PBS高端访谈:饮用水管道是如何同时进行发电的?

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Next: the possibilities of getting more energy through water.

　　Humans have long harnessed the power of water to perform work. In modern time, hydroelectricity, generated by the power of water flowing through turbines at the base of dams, has been a small, but key source of renewable energy.

　　But experts say there is a lot of potential for new sources of hydropower. A startup in Portland, Oregon, has developed one system that may one day be in cities around the country.

　　Hari Sreenivasan has our report. It's the latest story in our ongoing¹ Breakthroughs series on invention and innovation.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Industrial engineer Susan Priddy takes advantage of rare sunny days in Portland to ride her Harley to work. And in her job as director of operations for Lucid² Energy, she takes advantage of the regions's abundant water supply. This small start-up has developed a new technology.

　　SUSAN PRIDDY, Lucid Energy: How's it going today?

　　MAN: Very well.

　　SUSAN PRIDDY: What is our energy coming out today?

　　MAN: Right now, we're running about 40 kilowatts³.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Priddy and Lucid engineers were monitoring the energy generated by drinking water as it flows through turbines integrated into these pipes. Lucid has designed the first hydroelectric system designed to harness the energy in gravity-fed drinking water pipes found throughout Portland and in many municipalities around the country.

　　We dropped in recently for a tour.

　　SUSAN PRIDDY: So, here we are down in the vaults⁴. We have got water flowing this direction. The turbine is right here. And the flow of the water, because it's a lift-based system, just turns the turbine. And then the turbine is connected to the generator⁵. And from the generator, it goes through some power electronics across the street to the grid⁶.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: How much energy is this thing generating?

　　SUSAN PRIDDY: Our nameplate is 200 kilowatts, so roughly enough energy for — to supply electricity for 150 homes.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The system was installed in Portland late last year and recently began operating at full capacity. Unlike some parts of the country, there's no shortage of water here. The city's well-known downtown fountains and most homes and businesses are supplied with gravity fed drinking water from a pristine⁷ forest watershed⁸ near Mount Hood⁹.

　　GREGG SEMLER, Lucid Energy: There's no mystery to what we're trying to do. We're just recovering energy that's embedded¹⁰ in the flow of the water.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Gregg Semler is president and CEO of Lucid Energy. The privately¹¹ funded company currently employees a handful of bike-riding engineers who spend their days thinking of new ways to tap liquid energy flowing through pipes.

　　MAN: Is that actually something that was just floating in space?

　　MAN: This one right here?

　　MAN: Yes.

　　MAN: It's mounted to the wall.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Their office is based in a Portland incubator called Hatch, with other small environmentally and socially focused start-ups.

　　GREGG SEMLER: The advantage of the Lucid pipe system is that we produce electricity all the time, around the clock, without any environmental impact. So, it's very unusual to find sources of energy that you can produce electricity without any environmental impact in today's world.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And how does it compare to the renewable energy sources that most of us are familiar with today, solar and wind?

　　GREGG SEMLER: When you compare the cost of the Lucid pipe power system with other traditional sources of renewables, like wind and solar, to generate the same amount of energy that Lucid is generating would cost three of four times more for the same amount of energy.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The 60-foot pipe and four turbines inside cost nearly $2 million to build and install, far more than a conventional section of water pipe. But a group of private investors¹² are taking the risk, so it costs the city nothing to try.

　　The city's power utility, Portland General Electric, PGE, has agreed to buy the energy at the same price as other renewable energy sources for the next 20 years. The plan is for Lucid Energy, the city's water bureau, and the investors to share profits.

　　WOMAN: This is the first check for us delivering energy and being paid for it. So we are very excited.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Representatives from PGE recently meet with the Lucid team to see how the new system is working.

　　MAN: Those two units over there are meters that really get to the power purchase agreement. And that's where the money is.

　　MAN: Yes. We want to see the cash register go up.

　　MAN: You want it to spin, right?

　　MAN: We want to produce as much energy as possible.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Charlie Allcock is PGE's business development director.

　　CHARLIE ALLCOCK, Portland General Electric: Here in Oregon, we have a renewable portfolio¹³ standard, where we have to meet, and — by the end of this year, 15 percent of our customers energy use with renewable sources. We have been doing it mostly with wind and some solar. But, if this technology performs well, it will be on our list.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Oregon isn't alone. Hydroelectric power is getting new attention from scientists and investors.

　　Several East Coast companies are developing turbines to harness the power of tides in New York's East River and off the coast of Maine.

　　Portland State University vice¹⁴ president Jonathan Fink studies urban sustainability issues. We met him at one of Portland's ubiquitous food truck lots.

　　Can we get two minted lemonades?

　　As we began to chat, Portland's notorious wet weather began to create streams of potential energy all around us.

　　This is awesome¹⁵.

　　Fink sees Lucid's technology contributing to a broader effort by communities to move away from non-renewable energy sources.

　　JONATHAN FINK, Portland State University: In Portland, as an example, we get a lot of our energy from coal-fired power plants 200 kilometers east of here. That's not great.

　　So how do we replace that? We're not going to replace it with one big nuclear power plant. We're going to replace it with a lot of conservation, a lot of smaller steps like what Lucid is doing, with solar, with wind.

　　What has to happen nationally and globally is, each city does these experiments, figures out what works, and then they have to exchange that information. And then you add it all up, and cities can really save a lot of energy.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: CEO Semler says the focus is now on developing turbines that could be placed in smaller drinking water pipes found closer to homes.

　　GREGG SEMLER: They might be able to power, like, an electric vehicle charging station essentially¹⁶ with free energy.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The company is currently negotiating agreements with several cities in the U.S., including San Antonio and New York, as well as in other countries. And they hope to have more pipes and turbines in place in Portland over the next few years.

　　For the PBS NewsHour, this is Hari Sreenivasan in Portland, Oregon.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 lucid   

adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的

参考例句：

• His explanation was lucid and to the point.他的解释扼要易懂。
• He wasn't very lucid,he didn't quite know where he was.他神志不是很清醒，不太知道自己在哪里。

3 kilowatts   

千瓦( kilowatt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's about 500 kilowatts per hour on average. 年用电量平均为每小时500千瓦。 来自商贸英语会话
• We have an emergency-standby electric generator with a capacity of 300 kilowatts. 我们有一台三百千瓦的事故备用发电机。

4 vaults   

n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴

参考例句：

• It was deposited in the vaults of a bank. 它存在一家银行的保险库里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

6 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

7 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

8 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

9 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

10 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

11 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

12 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

13 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

15 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

16 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。