He eventually dug deep enough to silence his haters and changed the course of history around the world.

他最後總算挖到了夠深的距離，讓那些酸民們統統閉嘴，並改變了整個世界的歷史軌跡。

168 years later, I'm at the gas station filling up my tank and something occurs to me.

168 年後，我在一間加油站為車子加油時，突然想到了一件事。

Why do we still use gasoline? Why is no other fuel source has widely used?

為什麼我們還在使用汽油啊？為什麼其他的燃料沒有被廣泛運用？

The nozzle latch clicked and my tank was full, but I was full of nothing but questions. Why is gasoline the fuel of our society?

加油槍的噴嘴發出了咖答一聲，我的油箱被加滿了，但我本人卻充滿著困惑。為什麼汽油成為了當今推動社會運作的燃料？

And I think this is a question a lot deeper than it seems.

而我認為，這個問題比看起來得還要深刻得多。

Let's get something clear up top: gasoline isn't the be all and all.

先讓我們搞清楚大前提吧：汽油並不是唯一的燃料。

There're other fuel types commonly used like diesel, biodiesel, natural gas, and Red Bull.

我們還有許多種其他受到廣泛使用的燃料，像是柴油、生質柴油、天然氣和紅牛能量飲料。

But while the margins are growing, gas is still king.

然而，雖然其他燃料的比例正在成長，汽油仍然穩坐王位。

On any given day, the world uses around 100 million barrels of gasoline. That's over four billion gallons!

全世界一天下來會用上 1 億桶的汽油。加起來總共是 40 億加侖 (約為 150 億公升)！

Nowadays, we turned crude oil into many different products like gasoline, polyester and polyurethane.

如今，我們把原油變成了許多不同的產品，像是汽油、聚酯和聚氨酯。

But many years ago, it was mainly processed to make kerosene for oil lamps.

但在許多年前，它主要被加工成油燈用的煤油。在電燈之前，製造油燈燃料是大生意。

In a time before electric lights, manufacturing the lamp fuel was big business. Everybody had kerosene lamps.

在電燈普及之前，油燈燃料的製造可是個大產業。所有人都在燒煤油的油燈。

Gasoline was just a byproduct of kerosene production, and was used as a cleaning agent, or just simply thrown away.

汽油不過是煤油生產時的副產品，通常會被用作清潔劑或者直接拋棄。

After its first patent in 1853, it became the first material to be chemically extracted on a commercial scale.

在 1853 年首次登記專利之後，石油變成了第一個以商業規模用化學方式開採的原料。

It isn't exactly easy to get that black stuff out of the earth. It's not like there's just a hose coming out of a rock.

要把那些黑色的東西從地面下弄出來並不容易。石頭上可不會長出一個流出來石油的水龍頭。

An entire industry had to evolve to develop oil drilling and purification techniques.

開發石油鑽探和純化技術的需求，迫使了整個產業的革新。

Process of extracting oil from the earth we know nowadays, was pioneered by a railroad man hired by a kerosene company a little more than 150 years ago.

而我們如今所知道的從地面下開採石油的方式，其實是由一個煤油公司所僱用的鐵路業者在 150 年前所開創的。

Pennsylvania, 1858. A conductor and all-around railway guy named Edwin Drake was hired by the Seneca Oil Company to investigate suspected oil reserve.

賓夕法尼亞州，1858 年。一個名叫 Edwin Drake 的全能鐵路業者受到塞內卡石油公司的聘僱，負責調查潛在的地下石油儲備。

The potential oil represented millions of dollars in kerosene if it proved fruitful.

如果能夠證明潛藏的石油儲備足夠豐富，便能為公司帶來價值數百萬美元的煤油。

His mission was to extract oil from any reserves he found, but the problem was nothing like that had ever been done before.

他的任務是從他發現的任何儲備中提取出石油，但最大的問題是，從來沒有人這麼做過。

He bought a drill and a steam engine to power the drill, and headed out to Oil Creek to start drilling.

他於是買了一個鑽頭和一個為鑽頭提供動力的蒸汽機，並前往油溪 (賓州地名) 開始鑽探。

They drilled through loose gravel, and at around 16 feet down, the hole started collapsing.

他們鑽過了鬆散的礫石岩層，而在鑽到大約 16 英尺時，洞穴開始逐漸坍塌。

Other workers despaired, but Drake was like, "Keep going! Use some iron pipes and driving down there like they were train!"

