原文標(biāo)題：
Green energy
Making petrol from thin air
How to make carbon-neutral fuel for cars and planes
綠色能源
空氣變汽油
如何為汽車(chē)和飛機(jī)制造碳中和燃料

Sucking a carbon-neutral fuel out of thin air
To power future cars and planes
從空氣中提取碳中性燃料
為未來(lái)的汽車(chē)和飛機(jī)提供動(dòng)力

[Paragraph 1]
WHEN IN MARCH the European Union approved a law requiring all new cars to have zero carbon emissions from 2035, Germany managed to wangle an exemption for vehicles running on “e-fuels”.
今年3月，歐盟批準(zhǔn)了一項(xiàng)法律，要求所有新車(chē)從2035年起實(shí)現(xiàn)零碳排放，德國(guó)設(shè)法為使用 "電力燃料 "的車(chē)輛爭(zhēng)取豁免。

Some saw it as a charter for producers to continue flogging internal-combustion engined cars to petrol-heads.
一些人認(rèn)為這是生產(chǎn)商繼續(xù)推廣內(nèi)燃機(jī)汽車(chē)的漏洞。

While it does, indeed, mean some petrol-powered sports cars are likely to remain in production in the future, the hope is they can be powered without overheating the planet.
雖然這確實(shí)意味著一些燒汽油的跑車(chē)可能會(huì)在未來(lái)繼續(xù)生產(chǎn)，但希望這些車(chē)輛的行駛不會(huì)惡化地球氣候狀況。

[Paragraph 2]
E-fuels get their name because they are made synthetically, using electricity.
電力燃料之所以被稱為電力燃料，是因?yàn)樗鼈兪鞘褂秒娏铣傻摹?br>
The process involves combining hydrogen with carbon to produce various hydrocarbon fuels, such as diesel, petrol or jet fuel.
這個(gè)過(guò)程涉及氫與碳的化學(xué)結(jié)合，生產(chǎn)各種碳?xì)浠衔锶剂?，如柴油、汽油或噴氣燃料?br>
[Paragraph 3]
The hydrogen can be made by using electrolysis to split water into its constituent elements.
氫氣可以通過(guò)使用電解法將水分成其組成元素來(lái)獲得。

The carbon comes from carbon dioxide, perhaps captured from an industrial chimney-stack, or even sucked directly out of the atmosphere via so-called direct-air capture systems.
碳來(lái)自于CO2，可能是從工業(yè)煙囪中捕獲的，或者通過(guò)所謂的直接空氣捕集系統(tǒng)直接從大氣中捕獲CO2。

Provided both processes are powered by zero-carbon electricity, e-fuels are carbon neutral.
如果這兩個(gè)過(guò)程均由零碳電力提供驅(qū)動(dòng)，則電力燃料是碳中性的。

After all, the carbon released back into the air when the fuels are burned is the same that was used to make them in the first place.
畢竟，燃料燃燒時(shí)釋放到空氣中的碳與最初用于制造燃料的碳相同。

[Paragraph 4]
Although a handful of big plants already make e-fuels for aviation, most obtain their carbon from old cooking oil, animal fat and biomass.
盡管少數(shù)大型工廠已經(jīng)在生產(chǎn)航空電力燃料，但大多數(shù)工廠是從廢食用油、動(dòng)物脂肪和生物質(zhì)中獲取碳。

Some aim to use direct-air capture, although the technology is still largely at the prototype stage.
一些工廠的目標(biāo)是使用直接空氣捕集系統(tǒng)，盡管這項(xiàng)技術(shù)仍處于初始階段。

One such plant is in southern Chile. It is run by a group of companies that includes Porsche, part of the German Volkswagen group.
有一個(gè)這樣的工廠位于智利南部。它由多家公司運(yùn)營(yíng)，其中就包括隸屬于德國(guó)大眾集團(tuán)的保時(shí)捷。

