阿拉巴马州的一个智能家居社区
阿拉巴马州的一个智能家居社区
Hannah Kennedy wakes up in the morning, turns to Alexa — a smart speaker — and asks, "What's the weather like today? What are the traffic conditions?"
汉娜•肯尼迪(Hannah Kennedy)早上醒来，转向Alexa——一位聪明的演讲者——问道:“今天天气怎么样?”交通状况如何?”
She leaves for work, checking an app on her phone that warns her if any doors or windows have been left open at home. She looks at the app two or three more times during the day to monitor the thermostat or let a delivery in. At the grocery store, she checks to see if she has enough milk, via the refrigerator's in-built camera.
她离开去工作，查看手机上的一个应用程序，如果家里有任何门或窗被打开，该应用程序会警告她。她在一天中再看两三次APP来监控恒温器或者让送货员进来。在杂货店，她通过冰箱内置的摄像头检查自己是否有足够的牛奶。
Kennedy is living in Reynolds Landing, a neighborhood of 62 smart homes developed by Alabama Power on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. It is part of an experiment by the utility company to imagine how homes will look in 2040.
肯尼迪现在住在·雷诺兹着陆区，这是阿拉巴马电力公司在阿拉巴马州伯明翰郊区开发的一个有62个智能住宅的社区。这是这家公用事业公司进行的一项实验的一部分，目的是想象2040年住宅将会是什么样子。
With North America's smart home market expected to grow from $12 billion to $36 billion in yearly revenues between 2017 and 2022, according to market research firm Berg Insight, this experiment could foretell the future of home design. By 2022, the report estimates that 63 million households in North America will have adopted smart home systems.
根据市场研究公司·伯格洞察公司的数据，2017年到2022年，北美智能家居市场的年收入预计将从120亿美元增长到360亿美元，这项实验可能预示着家居设计的未来。报告估计，到2022年，北美将有6300万个家庭采用智能家居系统。
"What we've done here is create some very efficient homes, connect them up, and we're trying to understand how we're serving those customers...and how they're using that energy and interacting with those devices in their homes," Todd Rath, Alabama Power's marketing director, tells CNN Business.
阿拉巴马电力公司营销总监托德·拉特告诉CNN Business：“我们在这里所做的是创建一些非常高效的家庭，将它们连接起来，我们正在努力了解我们是如何为这些客户服务的…以及他们是如何使用这些能源，并在家里与这些设备进行互动的，”Todd Rath，阿拉巴马州电力公司的营销总监，在接受CNN Business采访时表示。
Energy-efficient technology
节能技术
Homes at Reynolds Landing are 35% more efficient than standard newly built homes in the area, earning Alabama Power the Alliance to Save Energy's 2019 Stars of Energy Efficiency Award. The electricity that powers them is generated locally, by a microgrid made up of solar panels, battery storage and a backup natural gas generator.
雷诺兹兰丁的住宅比该地区新建的标准住宅能效高出35%，这为阿拉巴马州节能联盟赢得了2019年能效之星奖。为它们提供动力的电力是由一个由太阳能电池板、电池存储和备用天然气发电机组成的微型电网在当地产生的。
The biggest energy savers are the temperature control systems, which are particularly important in Alabama's extreme climate. "Here in the southeast United States, we have hot summers but also really cold snaps in the winter," says Rath. "The biggest energy user in an individual home is the heating and air-con system."
最大的节能装置是温度控制系统，这在阿拉巴马州极端气候下尤为重要。拉斯说:“在美国东南部，夏天很热，但是冬天也很冷。“单个家庭最大的能源消耗是供暖和空调系统。”
The houses are kitted out with a smart home system that includes thermostats, voice-activated security and interconnected kitchen appliances.
这些房屋配备了智能家居系统，包括恒温器、声控安全装置和相互连接的厨房电器。
This means that the homeowner can control almost everything remotely: from room temperature to opening the door and turning on the oven.
这意味着房主可以远程控制几乎所有东西:从室温到开门和打开烤箱。
Such smart devices use less energy than heating and air conditioning units, and consumers love remote control and tactile interaction, says Nick Lange, a consultant at sustainable energy company VEIC.
可持续能源公司VEIC的顾问尼克兰格(Nick Lange)说，这类智能设备比供暖和空调设备耗电更少，而且消费者喜欢遥控和触觉互动。
"The little things do add up" he says. "Smart thermostats are a good example of a relatively pain-free way to have a big impact."
他说:“小事总会积累起来。”“智能恒温器就是一个很好的例子，它可以相对轻松地产生巨大的影响。”
Living laboratory
生活实验室
Houses in the smart neighborhood came onto the market in the usual fashion, costing around $400,000 each — about average for a home in the area, says Rath.
拉斯说，在智能小区里，房子以通常的方式进入市场，每套房子的售价约为40万美元，大约相当于该地区一套房子的平均价格。
When buying a home, residents agreed to share anonymized data on energy usage with Alabama Power and meet researchers monthly to discuss their experience and likes and dislikes.
在买房时，居民们同意与阿拉巴马州电力公司(Alabama Power)分享匿名的能源使用数据，并每月与研究人员会面，讨论他们的经历和喜好。
"Each of the homeowners is part of this research project, we call it the living laboratory," says Rath.
“每个房主都是这个研究项目的一部分，我们称之为生活实验室，”拉斯说。
