Our last foray into kid-hatched alternative-energy projects didn’t end too well (although we’re still big Aidan Dwyer fans), but this one looks puncture-proof. The child this time is 13-year-old Cassandra Lin, who two years ago came up with the idea of collecting used cooking oil in the Westerly, R.I., area where she lives and turning it into heating fuel for people in need.

puncture-proof：防刺破的

puncture-proof tyre：防刺輪胎

類似的結(jié)構(gòu)：fool-proof：（防傻瓜的）極簡單的；water-proof：防水的

As you might imagine, Lin didn’t actually set up a biodiesel refinery in her backyard. What she did was far more clever: She designed one of those rare systems in which everyone involved receives tangible benefits while also doing a social good. And now her organization, Turning Grease into Fuel (TGIF), is sopping up used cooking oil and generating more than 30,000 gallons of biodiesel annually. That’s $60,000 worth, and a total that offsets some 250 tons of CO2 emissions.

biodiesel refinery：生物柴油提煉廠

Lin’s project was highlighted recently by the United Nations, which notes that Lin will be one of more than 1,400 young people attending the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.

UN Conference on Sustainable Development：聯(lián)合國可持續(xù)發(fā)展大會

Here’s how Lin and her cohorts pulled off TGIF: After first convincing the Westerly town council to establish a cooking oil container at the town transfer station, they recruited restaurants and residents to collect and donate their used gunk (keeping the stuff from clogging drains and sewers). TGIF partner Grease Co, then sees to the refining of the grease, with a portion going to local charities for distribution to the needy.

Having conquered Westerly, Lin and her cohorts have moved to extend their program beyond Warwick to several more towns and cities.

The UN recognition isn’t the first time TGIF has won plaudits; in 2009, TGIF was a President’s Environmental Youth Awards (PEYA) regional winner, and Lin was recently written up as an Earth Child Institute Earth Child of the Month. Further information about TGIF can also be found on the website of Westerly Innovations Network, a community involvement organization founded by Lin’s father.

President’s Environmental Youth Awards：總統(tǒng)環(huán)境青年獎

【新聞快訊】據(jù)《赫芬頓郵報》報道現(xiàn)年14歲的美國華裔女孩林心瑜憑借敏銳的觀察力和過人的創(chuàng)造力，將原本被廢棄的廚房剩余油脂轉(zhuǎn)化成采暖用的生物燃油，造福眾多貧困家庭。她還因此受到奧巴馬的接見。“化油脂為燃料”的成果受到許多媒體的報道后引起廣泛關(guān)注，而林心瑜也因此多次獲得大獎，包括2009年的“總統(tǒng)環(huán)保獎”等等

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