University of Kentucky in the United States. He and other
scientists wanted to find a source of fuel that poor people in rural areas of
developing countries could use to make electricity. The United Nations
Development Program says a billion and a half people have no electricity. A
billion others have an undependable supply. Professor DeBolt went on a study
trip to rural Indonesia. He saw that, everywhere he went, there was very little
waste in the use of agricultural products. Everything that farmers grew was used
for something. Even the remains of fruit that people did not eat were fed to
chickens. Little waste meant there was little that could be used for fuel.
Growing a separate fuel crop would take land away from food crops. That was
something Professor DeBolt did not want to do. He says the people at most risk
of energy poverty are often the same people who have food insecurity issues as
well. Any change in food availability would hurt that group the most. But he
found two items that were in plentiful supply and would not create competition
between food and fuel. Coconut shells and mango pits are generally thrown out.
Yet Professor DeBolt says they have a lot of energy stored in them. He says they
have an "excellent" heating value which he compares to coal of low to moderate
grade. The same is true for the pit of an olive, peach or cherry, or the shell
of an almond or walnut. All someone needs is a way to release that energy. Seth
DeBolt says a company in India, Husk Power Systems, is using small generators in
villages to make electricity from rice hulls. The process used is called
gasification. Heating plant matter in a low-oxygen chamber releases gases. These
can be burned in an engine that turns a power-generating turbine. Professor
DeBolt says he and his team see possibilities for coconut and mango power. They
published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It
says these small-scale production systems could provide as much as thirteen
percent of the energy needs of a country like Indonesia. Other tropical
countries with large crops of coconuts, mangoes and similar fruit could benefit,
as well. But Professor DeBolt says this is not a perfect solution. There are
technical questions, like how to safely deal with the hazardous waste that
gasification can produce. And there needs to be money to get these projects
started. For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal.
(Adapted from a
radio program broadcast 13Mar2012)
원문출처 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d6NqXlI7ac&feature=youtube_gdata
English
한국어
