節省能源建築競賽

In its first ever National Building Competition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency challenged teams from across the nation to cut wasteful energy use in buildings in which they live and work. Residential and commercial buildings together consume 40 percent of U.S. energy and the Obama Administration is eager to show how that load can be reduced.

在首屆全國建築競賽上，美國環保署要求來自全國各地的參賽小組最大幅度地降低人們工作和生活於其中的建築的能源浪費。居住和商用建築消耗能源佔全美能耗總量的大約百分之40。

In recent remarks at Pennyslvania State University, President Barack Obama promoted a plant that could help commercial buildings achieve greater energy efficiency.

建築物消耗大量能源。這就是爲什麼奧巴馬總統2月初前往賓夕法尼亞大學，推動一個可能幫助商用建築提高能效的計劃。

"Making our buildings more energy-efficient is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to save money, combat pollution and create jobs right here in the United States of America," he said.

他說：“提高建築的能源利用率，是節省資金、控制污染、在美國創造就業的最快、最簡單和最省錢的途徑。我們要做的就是這個。”

Obama toured Penn State research labs where scientists are working on new technologies designed to cut energy waste in commercial buildings. Stores like the Sears department store in Glen Burnie, Maryland, which took second prize in the contest, are already using some of those technologies.

奧巴馬總統參觀了大學實驗室。那裏的科學家正在研究一些新技術來減少商業建築的能源浪費，其中包括艾德·莫恩茲在馬里蘭州格倫博尼經營的西爾斯連鎖百貨店。

The Sears store sells everything from appliances and automotive supplies to clothes and consumer electronics. As manager, Ed Maunz walks the floors all day long, not just to check on staff, but to see how building systems are working. "The building is running 24 hours a day. And, certainly a building this size can consume a lot of energy if there are not efficiencies to keep it in check"

西爾斯出售從家用電器、汽車配件，到衣服和電子產品等各種商品。莫恩茲說：“這座建築的電力系統一天24小時工作，人不在時也照樣運轉。這麼大一個建築物，要是不控制能源使用效率，會消耗大量的能源。”

Maunz calculates that 80 American homes could fit comfortably inside his store. And as in any private home, lighting, heating and cooling are the big energy users. He says air conditioning is very demanding, especially during the region’s intense summer heat and humidity.

莫恩茲說，像普通住家一樣，西爾斯商店的能源使用大頭是空調。空調非常費電，尤其是在馬里蘭州，夏天悶熱潮溼。

"This building has 24 rooftop units. There can be times when they are overworking, under working and certainly they can drain the energy consumption if not working properly."

15,000 light bulbs switched out

As part of the store’s bid to cut its energy use, every one of those rooftop AC units was checked and repaired. Every light bulb - all 15,000 of them - was replaced with a more efficient one. And motion sensors were installed to shut lights off in offices and storerooms when no one is around.

莫恩茲這所商店爲了減少能耗，定期檢修每一個空調系統。商店所有15,000個燈都換成了節能燈，還裝了活動感應器，沒有人的時候自動關閉辦公室和倉庫的電燈。電梯也是按時啓動，以節省電力。

Maunz says even escalators were put on a schedule to save power. "We are disciplined in that we don’t need the escalator on until the customer gets here and that’s approximately five minutes before the customer gets here and we turn it off five or ten minutes after the customer leaves."

Taken together, these changes helped the Sears store reduce its building energy consumption by neary one-third and cut electric bills by $46,000. Maunz says Sears’ employees like 23-year-old electronics salesman Jonathan Boushell were essential to the success of the plan.

這些措施綜合起來將西爾斯商店能耗降低了將近三分之一，節省電費4萬6千美元。莫恩茲表示，西爾斯僱員對節能計劃的成功至關重要。比如，23歲的喬納森·布什爾負責平板電視和電子遊戲系統的銷售。爲了節能，他不得不改變一些慣常的做法。

Boushell works among banks of plasma TV sets and video-game systems. He figures they consume more energy than any department in the store and says he had to alter some routines during the year-long contest to control energy use.

