More and more Americans are setting up small refineries in their homes to make biodiesel, a fuel made from used cooking oil. It is cleaner and cheaper than the fuel sold at gas stations.
“It's better for the engine, way better for the environment (and) it's cheaper,” said Dan Goodman, a man in Maryland who runs his car on biodiesel.
There are two ways to get on the biodiesel bandwagon, Goodman said. Either you change your car's engine and just put in used cooking oil, or you can modify the oil into biodiesel, which works in any diesel car.
PHOTO: AFP
More professional biodiesel refineries are popping up all over the US, but thousands of people now make fuel at home too. They use the oil left after they fry french fries or oil they find by scrounging around restaurants.
“It's easy when you know how to do it,” Goodman said, though he warned that the process “can be hazardous,” because the oil can catch on fire and breathing its fumes is harmful to one's health.
Goodman makes about 1,135 liters of biodiesel a day on a farm in Maryland, where his assistant twice a week brings huge cans of the oil he collects from restaurants in the towns nearby.
The homemade fuel keeps 15 school buses running in the area, Goodman said.
Biodiesel production in the US has tripled since 2004 to 280 million liters last year. This year, it is expected to double to 560 million liters.
In comparison, the US uses 227 billion liters of traditional diesel fuel per year. (AFP)
愈來愈多美國人在自家設立小型精煉廠,把用過的食用油拿來製造生物柴油,這不但比加油站販售的燃料更乾淨也更便宜。
利用生物柴油作為汽車動力的馬里蘭州男子丹?古德曼說:「那不但對引擎比較好,也更環保、更便宜。」
古德曼表示,想趕搭這股生物柴油風潮有兩種方法:一是更換汽車引擎,直接倒入用過的食用油;二是把廢食用油提煉成適用於所有柴油車的生物柴油。
專業的生物柴油精煉廠在全美各地蓬勃發展,但也有數以千計的美國人選擇在家自行製造生物柴油,他們利用炸過薯條或從各餐廳回收來的廢食用油作為原料。
古德曼說:「如果你知道方法就很簡單。」但他也警告說,提煉過程「可能造成危險」,因為廢食用油易燃,吸入它所產生的氣體有害人體健康。
古德曼在馬里蘭州的農場一天可製造一千一百三十五公升左右的生物柴油,他的助理每週兩次把從鄰鎮餐廳回收的大桶廢食用油運過來處理。
古德曼表示,這種自製燃料是當地十五輛校車運轉的動力。
去年美國生物柴油的產量達到兩億八千萬公升,是二00四年的三倍。今年預估將成長一倍,達到五億六千萬公升。
相較之下,美國每年消耗的傳統柴油量為兩千兩百七十億公升。
(法新社/翻譯;林倩如)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of