Old Energy Source Wood Be New Alternative

　　On March 11th, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called for a “moonshot for energy independence.” He’s set up a task force to look into the large-scale production of solar, wind and geothermal energies. But he didn’t say anything about wood. That’s right: Wood. In the March 13th issue of Science, researchers in the US and in Austria tout wood as a neglected but potentially useful source of energy.

　　Americans relied on wood for the bulk of their energy until the 1800s, when we fell head over heels for coal. Now in Europe, many countries are turning back to trees, and to advanced wood combustion technologies to supply heat, cooling and power to their communities. Austria alone has built more than 1000 wood-burning plants that emit remarkably few pollutants, and have thermal efficiencies approaching 90 percent.

　　If chopping down forests for fuel doesn’t sound like the greenest solution to our energy needs, the scientists note that we’d have to figure out how to manage our woodsheds sustainably, to avoid slashing and burning our way to a toasty home and a bare earth. But trees are renewable. They’re cheaper than fossil fuels. And they provide more shade than offshore windmills.

　　古老的木头能源可能成为新的替代能源

　　内务部长Ken Salazar在3月11日呼吁“能源独立的壮举”。他组建了一个任务小组负责大规模开发太阳能、风能以及地热能。但是他没有提及任何与木头相关的东西。没错：木头。在3月13日的《科学》（Science）杂志上，来自美国和奥地利的研究者们认为木头可以作为潜在的能量之源，虽然木头被人们忽视了。

　　直到19世纪初，美国人一直就是依靠木头作为他们的主要能源，随后我们非常喜欢用煤炭作为能源了。目前在欧洲，许多国家又开始重新以树木作为能源，他们利用先进的木头燃烧技术向社区供热、制冷以及电力。仅奥地利一个国家就己经建了超过1000个木头燃烧厂，这些厂释放的污染物极其少，其热效率已经达到 90%。

　　科学家们注意到，如果靠砍伐森林获取燃料不是最好的环保解决方案，那么我们必须想出办法保证我们有可持续的木头燃料，我们要避免以乱砍乱伐森林的方式来给我们的房子供暖，同时把地球变得荒芜。但是树木是可再生的，它们比化石燃料便宜，而且它们比海边的风车提供更多的阴凉。