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

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.
科学家们称，德克萨斯州的油气田每年被浪费的能源足够为10万家庭提供电力。商人Loy Sneary说，他正使用这些废弃物创建了一个被称为墨西哥湾沿岸绿色能源的盈利公司。

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.
Sneary先生说，当今世界上产生的60%的能源被作为废热损失掉。他希望从德克萨斯州数以千计的口油气井捕获一些热量，并将其转化为电能。

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.”
LOY SNEARY：“我们可以比世界上所有燃煤电厂、天然气电厂和核电厂发出更多的电，这就是潜力。”

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.
地球地下深处是热的。如果你用凿岩机向坚硬的岩石或页岩钻，钻头会变热。Sneary先生使用他的“绿色机器”技术,以帮助捕获热量遇冷时产生的能量。该机器通过一根紧挨一根的管道将热井水注入被称为制冷剂的冷却材料中。这些制冷剂沸腾产生的蒸汽被用于发电。

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.”
LOY SNEARY：“而我们可以利用这些较低温度的热水资源来转移热量，一旦制冷剂膨胀增压，它就会像一台蒸汽涡轮机。”

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.
它不只是油气井可以提供废热供绿色能源机器使用来发电。热回收技术可以应用于太阳能集热器、燃煤电厂以及内燃机等，几乎所有工业工程中产生的余热。

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，Sneary先生将他的设备与德克萨斯州达拉斯市南卫理公会大学的锅炉相连接。他使用该系统的余热发电，帮助降低该大学的水电费。

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.
Maria Richards是南卫理公会大学地热实验室协调员。她说，该实验室的气温地图帮助Sneary先生找出了石油钻井作业附近热的地区。Sneary先生可以在这些地域部署他的机器。这所大学和墨西哥湾沿岸绿色能源公司已经合作好几年。

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.”
MARIA RICHARDS：“墨西哥湾沿岸地区有这么多的热量，这使得我们认识到，通过与油气井合作能够挖掘这些资源。”

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.”
LOY SNEARY：“南卫理公会大学地热实验室已完成的研究使得我们瞄准了油气井能够利用的热量的这一领域。”

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.
Loy Sneary正与德克萨斯州的钻井方谈判，并致力于西弗吉尼亚州的一个项目。他也同时放眼其他州。