其他的工人們對此大感失望，但 Drake 卻仍然喊著：「繼續挖！把一些鐵管連接起來，弄成像是火車那樣繼續往下就行了！」

Geez, I think this guy is obsessed with trains.

老天，這傢伙真的對火車很癡迷。

And thus, conductor pipes were born.

於是鑽油導管就這樣誕生了。

Used in 10 feet segments, the pipes prevented the holes from collapsing and allowed workers to drill deeper than ever before.

每段 10 英尺的這些管道防止了孔洞的坍塌，使工人們能夠比以前鑽得更深。

At 32 feet down, they hit bedrock. After that, drilling slowed down significantly.

在 32 英尺深處，他們鑽到了基岩，並在此後鑽井速度明顯放緩。

The project started seeming more and more futile.

這讓整個計畫開始顯得越來越徒勞無功。

It got so stupid that at one point, people would show up to heckle drake and his crew. He didn't let it get to him.

事態變得愚蠢到人們一度出現在礦井旁，專門來嘲笑 Drake 和他的團隊。

He didn't let it get to him, and nevertheless he persisted.

但他沒有因此而受到影響，並繼續堅持了下來。

And on August 27, 1859, Drake and his crew reached a depth of 69 feet.

在 1859 年 8 月 27 日，Drake 和他的團隊成員們鑽到了 69 英尺的深度。

He was like, "Nice!" And so they all went home and ate pretzels.

他於是覺得「讚喔！」然後就回家去吃椒鹽捲餅了。

Why is pretzels mentioned?

為什麼這裡要提到椒鹽捲餅啊？

The next day, the drill operator was the first one to show up on site.

接著隔天，鑽頭操作員是當天第一個出現在鑽井現場的人。

He looked down all 69 feet of the crevasse, and saw that sweet crude oil bubbling up from the hole. Bingo.

他朝長達 69 英尺的裂縫向下看去，便看到那甜美的原油從洞裡汩汩而出。他們成功啦！

Despite how long it took drake to accomplish his drill, his innovative conductor pipe revolutionized oil drilling.

儘管 Drake 花了許多時間才完成鑽井工作，他那創新的鑽油導管技術卻徹底革新了石油開採的方式。

The segmented pipes allow the steam drill to reach levels that were previously unimaginable.

這些分段式管道使蒸汽鑽頭能夠鑽到以前無法想象的深度。

Drake's well produced 25 barrels of oil a day, and by 1872, the whole Oil Creek area was producing 15.9 thousands barrels a day.

Drake 的油井每天能產出 25 桶原油，而到了 1872 年，整個油溪地區每天能生產出 15 萬 千桶。

Kerosene production was the priority until automobile manufacturers started producing gasoline engines.

煤油一直是被優先從原油中提煉出來的產品，直到汽車製造商開始生產汽油發動機後才改變。

Nowadays we use gas because it's still one of the cheapest fuel sources to produce.

現在我們仍在使用汽油是因為它依然是生產成本最低的燃料來源之一。

A gallon of gas cost less than a gallon of milk in the US.

在美國，生產一加侖汽油的成本低於生產一加侖牛奶的成本。

I use milk as my universal cost standard.

我把牛奶作為我的普遍成本標準。

Europeans pay a pretty penny for their gas, with the exception of Western Russia, who pays around 2.73$ a gallon.

歐洲人得為汽油付出頗為昂貴的價錢，除了西俄羅斯以外。在那裡每加侖汽油的價格約為 2.73 美元。

The countries that pay the least for gas are the countries that have the most access to it.

汽油價格最低的國家大多是因為本國即出產大量的石油。

It might be cheap, but that doesn't mean that gas is affordable.

雖然價格便宜，但不代表對當地人民來說負擔得起。

In the US, the average daily income is $170, so a gallon of gas is 1.85% of the daily income.

美國的人均日收入為 170 美元，所以一加侖的汽油約為每日收入的 1.85%。

Even though Nigerians pay 1.57$ a gallon, that's 30% of their daily income.

而儘管奈及利亞的油價每加侖僅需 1.57 美元，但這卻相當於他們每日收入的 30%。

People in India get hit the hardest. They pay an average of 4.77$ a gallon, which is 77% of their daily average income.

