Uncertain Promise for the Smart Home
智慧住宅前程仍待努力
By Steve Lohr

Dustin Bond trimmed his electricity bill last summer by about 40 percent thanks to a digital thermostat at his home in Utah.
達斯汀．邦德去年夏天讓電費降低了約四成，靠的是裝在猶他州家中的一台數位溫控器。

His Nest thermostat monitors the household and outside temperatures and the family’s comings and goings, and it offers energy-saving suggestions and nudges on a smartphone app. Mr. Bond’s story seems proof of the bright energy future made possible by the new Internet-era devices of the so-called smart home.
他的Nest溫控器監控家中與外面的氣溫，以及家人的進出，提供節能建議，透過智慧手機應用程式觸控。稱為智慧住宅的網路時代新裝置，為能源提供了光明的遠景，而邦德的故事似乎就是這遠景的保證。

But his experience also points to the uncertain impact on energy consumption of the digital transformation of household mainstays like thermostats and light bulbs.
但是他的經驗也點出，像溫控器和電燈泡等住宅主要物品的數位化轉換，對能源消費的影響仍不確定。

“It’s not a big deal to me to save a few bucks on my energy bill,” Mr. Bond said. “But how it works is really cool.”
邦德說：「對我來說，能源帳單省幾塊錢不是什麼大事，但它如何運作這件事卻相當酷。」

The energy-saving promise of the smart home faces challenges of adoption and economics. Take the Nest device.
智慧住宅要實現節能承諾，面臨能否獲得採用及經濟效益雙重挑戰。且以Nest裝置為例。

Independent research studying hundreds of households, and thousands in control groups, found significant energy savings – 7 to 17 percent on average for gas heating and electric cooling. Yet as a percentage of a household’s total gas and electric use, the reduction was 2 to 8 percent.
獨立研究分析了數百戶住宅，以及數千戶對照組，發現顯著的能源節約－取暖用天然氣和冷氣用電平均省下7%至17%。不過若換算成住家的天然氣和電力使用總百分比，減少率為2%至8%。

A helpful savings, but probably not enough of a monthly utility bill to be a call to action. Then, there is the switching cost. Conventional thermostats cost a fraction of the $249 Nest device.
這項節約有幫助，但每月省下這點錢恐怕難以促使人們採取行動。況且還有筆轉換費用。常規溫控器價格僅為Nest裝置249美元的好幾分之一。

But the larger benefit of the new home technology may be beyond the home, as it contributes to the ecosystem of energy efficiency. Add up many household energy-saving steps at the right time, and peak loads for utilities are reduced, requiring less power generation. The cleanest, cheapest imaginable power plant is the one that is never built.
但是新住宅科技更大的效益也許在住宅之外，因為它對節能的生態體系大有貢獻。在適切時間結合許多住宅的節能行動，尖峰時段的能源負載就會減少，發電量也可減少。想像得到的最潔淨且最便宜的發電廠，其實從未建造。

“If you can shift the load for a few hours on a summer day, that is a big deal to the utility company,” said Jonathan Koomey of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University. “That’s where the big saving is going to be.”
史丹佛大學史代爾－泰勒能源政策及金融中心的強納森．庫米說：「如果你能在夏日改變幾小時的負載，對電力公司是很重要的事。能從而省下大筆費用。」

Smart home span an array that includes video surveillance cameras, motion-detection security systems, door locks, garage door openers, automated window shades, stereo speakers and bathroom scales.
智慧住宅產品一字排開，包括影像監控攝影機、動態偵測安全系統、門鎖、車庫門開關、電動百葉窗、立體揚聲器及浴室體重計。

What defines the smart home device industry is that the products can typically be remotely monitored and controlled from a smartphone or tablet app.
智慧住宅裝置產業的定義是，產品基本上可透過智慧手機或平板電腦的應用程式遙控監測及控制。

“People are experiencing the connected home as an extension of the smartphone,” said Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research.
佛瑞斯特研究公司分析師法蘭克．吉列特說：「人們正把體驗連接住宅，當作智慧手機的延伸。」

Keith Friedlander of Lloyd Harbor, New York, bought a Wink hub, a smartphone app that communicates with different devices, and LED lights last year and has struggled to make the software and devices behave.
住在紐約州洛伊港的基斯．弗瑞藍德去年買了Wink hub，一個可以連接不同裝置及LED燈的智慧手機應用程式，一直很費力地要讓軟體和裝置順利運作。

“Setting it up required an engineering degree, and it still doesn’t really work,” Mr. Friedlander said.
他說：「要有工程學位才能設置它 ，而且它依舊沒有真正運作。」

Smart home technology, said Brett Worthington, general manager of Wink, is “still too difficult to set up and use.” He added, “We’re getting there, but there’s still a ways to go.”
Wink總經理布雷特．沃辛頓說，智慧住宅科技的「設置與使用仍然太難」。他補充道：「我們正在接近目標，但仍有段路要走。」

The smart home’s energy-saving potential, as well, is a work in progress.
智慧住宅的節能潛力，也是還在進行中的工作。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/energy-environment/homes-try-to-reach-smart-switch.html

2015-08-04聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 莊蕙嘉譯 原文參見紐時週報八版下