腦洞大開的堆肥堆的10個妙用(下)

5．Compost-Powered Showers

5．堆肥熱水器

Proximity to your compost pile may not be preferable here, but many people have found ways to build shower systems using their compost.

離堆肥堆太近可能不舒服，但很多人還是找到了用堆肥的熱量燒水洗澡的辦法。

Some methods are as simple as coiling the majority of a length of hosepipe inside the heap and fitting a showerhead and stand to the other end. In this case, the effort of maintaining a compost heap outweighed the benefits of the warm shower it produced. Solar panels proved to be much more efficient and just as green.

有的辦法很簡單，就是把軟管的大部分捲起來埋在堆肥裏，然後在另一頭接上淋浴頭和支架。這時，維護堆肥堆需要的努力就蓋過了用它燒水的好處。太陽能電池板同樣環保，卻要高效得多。

Permaculture teacher Darren Doherty was far more successful. By burying a 2-meter (7 ft) by 2-meter (7 ft) heating system in his compost and combining that with a solar heating system, he was able to produce up to 150 liters (40 gal) of hot water at one time. On average, that's roughly enough water for over 20 minutes of showering or two hot baths.

永續栽培教師戴倫·多爾蒂就成功得多。他在堆肥堆中埋了一個2乘2米的加熱系統，並將其與太陽能加熱系統相結合，這樣就能一次加熱150升水，平均夠洗約20分鐘淋浴，或兩次盆浴。

4．Harvest Methane

4．收穫甲烷

Direct contact with your compost may not be your cup of tea. Luckily, heat is not the only by-product of the composting process. When done right, compost also releases methane gas. This relies on maintaining a balance in the compost between acid-producing bacteria and the methane-producing bacteria that eats it.

你可能不想直接和堆肥打交道，幸好熱量也不是堆肥過程的唯一副產品。如果不出錯，堆肥還會釋放甲烷氣體。這取決於堆肥中產酸菌和產甲烷菌之間的平衡。

Methane is often harvested from landfills, which produce enough gas to power 8,500 local homes in some cases. There are also examples of a number of farms, such as Green Mountain Dairy in Vermont, which are producing electricity for the grid from the methane released by manure.

甲烷通常從垃圾填埋場收集，有時足以給8500戶當地居民供能。還有一些農場，比如佛蒙特州的“綠山乳品”，就在用糞肥釋放的甲烷給電網發電。

On a smaller scale, the Urban Farming Guys have built what they call a "methane biodigester." Simply, this is comprised of one cylinder (or barrel) of compost with a smaller cylinder placed upside down on top of it. This serves to capture the methane released and to pressurize it. A pipe is attached to the methane chamber at one end and to a stove or generator at the other. With this model, methane is steadily produced for 7–8 weeks.

規模較小的“城市農民”則建立了所謂的“甲烷生物消化器”。簡單地說，這是一桶堆肥，頂上有一個倒置的圓筒，用來收集和壓縮釋放的甲烷。甲烷室被管子同爐子或發電機相連。這個模型能穩定生產7到8周甲烷。

This seems to offer the best of both worlds: cooking from the by-products of your compost without the inaccuracy (or residual smell) that comes from burying your food in it. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from doing both at once.

這樣似乎就綜合了兩個世界的優點：用堆肥的副產品做飯，同時又不會有埋食物帶來的不精確或異味。當然，你也可以埋一些，做一些。

3．Run Your Car

3．驅動汽車

In the 1970s, Frenchman Jean Pain developed various ways to run the majority of his home from the energy produced by his compost heap. With the organic waste he produced from maintaining his woodlands, Pain fertilized what became "incredibly prolific gardens." He also ran a compost water heating system—one that was capable of warming a 93-square-meter (1,000 ft2) home.

