World﹕Coffee-powered buses

[2017.12.06] 發表

【明報專訊】In addition to waste cooking oil and fat from meat processing, used grounded coffee now joins the list of biofuels that power the famous London buses. Technology firm Bio-bean recently confirmed that, after 4 years of research, it has manufactured 6,000 litres of coffee oil from used coffee grounds collected from cafes and instant coffee factories, which is enough for running one bus for a year.

The use of the new biofuel is beneficial to the environment in two ways. First, recycling coffee grounds can help reduce the amount of solid waste sent to landfills. London produced 200,000 tonnes of coffee grounds a year. The waste releases a large amount of carbon dioxide, which may intensify global warming. Besides, vehicles running on the coffee-diesel blend emit less carbon particles, reducing roadside air pollution.

Transport for London (倫敦交通局) has increased the use of biofuels in public vehicles, hoping to reduce roadside emissions. Many of the 9,500 buses in the UK's capital city are currently running on other biofuels made from food waste. Arthur Kay, founder of Bio-bean commented, "It's a great example of what can be done when we start to reimagine waste as an untapped resource."

Source: Mingpao, BBC, CNN

■Quiz

Answer the following questions

(Answers on next text)

1. Is the following statement true or false?

9,500 buses are running on biofuels in London now.

True/ False

2. Where does the coffee used to produce fuel come from?

________________________________

3. Find a word in the first paragraph that means ''mass-produced''.

________________________________

4. Which of the following is true?

A. London produced 200,000 tonnes of food waste a year.

B. Transport for London uses biofuels in buses because they want to reduce food waste.

C. Using biofuels in buses can help improve roadside air quality.

D. Drinking coffee will intensify global warming.

■English highway﹕recently

The adverb ''recently'' is used to describe actions and events happened in the past and not long ago. It is used with the past tense or the present perfect.

e.g. Have you heard from Martha recently?

■Glossary

processing (n) 加工處理

intensify (v) 加劇

blend (n) 混合物

untapped (adj) 未經開採的

[Smarties' Power English 第201期]