经济学人下载:爱尔兰能源 泥炭向风能过渡(1)

Europe
欧洲

Energy in Ireland: Bog down, wind up
爱尔兰能源：停顿，关闭

Ireland is ditching peat for energy from wind.
爱尔兰正从泥炭能源转向风能。

Peat has a lot to recommend it.
这个岛国的目标是成为电力净出口国泥炭有很多可取的地方。

It imparts a delicious flavour to whiskey.
它散发着给威士忌般可口的味道。

It emits an agreeable aroma when burned.
燃烧时发出宜人的香气。

It is a cheap source of energy; at its simplest it involves no more than digging by hand.
它是一种廉价的能源，从最简单的角度来说，它用手工挖掘足以。

Ireland, which has bogs full of the stuff, uses it for 6% of its energy.
爱尔兰的沼泽里富含泥炭原材料，泥炭能源的使用占其总能源的6%。

But peat is also one of the dirtiest fuels available, emitting 23% more carbon dioxide than coal.
但泥炭也是最脏的燃料，它比炭多排放23%的二氧化碳。

Ireland is unusual among developed countries in burning it for energy on an industrial scale.
在发达国家中，爱尔兰燃烧泥炭来获取工业能源的做法也是与众不同的。

A geological precursor to coal, it has been used on the island for at least 1,000 years.
煤炭，作为一种地质前体，它在爱尔兰岛上已经使用了至少1000年。

But it may at last be on its way out as Ireland turns to another energy source of which it has unlimited quantities: wind.
但是，随着爱尔兰转向使用另一种取之不尽的能源：风能，它可能最终会被淘汰。

Galway Wind Park, in the remote, soggy hills of Connemara facing the Atlantic Ocean, will be Ireland's largest wind farm when it is completed this summer, generating 169MW of power at peak capacity, or about 3% of Ireland's average needs.
在遥远的康内马拉面朝大西洋潮湿山脉的Galway Wind公园，将于今夏建成爱尔兰最大的风电场，发电最大容量为169MW，这大约是爱尔兰用电需要平均的3%。

Some turbines are already generating electricity.
一些涡轮机组已经开始发电。

It is only the latest development in Irish wind power, which has tripled in the last decade to more than 3GW of capacity.
这仅是爱尔兰风力发电的最新进展，是过去十年的3倍，发电容量超过3GW。