智能又節能的太陽能住宅

If some group gave out awards for the least energy-efficient structures-the way those LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) designations for state-of-the-art 'green' buildings are handed around-our home upstate would likely make it into at least the semifinals.

假如某個機構要頒發最不節能建築獎――正如那些能源與環境設計認證(Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)稱號被授予最先進的“綠色”建築一樣――我們家在州北部的住宅可能至少能闖入半決賽。

The furnace dates from the '60s and burns lots of oil. We have three large hot water heaters. Why three? Don't ask me. The insulation, to the extent there is insulation, includes horsehair from the 19th century-we believe the place was built around 1850, if not earlier-and some sort of foam my grandparents, who bought the place in the 1940s, had injected into the walls in the '70s.

我們家的爐子還是上世紀60年代的，非常耗油。我們還有三臺大熱水器。爲什麼有三臺？這個問題別問我。房子的隔熱材料（如果說還有隔熱材料的話）夾雜着19世紀的馬毛――我們認爲房子建於1850年左右或更早的時候。另外，它們還含有我的祖父母（他們在40年代買下這所房子）在70年代注入 內的某種泡沫材料。

There's also central air conditioning that my mother added as an afterthought when she renovated and enlarged the place in the early '80s. And a sunroom with lots of glass.

在80年代初，母親在翻修和擴建房子時又新添加了中央空調系統，並且建了一個安有大量玻璃的陽光房。

In short, the place is probably an energy sieve, and one I'd like to stanch as quickly as possible. I have no illusion that it can be turned into one of those net-zero structures that actually contributes more energy to the grid than it takes, but it would just be nice if it didn't bankrupt me.

簡言之，這所房子稱得上是一個“能源漏篩”，一個我想盡快把它堵上的漏篩。我不幻想它能變身爲一座零能耗建築，實際產生的能量比它耗費的還要多，只要它沒讓我破產就不錯了。

In the hope of cleaning up the house's act, I paid a visit last week to a solar house conveniently situated in Hoboken that students and professors from Stevens Institute of Technology have just completed. Hoboken isn't its final destination. 'Ecohabit,' as it's called, will be disassembled and trucked to Irvine, Calif., where it will be reassembled for October's 'Solar Decathlon.' That's a biannual competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy where 20 energy-conscious schools, such as Stanford, the California Institute of Technology, Middlebury College and the University of Texas, compete in categories such as architecture, engineering, appliances, hot water efficiency, home entertainment and communications to create the most energy-efficient solar homes.

懷着改變房子耗能現狀的希望，前不久我去附近的霍博肯(Hoboken)參觀了一所太陽能房。它名爲“Ecohabit”，剛剛由斯蒂文斯理工學院(Stevens Institute of Technology)的學生與教授們組建完成。霍博肯並非它的最後一站。接下來它將被拆裝運至加州爾灣市(Irvine)，然後在那兒重新搭建以參加10月份的國際太陽能十項全能競賽(Solar Decathlon)。這項一年兩度的競賽由美國能源部(U.S. Department of Energy)主辦，包括斯坦福(Stanford)、加州理工(California Institute of Technology)、米德爾伯裏學院(Middlebury College)和得克薩斯大學(University of Texas)在內的20所具有節能意識的高校將參賽，角逐建築設計、工程技術、家用電器、熱水供應能效、家庭娛樂以及通信等類別的獎項，以打造出最節能的太陽能房。

'Two years ago, we won affordability,' explained Michael Bruno, the dean of Stevens's Schaefer School of Engineering and Science. 'This year, we want to win the whole thing.'

斯蒂文斯理工學院謝弗工程與科學學院(Schaefer School of Engineering and Science)的院長邁克爾・布魯諾(Michael Bruno)說：“我們在兩年前贏得了可負擔性方面的獎項，今年我們想贏取總冠軍。”

Let me state from the outset that I know nothing about electricity (solar or otherwise), plumbing, air conditioning, heating, construction, condensation, etc. I grew up in an apartment. Besides which, I'm mentally, physically and emotionally impaired when it comes to doing anything with my hands more advanced than replacing a light bulb.