"We made sure that all the TVs would be off by a certain time. We were just mindful of that and just to all around to conserve where we could, where it helped."

布什爾說：“我們非常注意，讓所有的電視機在一定的時間關閉。晚上離開以前，關掉所有電器。”

What the Sears employees did can easily be replicated elsewhere, at little or no net cost, according to Jennifer Amann, the director of the Buildings Program for the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

美國能源效率經濟協會樓房建築項目的詹妮佛·安曼認爲，西爾斯僱員能做的，別的地方也可以做，而且費錢不多，甚至不費錢。

"In the current economic climate many companies are a little reluctant to make those large capital investments. So looking at your operations and maintenance is a great opportunity for tweaking the system, maybe changing out some of the components in the system that can really lead to energy savings without a huge financial investment."

她說：“因此，檢查改進運營和維修是調整用電系統的一個好機會，或許更換用電系統中的某些部件會節省能源，同時又不需要大筆投資。”Building energy diet

Office buildings can also achieve impressive energy savings. The tenants of a 12-story complex in Arlington, Virginia, managed to cut the building’s energy consumption by 28 percent as part of the EPA competition.

辦公樓也能大幅度節省能源。維吉尼亞州阿靈頓一座12層辦公樓的租戶參加環保署的節能競賽，把大樓的能源消耗降低了百分之28。

They did it with more efficient office lighting, an upgrade in heating and cooling systems and on-going computerized monitoring that allows building engineer Stan Hunt to know how efficiently energy is being used. "You can monitor all of your temperatures of your areas, as well as all the mechanical systems that support the areas. If somebody calls to say they are cold or they are hot you go in and look at the unit and see that servicing that area and make adjustments if necessary."

他們使用節能燈，更新空調系統，使用電腦監測，隨時掌握能源使用效率。

Those measures helped shave $250,000 dollars from the building’s annual energy bills. Mike Williams, regional vice president for Glenborough, the real estate company that owns and leases the building, says updated building systems can only go so far. "The technology that we implemented was one thing, but a significant part of it was just changing the attitudes of people and how they viewed energy."

採取這些措施之後，這幢辦公樓一年的電費節省了25萬美元。辦公樓的房東邁克·威廉姆說，節能的成功也依賴於租戶的參與，“我們採用的技術是一面，但一個主要方面是改變人們的態度，改變他們對待能源的態度。”

The Arlington, Virginia office tower is used by government and commercial tenants, a supermarket and three levels of underground parking. The Aluminum Association is one of the companies leasing space in the tower.

阿靈頓這座辦公樓的租戶是政府和商業機構，以及一家超市和三層地下停車場。鋁業協會是租戶之一。

Its president Steve Larkin says the EPA’s energy challenge mirrored the way his employees already work and use energy at the office. "That means: turning off lights. That means turning off computers when we’re finished. That means closing the blinds to keep the sun out or opening the blinds on a cold day when we need the sun in."

協會主席史蒂夫·拉金說，環保署的節能競賽跟他的僱員的節能做法一致，“這就是隨手關燈，下班後關閉電腦，太陽直射時放下窗簾，天冷時拉起窗簾讓陽光照進來。”

Low-cost solutions

Whether it’s an office building or a department store, a school or church, the EPA energy challenge showed that there’s always room for improvement, says Jennifer Amann with the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. "It really shows that there are always opportunities, lots of un-mined potential in our buildings. It’s not a project that you do once and you forget about. It is something that you do over time and you maintain it as part of your strategy."

美國能源效率經濟協會的安曼說，環保署的節能競賽顯示，無論是辦公樓還是商店，無論是學校還是教堂，都大有節能的餘地。他說：“競賽顯示，總是有很多的機會節省能源。這不是一次性的工程，可以一勞永逸，而是需要反覆做，讓它稱爲你節能戰略的一部分。”

A building strategy, Amann adds, that makes sense both for the pocket book and the planet.

安曼指出，一所樓房的節能戰略既能省錢，也保護環境。