这家公司说他们用“稀薄的空气”制造食物

这家公司说他们用“稀薄的空气”制造食物

In Finland, scientists are making an entirely new ingredient out of air, water and electricity -- and they hope it could revolutionize the way our food is produced.

在芬兰，科学家们正在从空气、水和电中制造一种全新的成分，他们希望这能彻底改变我们生产食物的方式。

Feeding an ever-growing population is putting a huge strain on the Earth's resources.

养活不断增长的人口对地球资源造成了巨大的压力。

Agriculture is one of the world's largest sources of greenhouse gases, with animal farming in particular responsible for 14.5% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from beef and dairy cattle.

农业是世界上最大的温室气体来源之一，尤其是畜牧业，其温室气体排放量占全球的14.5%，主要来自牛肉和奶牛。

On top of that, farming uses vast areas of land that might otherwise be home to carbon-storing forests; it also guzzles huge amounts of water -- up to 70% of water-use worldwide, according to the OECD.

最重要的是，农业使用了大片土地，而这些土地原本可能是储存碳的森林的家园;它还消耗大量的水——根据经济合作与发展组织(OECD)的数据，高达全球用水量的70%。

But a Helsinki-based company is trying to change that.

但一家总部位于赫尔辛基的公司正试图改变这种状况。

"In order to save the planet from climate change, we need to disconnect food production from agriculture," says Pasi Vainikka, CEO of Solar Foods.

“为了拯救地球免受气候变化的影响，我们需要切断粮食生产与农业的联系，”太阳能食品公司的首席执行官帕西·瓦尼卡说。

Protein powder
蛋白粉

At its pilot plant, the start-up is developing a new natural source of protein it calls Solein. Like other protein supplements, it has no discernible taste and can be added to almost any snack or meal. But Solar Foods says its product will have have a tiny carbon footprint.

在它的试验厂，这家初创公司正在开发一种新的天然蛋白质来源，它称之为Solein。和其他蛋白质补充剂一样，它没有明显的味道，几乎可以添加到任何零食或膳食中。但是太阳能食品公司表示，他们的产品将有一个微小的碳足迹。

Solein is made by growing a microbe in liquid in a fermentation tank. It's similar to the process used in breweries, but instead of feeding it sugars, as you would when brewing beer, Solar Foods' microbe eats only hydrogen bubbles, carbon dioxide, nutrients and vitamins.

Solein是通过在发酵罐的液体中培养微生物而制成的。它与啤酒厂的生产过程相似，但不像啤酒酿造时那样给微生物喂糖，太阳能食品的微生物只吃氢气泡、二氧化碳、营养素和维生素。

Solar Foods makes hydrogen by applying electricity to water, and sources carbon dioxide by extracting it from air -- which is why the company describes Solein as being "food out of thin air." All this is powered by renewable energy, minimizing the product's carbon footprint.

太阳能食品通过将向水中通电来制造氢气，通过从空气中提取二氧化碳——这就是为什么该公司将Solein描述为“稀薄空气中的食物”。所有这些都是由可再生能源驱动的，最大限度地减少了产品的碳足迹。

"You end up with a powder that is about 65 percent protein and carbs and fats," Vainikka told CNN.

瓦尼卡对CNN说：“最终得到粉末大约含有65%的蛋白质、碳水化合物和脂肪的。”

That powder could be added to things like bread and pasta, or to plant-based meat or dairy substitutes. One day, it could even be used as a food source for lab-grown meat, he says.

这种粉末可以添加到面包和面食中，或者添加到植物性肉类或奶制品的替代品中。他说，有一天，它甚至可以作为实验室培养的肉类的食物来源。

Solar Foods claims production of Solein is 100 times more climate friendly than meat and 10 times better than plant-based proteins, as well as using much less water.

太阳能食品声称Solein的生产对气候的友好性是肉类的100倍，是植物性蛋白质的10倍，并且使用更少的水。

Scaling up
扩大规模

The company was founded in 2017, made up of former scientists from Finland's national research institute.

该公司成立于2017年，由芬兰国家研究所的前科学家组成。

Its pilot plant is able to produce about a kilo of dry protein powder per day, and Vainikka says it can match the price of existing plant or animal protein ingredients, with "a production cost of $5-$6 per kilogram of 100 percent protein."

它的试验工厂每天能够生产大约1公斤干蛋白粉，瓦尼卡说，它可以与现有的植物或动物蛋白质成分的价格相匹配，“每公斤100%蛋白质的生产成本为5-6美元”

It aims to have Solein on the market and in millions of meals by 2021, but before then it needs to scale-up from pilot plant to major commercial production, and Solein needs regulatory approval for human consumption.

该公司的目标是到2021年将Solein投入市场，并在数百万份食品中使用，但在此之前，公司需要从试验工厂扩大到大规模的商业生产，而且Solein还需要得到监管部门的批准才能用于人类消费。