Chile is a windy place, so the factory is powered by a wind turbine. Until its direct-air capture system is ready, the plant is getting carbon dioxide from a brewery, where yeast produces it during fermentation.
智利風(fēng)能發(fā)達(dá)，因此該工廠由風(fēng)力渦輪機(jī)提供動(dòng)力。在其直接空氣捕集系統(tǒng)準(zhǔn)備就緒之前，該工廠從釀酒廠獲得CO2，因?yàn)榻湍冈诎l(fā)酵過(guò)程中產(chǎn)生CO2。

[Paragraph 5]
For Porsche, cars powered by e-fuels will be a sideline rather than its main business.
對(duì)保時(shí)捷而言，電力燃料汽車(chē)將只是非主營(yíng)業(yè)務(wù)，而不是主要業(yè)務(wù)。

The firm aims to have more than 80% of its vehicles running on batteries by 2030.
公司目標(biāo)是到2030年，80%以上的保時(shí)捷車(chē)輛將靠電池運(yùn)行。

Karl Dums, the firm’s head of e-fuels, readily agrees that an electric car will always be inherently more efficient than one that runs with e-fuels.
卡爾·杜姆斯是該公司的電力燃料負(fù)責(zé)人，他認(rèn)同電動(dòng)汽車(chē)本質(zhì)上比電力燃料汽車(chē)更高效。

(This is because of the extra steps involved in turning electricity into synthetic fuel, rather than just charging a battery directly.)
(這是因?yàn)閷㈦娏D(zhuǎn)化為合成燃料需要額外的步驟，而不是直接為電池充電）。

But, he says, there will still be plenty of internal-combustion vehicles on the road after 2030.These could be made greener by filling them with e-fuels.
但他還說(shuō)，2030 年后道路上仍然會(huì)有許多內(nèi)燃機(jī)汽車(chē)。使用電力燃料的汽車(chē)更環(huán)保。

[Paragraph 6]
Dr Dums reckons economies of scale could make e-fuels competitive with fossil ones, perhaps by the end of the decade.
杜姆斯認(rèn)為，規(guī)模經(jīng)濟(jì)可以使電力燃料與化石燃料相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，時(shí)間也許就在本世紀(jì)末。

And, he says, they offer a convenient way to store surplus renewable energy, or to make it suitable for export.
他還說(shuō)，它們提供了一種便捷的方式來(lái)存儲(chǔ)過(guò)剩的可再生能源，或者使其適合出口。

Chile has the potential to produce huge amounts of renewable power. But the wind and the sun are unpredictable, and on some days could produce more electricity than necessary.
智利有巨大的可再生能源生產(chǎn)潛力。但風(fēng)和太陽(yáng)不可預(yù)測(cè)，有些日子可能會(huì)有電力剩余。

Chile lacks the long-range grids to transmit that surplus elsewhere. If it were turned into a liquid, though, it could be shipped abroad using existing infrastructure designed for fossil fuels.
智利缺乏遠(yuǎn)程電網(wǎng)，無(wú)法將這些剩余的電力傳輸?shù)狡渌胤?。不過(guò)，如果將電力變成液體，就可以利用現(xiàn)有的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施（原為化石燃料設(shè)計(jì)）將其出口到國(guó)外。

[Paragraph 7]
“In the end,” says Dr Dums, Porsche’s business is “fulfilling dreams for our customers.”
杜姆斯博士說(shuō)："最終，保時(shí)捷的業(yè)務(wù)是 "幫助客戶實(shí)現(xiàn)夢(mèng)想"。

Although electric cars are both smooth and nippy, some of those customers might miss the growl and thunder of a petrol-powered engine.
雖然電動(dòng)汽車(chē)既平穩(wěn)又靈巧，但其中一些客戶可能會(huì)懷念燃油發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)的聲浪轟鳴聲。

