Most of us know we should rein in our energy use. But to be successful, it’d help if we knew the best way to do it. So scientists asked more than 500 people, “What’s the most effective thing you can do to conserve energy?” The results were illuminating.
不少人都了解应该严格控制能源消耗，而学会最好的管控办法则能帮大家成功做到这一点。为此科学家们询问了500多人：“你觉得效果最好的节能方法是什么?”结果很具备启发性。
More than half the participants focused on conservation by curtailment: switching off the lights, changing thermostat settings and driving less. Only 12 percent went for efficiency: using compact fluorescent bulbs, insulating the house or driving a hybrid car. But scientists say that it’s actually these moves that yield the bigger energy savings. The results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
超越半数的受访者觉得降低用是节能重点——比如关灯、调节温度器设置与少开车。仅有百分之十二的受访者关注到能效问题——比如用节能灯泡、房屋隔温与驾驶混合动力汽车。但科学家表示，事实上后者能节省更多的能源。这项研究成就已在《美国科学院学报》上刊登了出来。
The study authors think that a big factor is that curtailment is easier to imagine doing—while efforts to improve efficiency would involve, for example, doing research about new appliances or cars, and spending money up front to buy them.
研究报告的作者觉得，问题的重要在于大家更容易想到降低用能源，而提升能效则涉及到研发新电器和新汽车等行为，而且购买这类新品还要先烧钱。
But if people knew more about the actual energy requirements of their activities versus the savings available through efficiency, they might be spurred to act. To quote physicist and energy expert Arthur Rosenfeld: “Energy efficiency is like a Saudi Arabia under our cities.”
但倘若大家进一步知道他们平时活动的实质能耗，与通过提升效率能节省的能源的话,，他们就会迫不及待行动起来了。引用物理学家和能源学家阿瑟·罗森菲尔德的一句话：“能源效率就宛若藏在大家脚下的一个沙特阿拉伯。”
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