豆腐為印尼提供清潔能源

For people living in some remote villages in Indonesia, heating houses and fuelling stoves can be a real challenge. The resources required, like gas and wood, have to get shipped in and distributed to individual households, and not only does this process take a whole lot of time - some families wait weeks for new gas to arrive - it also produces a tonne of emissions that contribute to global warming.
在印度尼西亞的一些偏遠小村莊中，房屋取暖和鍋爐燃料是個大問題。像天然氣、木頭之類的資源需要從外面運輸進來，然后再分配到每個家庭。這個過程很漫長，許多家庭要等好幾周，而且這些燃料會產生大量的二氧化碳，加劇全球變暖。

The good news is that this antiquated system is now on its way out, thanks to an unlikely source: tofu.
好消息是，這種陳舊的方式將被取代，這多虧了一種不同尋常的來源：豆腐。

You're probably familiar with tofu as a delicious, fluffy treat that's made from bean curd, but in Indonesia, tofu isn't just a snack - it's a livelihood, with hundreds of small, family-run shops producing tofu in massive quantities every day.
大家都知道豆腐軟乎乎的很美味。但是在印尼，豆腐不只是一種食物，更是一種營生，成千上萬的家庭式小作坊每天要生產大量的豆腐。

Now, thanks to a government-run program, the waste water from all that tofu production is getting transformed into biogas that can be pumped directly to houses.
如今，當地政府主導了一項工程：將所有做豆腐剩下的水用來生產沼氣，然后供應給各家各戶。

But how does it work?
但是這個系統是如何運轉的呢？

First, let's talk about tofu. Tofu has been made the same way for generations, and it's a rather simple, yet time-consuming process.
首先是生產豆腐。多少年來，豆腐都是相同的做法，過程簡單但是耗時。

Basically, producers start by soaking and grinding soybeans to separate the soy milk from the soy pulp. This step takes the longest because the beans have to soak for hours before they are ready for separation.
簡單來說，就是要浸泡然后研磨大豆，把豆漿和豆渣分離。這個步驟耗時最長，因為需要將大豆浸泡數小時，才能實現分離。

After the separated parts go through a filtration system, the protein and oil are separated from the soy milk. A chemical coagulant is added to firm everything up. Once formed, you have tofu ready for cutting. So, in essence, tofu is coagulated soy milk that you can pick up and eat.
分離出來的豆漿經過過濾，蛋白質和油脂就從豆漿中分離出來，然后在豆漿中加入混凝劑就形成豆腐了。當豆腐成形時，就可以切成塊了。本質上，豆腐就是一種讓你可以用手拿起來吃的固態的豆漿。

Though simple in practice, an enormous amount of water is required to make tofu - roughly 33 litres for every kilogram of spongy bean curd.
盡管操作過程簡單，但是制作過程中需要大量的水，大概每公斤豆腐需要使用33升水。

Researchers found that this waste water could be turned into biogas if a certain type of bacteria is added to it.
研究人員發現，如果在這些廢水中加入某種細菌就可以將廢水轉化為沼氣。

Every day, the waste water is collected from various shops and treated with bacteria. Once transformed, the gas is pumped directly to local homes.
每天從各個作坊收集的廢水被集中到一起，然后在里面加入細菌，隨后就能產生沼氣，即時供應給當地住戶。

Besides creating a green energy source for locals, using all that waste water has significantly helped the local environment. Thousands of litres of waste water drained from raw tofu was once pumped daily from factories around the village into nearby rivers, befouling waterways and contaminating rice fields downstream.
這個方法不僅為當地提供了綠色能源，而且合理地處理廢水對當地環境也是很好的保護。在此之前，每天制造生豆腐產生的成千上萬升廢水從村中各處的作坊排放到附近的河流中，污染了河流和下游的稻田。

Without all that wastewater lying around, farmers have seen an increased rice yield and the foul smell that comes with tofu production has left the area.
沒有了廢水的污染，水稻產量上升了，難聞的氣味也沒有了。

The hope for Kalisari is to become the first full-blown green village in Indonesia. If they're successful, there's no reason why similar programs couldn’t sweep across the region, dramatically changing the way people get the energy they need to live out their lives.
Kalisari有望成為第一個完全使用綠色能源的村莊。如果真能做到這一點，那么這個項目就能順理成章地推廣到其他地區，極大地改變當地的能源使用方式。

Vocabulary

biogas: 沼氣
coagulant: 凝結劑

英文來源：sciencealert
中文來源：煎蛋網
審校&編輯：丹妮