印度人的處境是最慘的。他們平均的油價為每加侖 4.77 美元，佔其人均日收入的 77%。

The cost of producing a barrel of gasoline around the world is just as diverse,

世界各地生產一桶汽油所需的成本也同樣多變，

and it differs because of different factors like the availability of crude oil, taxes, subsidies, ease of transport and production labor.

會因為取得原油的容易程度、稅金、補貼、運輸方便度與人力成本等各種因素而有所不同。

So gas is cheap and makes the zoom zoom and a poom poom.

汽油確實便宜，還能讓引擎發出悅耳聲響。

But it's hard to deny that's changing our climate.

但難以否認的事實是，汽油也正在改變我們的氣候環境。

At what point do we take responsibility and phase gasoline out?

我們要到什麼程度才會真正負起責任，並開始停止使用汽油？

Alternative fuels have been researched and utilized for as long as engines have been around.

自從引擎出現之後，長久以來，我們已經研發並利用了許多其他的替代燃料。

Diesel is a viable alternative to gas.

柴油便是一種汽油的可行替代品。

Although it is derived from crude oil, as gas is, it has more potential energy which requires less of it to go a greater distance.

雖然它與汽油一樣都是從原油中提煉出來的，柴油內部具有更多的潛在能量，代表只需要較少的柴油便能推動引擎走更遠的距離。

Biodiesel is even better because it doesn't require crude oil to produce.

生質柴油就更棒了，因為它甚至不需要原油便能生產出來。

It's made by chemically reacting lipids, or fats, with alcohol, which means that anything from coffee grounds to human flesh can be used to produce biofuel.

它是由脂類，也就是油脂，與酒精發生化學反應後製成的。這意味著從咖啡渣到人肉的任何東西都可以用來生產生物燃料。

There are a couple of downsides to diesel though.

然而柴油卻也有幾個缺點。

It pollutes more than gasoline, and because diesel engines require high amounts of pressure to perform, engines are costly to produce.

它所造成的汙染比汽油更嚴重，而由於柴油引擎的內部需要極高壓力才能運轉，柴油引擎的造價也更為高昂。

Ethanol has been praised as a fuel that will free us from our gasoline addiction.

乙醇被視為是能夠讓我們擺脫對汽油依賴的燃料。

Pure ethanol engines don't exist outside of the racetrack, so ethanol is used as an additive to gasoline.

純乙醇引擎只能用在賽道上，因此通常乙醇都會加進汽油裡混合使用。

Cutting gas with ethanol has advantages over pure gasoline, such as being biodegradable, polluting less and having a better energy balance.

混入乙醇的汽油與純汽油相比有幾個好處，像是它可以生物分解、汙染較少，並有著更好的能量平衡。

Ethanol isn't perfect though.

不過，乙醇並不完美。

For one, it corrodes steel, making it harder to ship. And it's not super cost effective.

首先，它會腐蝕鋼鐵，使其更難運輸。而且它的成本效益並不高。

And land that is used to grow corn or sugarcane for ethanol, could be used to grow food, which some people say is more important than gas.

用於種植玉米或甘蔗來生產乙醇的土地本來是可以用來種植糧食的，而有些人認為糧食比燃料更加重要。

The biggest problem though is that ethanol is a temporary solution to a much bigger problem.

但最大的問題是，乙醇只是對一個更大問題的暫時解法而已。

If we want to keep living in the world we enjoy, we're gonna have to find a way to stop polluting so much.

如果我們想繼續生活在我們所享受的世界裡，我們就必須找到一種方法來停止造成如此嚴重的汙染。

Alternative fuels are great, but even the best one still pollute.

替代燃料很棒，但就算是其中最棒的，也還是會汙染環境。

The only true solution to freeing ourselves from our gasoline addition, is to use 100% renewable energy.

讓我們能真正擺脫對石油依賴的方法，就是使用 100% 的永續能源。

We look at the issues in the car world that affect you every week here on Wheelhouse, so hit that yellow subscribe button right there.

我們每週都會在 Wheelhouse 上探討會影響到你的汽車問題，所以記得按下這裡的黃色訂閱按鈕。

While you're at it, check out this episode of Wheelhouse right here, and check out this sick episode of Up to Speed right around here.

按完之後也可以點擊這裡來看看另外一集 Wheelhouse，然後點這裡看看這集 Up to Speed。

Be nice. See you next time.

記得待人友善喔。我們下次見。