PBS高端访谈:零消耗实验室

JUDY WOODRUFF: To heat and cool buildings takes up an astonishing 40 percent of energy used across the world. It's a figure that grows only more troubling as climate change continues to threaten the planet. There is an architect who is trying to change not only how much energy a building consumes, but how much it produces. From PBS station WGBH in Boston, Cristina Quinn has this story. It's part of our ongoing¹ coverage² of arts and culture, Canvas.

CRISTINA QUINN: On a quiet residential³ street close to Harvard, this pretty nondescript house is known as HouseZero. Why is it called HouseZero?

ALI MALKAWI, Harvard Graduate School of Design: Well, because there are a lot of zeros, right? One is, the building doesn't almost use any energy from heating and cooling. And it's zero carbon. It doesn't have any electrical light during the day.

CRISTINA QUINN: No lights, no HVAC system, and barely a utility bill. The goal of HouseZero is to produce more energy than it consumes, ultimately providing power to the grid⁴. Architect Ali Malkawi of Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities, says it relies only on fresh air and natural light. And it's quiet.

ALI MALKAWI: It is, because we don't have any pumps. Nothing is moving. It's very much linked to the outside where windows open and close. It's very gentle, right?

CRISTINA QUINN: Right, there's no hum. There's no room hum.

ALI MALKAWI: Nothing.

CRISTINA QUINN: There's no machines whirring. It is very quiet, but it's comfortably quiet.

ALI MALKAWI: It's amazing, because we don't notice this unless we see that we are living in environments such as this, right, because most of our environments have these humming noises, and we get accustomed to it.

CRISTINA QUINN: Windows open automatically if it starts to get a little warm or stuffy⁵. And they're framed by panels that provide shade. The solar chimney makes sure the inside stays ventilated. During extreme temperatures, geothermal pumps are used to cool or heat the house through the floors. But what exactly is a solar chimney?

ALI MALKAWI: It's a chimney that allows air to move freely without mechanical systems. It allows air to be drawn⁶ from the outside, and people to be ventilated, without mechanical systems in the lower parts, where you cannot do cross-ventilation.

CRISTINA QUINN: All of this though, relies on really smart technology. Under the floors and throughout HouseZero, there are five miles of cables and hundreds of sensors⁷ capturing data, like airflow, temperature and CO2 levels. Put on a pair of augmented⁸ reality goggles⁹, and you can actually see it.

ALI MALKAWI: Now, all the information that we are getting from the house is being pulled into a giant database.

CRISTINA QUINN: No one actually lives here. HouseZero is a lab designed to help the next generation of architects design and build houses that don't rely on energy. Malkawi wants students and researchers to think of buildings as living, breathing structures that interact naturally with their environment.

ALI MALKAWI: We're basically demonstrating in this building that just natural ventilation is such an easy thing to do. But can it be controllable? And, at the same time we're saying, OK, now, this is good. Can we even go beyond that? Can we scale it up, right, with very simple technologies.

CRISTINA QUINN: While the cost of incorporating this technology into a new house wouldn't significantly add to its price, Malkawi and his team are still developing the software to make it ready for the mass housing market. As people become more concerned about their carbon footprint, many elements could become standard in architectural design. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Cristina Quinn in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：为房屋制冷制热所消耗的能量占全球消耗总能量的40%，这一数据让人大吃一惊。这个数据在气候变化持续威胁地球之际显得更加令人不安。有一位建筑师正在努力改变房屋所消耗的能量，同时他也在努力改变房屋所释放的能量。下面请听我台驻美国公众电台波士顿站记者克里斯蒂娜·奎恩发回的报道。本期节目是帆布系列艺术文化主题的系列报道。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：在哈佛附近一条安静的居民街上，有一所长相平平的房子名叫零能耗建筑实验室。为何得名于此呢？

阿里·马拉卡威，哈佛设计学院：怎么说的，因为有很多零吧，确实有很多零。其一是：这座楼几乎不会使用制冷或制热，碳排放量为零。白天不会消耗电光源。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：没有光，没有高压交流电系统，几乎不会收到物业账单。零能耗建筑实验室的目标是产能比耗能多，最终能够为电网供电。建筑师阿里·马拉卡威任职于哈佛绿色建筑与城市中心，他表示，零能耗建筑实验室的运转只靠新鲜空气和自然光，运作过程无噪音。

阿里·马拉卡威：这是因为我们没有采用任何形式的泵，没有什么需要运动零能耗建筑实验室与外界紧密相连，窗户可以开可以关。整个过程没有噪音，不是吗？

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：没错，没有噪音，房间里也没有。

阿里·马拉卡威：什么噪音都没有。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：这里完全听不到机器的嗡鸣，十分安静，安静的让人感觉舒适。

阿里·马拉卡威：这一点太让人震惊了，因为不住在这里的人完全不会注意到这里，确实是这样。因为我们的大多数环境都会有嗡鸣的噪音，我们也都习惯了这一点。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：室内如果暖和起来或者有些闷热的话，窗户就会自动打开。窗户都裱了嵌板，可以提供荫蔽。太阳能烟囱的设计可以确保室内的通风。温度极低或极高时，地源热泵就会通过地板来制冷或制热。但太阳能烟囱是什么呢？

阿里·马拉卡威：这种烟囱可以让空气自由流动，完全不需要机械系统的助力。太阳能烟囱让空气可以从室外进入室内，能实现环境通风，下部不需要机械系统，因此空气对流是不可能存在的。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：不过，所有这些的实现都需要依靠智能技术。在地板以下以及整个零能耗建筑实验室，有5英里的电缆和数百个捕捉数据的感应器，捕捉的数据包括但不限于气流、气温、二氧化碳浓度。带上放大现实的眼镜，就能目睹这一切了。

阿里·马拉卡威：现在，我们从该实验室获取的所有信息都导入了一个大型数据库中。

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：实际上，没有人在该实验室里生活。设计该实验室的初衷是帮助下一代建筑师设计并构造房子——不依赖能源就能运转的房子。马拉卡威希望学生们和科学家们能够将建筑物视为可以有生命、可以呼吸的结构，可以与环境自然互动的一种存在。

阿里·马拉卡威：通过这座实验室，我们证明了自然通风是一件很容易做到的事情。但自然通风是否可控就成了我们应该思考的问题？与此同时，我们会思考：好，现在已有的成果值得欣慰，但我们是否能超越当前的成果呢？我们是否能通过简单的技术来扩大规模呢？

克里斯蒂娜·奎恩：虽然将技术融入新房屋的成本不会大幅抬高价格，但马拉卡威和他的团队依然在研发软件，希望能投入大众房屋市场中。随着人们对碳排放量越来越关心，很多元素也成了建筑设计的标配。感谢收听克里斯蒂娜·奎恩从马萨诸塞州坎布里奇发回的《新闻一小时》。

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

3 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

4 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

5 stuffy   

adj.不透气的，闷热的

参考例句：

• It's really hot and stuffy in here.这里实在太热太闷了。
• It was so stuffy in the tent that we could sense the air was heavy with moisture.帐篷里很闷热，我们感到空气都是潮的。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

8 Augmented   

adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• 'scientists won't be replaced," he claims, "but they will be augmented." 他宣称：“科学家不会被取代；相反，他们会被拓展。” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The impact of the report was augmented by its timing. 由于发表的时间选得好，这篇报导的影响更大了。

9 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。