1970年代，法國人吉恩開發了許多方法，來讓家裏的大部分能源都來自他的堆肥堆。他用保養林地時的到的有機廢物給花園施肥，使其“令人難以置信地多產”。他還建立了一個堆肥熱水系統，能給93立方米的家供暖。

On top of this, Pain developed his own air heating system. He buried heat ducts inside one of his compost piles, with entry and exit pipes that ran directly into a building.

此外，吉恩還開發了自己的暖氣系統。他把暖氣管埋在一個堆肥堆中，出入管道則直接連在建築中。

His ingenuity didn't stop there. He also made use of a methane-harvesting tank and ran water cooling pipes around the outside of it to regulate its temperature. With this method, Pain was able to heat water for his house and productively collect methane from his compost heap.

吉恩的創造力並沒有就此止步，他還把水冷管纏在甲烷收集罐上控溫，這樣，就能給房子熱水，並高效收集堆肥堆的 甲烷了。

This produced 1.4 cubic meters (50 ft3) of gas per day. From this, the Pain family was able to power the appliances in their house and run their Citroen 2CV truck, giving it enough fuel to drive 100 kilometers (62 mi).

這套系統每天生產1.4立方米燃氣。吉恩家用它們給家電供電，還能開雪鐵龍2CV卡車跑100公里。

2．Heat Your Swimming Pool

2．加熱家庭泳池

To loosely reimagine Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a compost mound, we're coming pretty near the top with this list. From the domestic success of Jean Pain, we must move firmly into the realm of life's luxuries. So once you've had a nice, long, compost-heated shower and feasted on the scallops you've retrieved from your steaming heap, where do you go next?

當我們用堆肥堆粗略地重新定義馬斯洛的需求層次理論時，就接近了這份清單的頂點。看完吉恩的家用成功，我們必須堅定地進入生活奢侈品領域。用堆肥熱的水洗個長長的澡，再享用一盤堆肥蒸氣中收穫的扇貝，接下來你會去哪？

Gaelan Brown's recent book, The Compost-Powered Water Heater, offers a practical introduction to DIY compost heating systems. Among others, one of Brown's suggestions is to build a system that can heat your pool for free. Now, the idea of lounging by your perfectly warm, refreshing pool on a hot summer's day need not be marred by a stinking pile of compost. Brown stresses that the compost heating system has the added benefit of reducing obnoxious odors.

蓋南·布朗的新書《堆肥式熱水器》爲自制堆肥加熱系統提供了實用的介紹。布朗的建議之一就是建一個可以免費你家游泳池的系統。這時，在炎炎夏日享受溫暖清爽的游泳池，並不一定要被臭烘烘的堆肥堆破壞。布朗強調，堆肥加熱系統還能減少異味。

While a compost-powered hot tub might be out of the question here, a heated pool is still pretty luxurious.

雖然堆肥動力的熱水浴缸在這裏應該不是問題，但溫水泳池還是太奢華了。

1．A Renewable Energy Source

1．可再生能源

Taking their influence from Jean Pain's innovations, a number of groups have been exploring the wider potential of compost's by-products as a renewable energy source.

受吉恩啓發，一些團隊一直在探索堆肥副產品作爲可再生能源的廣泛潛力。

The University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering developed a compost heat exchange which was capable of producing water at 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit). When they tested it against similar solar and ground source heating systems, the compost system provided the most reliable supply.

愛丁堡大學工程學院開發了一種能把水燒到60度的堆肥熱交換器。他們將其與類似的太陽能和地熱能一起測試，發現堆肥系統的供能最可靠。

There is also the Compost Power Network, a not-for-profit organization that researches compost heat recovery and has collaborated on research projects with several universities. They have been developing Pain's methods and are working on safe compost-based energy systems that make renewable energy possible in tandem with nourishing the land we live on.

還有非營利組織“堆肥電力網絡”，他們研究堆肥熱的回收，並和多家大學有合作研究項目。他們一直在發展吉恩的方法，並致力於安全的堆肥供能系統，以在實現可再生能源的同時，還能滋養我們生活的土地。