首先，我要聲明一下，我對電能（太陽能或其他能源）、管道、空調系統、供暖、建築以及冷凝技術等等都一無所知。我是在公寓房中長大的。除此之外，每每涉及到要我動手做任何一件難度高於換燈泡的事情時，我在精神上、身體上以及情緒上都會受到摧殘。

My consciousness of such things is pretty much limited to having an intuitive sense of whether something is cool. So let's examine the house from that point of view. From a distance, situated in a parking lot overlooking the Hudson River, the $300,000, 980-square-foot home is way cool, and not just because the New York City skyline served as its backdrop.

我對此類事物的認識基本上只限於憑直覺判斷某個地方是否涼爽，因此就讓我們從這個角度考察這所房子吧。它位於一個俯瞰哈德遜河的停車場上，遠遠望去，這所耗資300,000美元、面積爲980平方英尺（約合90平米）的房子相當地酷，而這不僅是因爲它有紐約的天際線作爲它的背景。

The architecture reminded me of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie houses, an exercise in elegant simplicity.

這座建築讓我想起了弗蘭克・勞埃德・賴特(Frank Lloyd Wright)設計的牧場風格住宅，一座簡約又不失雅緻的房子。

The front of the house is covered in attractive red cedar. Other parts of the structure are clad in a paneling that I'm sure has some sort of futuristic purpose but that resembled sheetrock before it's painted, or wallpapered, and whose appearance I wasn't wild about.

房子的正面鋪着引人注目的紅杉木，其他區域則鋪着鑲板，我相信它肯定有某種未來主義的用途，但它在未刷漆或貼上壁紙之前看上去像石膏板，外觀不是讓我非常喜歡。

However, my interest was genuinely piqued when I was shown one of the solar shingles-not panels, shingles-of which the roof was constructed. 'This is one of the most innovative things and one of the easiest things somebody who already owns a house can do to make it more energy efficient,' explained Claire Griffin, a Stevens sophomore studying mechanical engineering.

然而，當我看到一塊用於鋪設屋頂的太陽能瓦片――不是面板，是瓦片――時，我的興趣真正被勾了起來。斯蒂文斯理工學院機械工程學系的大二學生克萊爾・格里芬(Claire Griffin)解釋道：“對於已經有房子的人來說，這是能用來提高房子節能效率的最有創新性、最簡便的東西之一。”

'They work like normal shingles but generate energy at the same time,' added Liem Nguyen, a senior who is another member of the Ecohabit team.

Ecohabit團隊的成員之一、大四學生連源(Liem Nguyen，音)稱：“它們的功能與普通瓦片一樣，但它們同時還能產生能量。”

These devices, donated by their manufacturer Dow Chemical, which include a fully integrated photovoltaic system to power the house, would certainly fall into the cool (bordering on awesome) category.

這些材料設備由它們的生產商陶氏化學(Dow Chemical)捐贈，它還包括一個給房子供電的全集成光電系統，房子的溫度顯然是屬於比較涼爽的（接近於令人讚歎的程度。）

I mean, I assumed that if I wanted to solar-retrofit my house, I'd have to find a field somewhere or cut down a grove of trees to provide space for the array of solar panels required to power my dishwasher or dryer. It would obviously be a lot easier if I could simply slap a bunch of shingles on the house. The existing ones on the garage are starting to look pretty cruddy, as it is.

我想說的是，我曾經想當然地以爲，如果要將我的房子改造成太陽能的，我得在其他地方找到一塊地或是砍掉一片樹林，以此爲給我的洗碗機或烘乾機供電的一排太陽能面板提供空間。如果僅僅換掉屋頂上的一批瓦片就可以，事情顯然就要簡單得多了。車庫上現有的那堆瓦片已經開始看起來讓人討厭了，它們確實也讓人討厭。

There's also a green wall. It wasn't green yet, but will eventually be hydrated by a rainwater-capture system and covered in plants and flowers native to Southern California. Once the Solar Decathlon is over, the house will be donated and turned into a veteran's center on the campus of California State University San Marcos.

Ecohabit還有一面綠色的 。現在它還沒有變綠，不過它最終將由雨水收集系統供水，長滿南加州土生土長的植物和花卉。待此次比賽結束，這棟房子將被捐出去，成爲加州州立大學 馬科斯分校(California State University San Marcos)的老兵活動中心。

I neglected to ask whether such a system of plants could survive a Northeast winter, since there's probably nothing quite as dour as dead plants decorating the outside of your home. On the other hand, it would be pretty cool to have your garden growing up the wall of your house. It would also serve as a thumb in the eye of destructive woodchucks and rascally chipmunks.