If you do fancy a petrol-powered 911 in the future, e-fuels might allow Porsche to sell you one.
如果你將來(lái)確實(shí)喜歡保時(shí)捷911燃油汽車(chē)，電力燃料可以幫你實(shí)現(xiàn)購(gòu)車(chē)夢(mèng)。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語(yǔ)詞匯量580左右）
原文出自：2023年6月3日《The Economist》Science & technology版塊

精讀筆記來(lái)源于：自由英語(yǔ)之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene

本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來(lái)自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
碳中和燃料Carbon-Neutral Fuel是指將二氧化碳捕集和存儲(chǔ)技術(shù)與可再生能源生產(chǎn)結(jié)合使用的燃料。它們可以產(chǎn)生零排放的碳和其他污染物。這種燃料的生產(chǎn)過(guò)程包括將二氧化碳從大氣中捕集和將其存儲(chǔ)在地下或其他地方。同時(shí)，可再生能源（如太陽(yáng)能、風(fēng)能等）可以用來(lái)驅(qū)動(dòng)生產(chǎn)過(guò)程，從而減少使用化石燃料的需求。這包括木材、農(nóng)作物垃圾、廢棄物、粉末煤等生物質(zhì)能，氫氣能源，生物質(zhì)油，液化天然氣，生物甲醇等。

電力燃料E-Fuels的全稱是"electrofuels"，它是指一種通過(guò)電解水來(lái)制造的人造燃料，即通過(guò)電能將水分解成氫氣和氧氣，然后將氫氣與二氧化碳反應(yīng)制成液體或氣體燃料。電力燃料是一種可再生能源，因?yàn)樵谥圃爝^(guò)程中所使用的電能可以來(lái)自于太陽(yáng)能或風(fēng)能等可再生能源。

直接空氣捕獲系統(tǒng)（Direct Air Capture System，DACS）是一種技術(shù)，采用化學(xué)吸附劑或其他吸附材料將CO2從大氣中捕獲。DACS系統(tǒng)可用于減少大氣中的溫室氣體濃度，從而減緩全球氣候變化。這種技術(shù)還可以為碳捕獲、存儲(chǔ)和利用（Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage，CCUS）提供一個(gè)選擇，CCUS是一種在工業(yè)和發(fā)電廠等溫室氣體排放源頭捕獲CO2的方法。

智利Chile是一個(gè)擁有豐富風(fēng)能資源的國(guó)家。智利位于南美洲西海岸，地形復(fù)雜，境內(nèi)有許多山脈和高原，同時(shí)也有大片海岸線。全國(guó)大部分地區(qū)都有良好的風(fēng)能資源。其中最具潛力的地區(qū)是位于智利中南部的阿塔卡馬沙漠和智利南部的馬吉亞地區(qū)。

Petrol-powered 911是指保時(shí)捷911汽車(chē)的燃油動(dòng)力版本。這款車(chē)使用汽油作為燃料，通過(guò)內(nèi)燃機(jī)驅(qū)動(dòng)車(chē)輛。保時(shí)捷911系列自1963年推出以來(lái)，一直以其卓越的駕駛性能和經(jīng)典的設(shè)計(jì)風(fēng)格為人所知，并在汽車(chē)領(lǐng)域中擁有廣泛的粉絲和追隨者。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3個(gè)）
E-fuels get their name because they are made synthetically, using electricity.
電力燃料之所以被稱為電力燃料，是因?yàn)樗鼈兪鞘褂秒娏铣傻摹?br>
For Porsche, cars powered by e-fuels will be a sideline rather than its main business.
對(duì)保時(shí)捷而言，電力燃料汽車(chē)將只是非主營(yíng)業(yè)務(wù)，而不是主要業(yè)務(wù)。

Chile has the potential to produce huge amounts of renewable power. But the wind and the sun are unpredictable, and on some days could produce more electricity than necessary.
智利有巨大的可再生能源生產(chǎn)潛力。但風(fēng)和太陽(yáng)不可預(yù)測(cè)，有些日子可能會(huì)有電力剩余。