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Homebodies Economize¹ on Energy Use

家庭节能有助于能源利用

The rise in technology, particularly for information and communication, is radically² transforming lifestyles. For example, many people can now work from home and still be in almost constant contact with the office. Or maybe you prefer your own couch for watching a recently released movie rather than trekking³ to the local theater.

技术的兴起，特别是信息和通信技术的兴起，正在彻底改变人们的生活方式。例如很多人现在可以在家工作，而且几乎与办公室保持不间断的联系。或者你更喜欢自己的沙发上看最近发布的电影，而不是步到当地的剧院里去看电影。

“This technology induced lifestyle changes affect how people consume energy and ultimately affect the energy demand of the nation.”Ashok Sekar, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas, Austin. To assess how our changing usage of technology might alter our energy consumption, Sekar and his colleagues first set out to determine how much more we’re in our homes than we were in the past.

奥斯汀得克萨斯大学博士后研究员Ashok Sekar说：“这项技术引发了生活方式的改变，影响了人们如何消费能源，最终影响到国家的能源需求。” 为了评估我们不断变化的技术使用情况，如何改变我们的能源消耗问题，Sekar和他的同事首先着手确定，我们在家中比以前多用了多少能源。

For more than a decade, the US Bureau of Labor⁴ Statistics has surveyed how Americans spend their time each day. More than 11,000 citizens respond to the survey each year.Crunching⁵ the numbers from this survey, the researchers found that Americans are definitely logging more hours in their living rooms.“When compared to 2003, in 2012, Americans spent 8 days more at home.”

十多年来，美国劳工统计局一直在调查，美国人一天如何度过。调查结果显示，美国人确实在日常生活中占用了更多时间。“与2003年相比，2012年美国人在国内呆了8天。”

That’s 7 fewer days spent in “nonresidential spaces” and one less day spent traveling per year. And that’s on average. The younger generation exhibited even stronger homebody tendencies.

“The population aged⁶ 18 to 24 spent two weeks more at home in 2012 compared to 2003. Which is 70 percent higher change than the average population.”

在“非住宅空间”花费的时间减少了7天，每年花费的时间减少了1天。 这是平均水平。年轻一代表现出更强烈的家庭倾向，“与2012年相比，2012年18至24岁的人口在家中度过了2周的时间，比平均人口高出70%。

And that shift in location translates into surprisingly large energy savings⁷. The researchers calculate that Americans are reducing energy use by 1,200 trillion BTUs by not hopping⁸ in our cars. And we’re saving thousand trillion BTUs by skipping public appearances at the mall, movie theaters, and the office. The study is in the journal Joule. That’s J O U L E, which like the BTU is a unit of energy.

而这种位置的转变意味着节省了大量的能源。研究人员计算，美国人正在通过不乘汽车来减少了1200万BTU的能源使用。我们通过在商场、电影院和办公室跳过公众露面，从而就节省了万亿BTU。 这项研究结果发表在杂志上。那就是JU U L E，就像BTU是一个能量单位。

Now, obviously we still use energy while at home. But not all activities are equally draining when it comes to our dependence⁹ on the power grid¹⁰.“Activities at home on average takes less energy per minute compared to time spent in your car or commercial buildings.”

现在，我们显然仍然在家里使用能源。但是，当我们依赖电网的时候，并不是所有的活动都是同样的消耗。“与在你的汽车或商业建筑上花费的时间相比，在家里的活动平均每分钟能耗更少。”

To save even more energy, Sekar suggests that we focus on improving the energy efficiency of home appliances and consumer electronics—the stuff we use more when we’re working from home. All day. In our pajamas¹¹. See, we even saved the energy we’d otherwise expend¹² getting dressed.

为了节省更多的能源，Sekar建议我们专注于提高家用电器和消费电子产品的能源效率，这是我们在家工作时更多使用的东西。穿着睡衣一整天，看，我们甚至节省了我们原本花费的能量。