我忘了問這樣一面綠色植物 是否能熬得過東北部的冬季，因爲大概再沒什麼會像自家的外 滿是凋謝的植物那般死氣沉沉了。不過，把花園搬到房子的 上也會是一件非常酷的事情，而且它還可讓搞破壞的土撥鼠和無賴的金花鼠無處藏身。

In any case, I doubt the concept will be integrated into our house, which seems to invite leaks. Our goal is generally to direct water away from the house rather than toward it.

不管怎樣，我還是懷疑這一理念是否能融入到我們的房子中，它似乎會引起房子漏水。我們一般都是想要把水從房中引出去，而不是把它引向房子。

The inside of Ecohabit seemed as cheerful and airy as the outside, though I was informed that its most novel elements are invisible. The walls include phase-changing materials, or PCMs, that store heat during the day and release it at night.

Ecohabit的內部看上去與外部一樣招人喜歡，而且也寬敞，但是我被告知它最新奇的元素是看不到的。它的 體含有相變材料，該種材料可在日間儲存熱量，然後在晚間把它釋放出來。

A recirculating heat pump keeps the water warm in the kitchen and bathroom, so you don't have to run it and waste water. And there are sensors in each room that monitor and send data about everything from temperature, weather patterns, power usage, lighting-even the number of occupants in the room-to a central control system.

循環式熱泵一直保持着廚房與衛生間的水溫，所以你不必先把冷水放掉而浪費了水資源。每個房間還配有傳感器，它可監控並向一箇中央監控系統發送有關溫度、天氣、電力用量、照明乃至房中人數的各類事項的數據。

'We hope to get to the point where [the system] can make suggestions,' explained Mark Pollock, the project's manager and an industry assistant professor at Stevens. ''You've done three loads of laundry and it's kind of cloudy. You should wait until tomorrow,' when it's forecast to be sunny, ''and you won't have to pull as much energy from the grid.''

Ecohabit項目的指導人、斯蒂文斯理工學院工科助理教授馬克・波洛克(Mark Pollock)說：“我們希望（該系統）可以達到能夠提供建議的智能程度。比如說‘你已經洗了三堆衣服，天氣有些陰。你應該等到明天天氣預報播報天晴的時候再洗’，這樣一來你就不必耗費那麼多的電量。”

More than 60 Stevens faculty members and students contributed to Ecohabit. 'Doing this project is part of their curriculum,' Dr. Bruno explained. 'It draws from every discipline you can imagine and some you couldn't imagine: energy, management, computer science and the College of Arts and Letters.'

斯蒂文斯理工學院有60多名教職員及學生對Ecohabit項目做出了貢獻。布魯諾博士說：“做這個項目是他們課程的一部分，它要利用到你所能想象到的每一門學科，甚至還有一些你想象不到的學科，比如能源、管理、計算機科學以及人文藝術等。”

Jesse House, a music and technology major and a philosophy minor, was fine-tuning a computer program that controls the house's sound system. It seemed to be playing some sort of series of tones. 'The music program takes all the data the house is collecting and turns it into soothing background music,' Mr. House explained, adding something about brainwaves and the theta state of consciousness.

傑西・豪斯(Jesse House)是一名主修音樂科技、輔修哲學的學生。在我參觀房子時，他正在調試一個控制房子音響系統的電腦程序，它似乎正在播放一連串的某種音調。豪斯說：“這個音樂程序會接收房子收集到的所有數據，然後把它轉變爲舒緩的背景音樂。”他另外又談了一些有關腦電波和潛意識狀態的內容。

I want to live in a smart house, but I'm not sure one whose music apprehends and reflects my mood. What if I'm depressed?

我想住在智能住宅中，不過我不確定我是否想住在一所它的音樂能理解並反映我的情緒的房子中。萬一我覺得沮喪呢？

'You can put the Rolling Stones on, too,' Dr. Bruno assured me.

“你還可以添加滾石(Rolling Stones)的音樂。”布魯諾博士向我保證道。