社区的未来

    市场调研公司富士经济（Fuji Keizai）估计，在日本，支持这类社区的创新型节能设备和产品的市场规模将增长160%，到2020年达到3.8万亿日圆。就全球来看，这个市场将增长2.5倍，从2011年的16.3万亿日圆提高到2020年的40.6万亿日圆。

    甚至在地震之前，有些开发商和电子公司就已经将智能住宅视为增长潜力。如今，海啸对日本东北部地区造成的破坏提供了推倒重来的机会，东京已经承诺将在不久后修建6座高能效且能源独立的“未来城市”。

    该地区被破坏的3座城镇将开展世界上首个超大规模的太阳能项目。官员们说，这些城镇将使用智能电表，另外远程监控的住宅使这些社区有望实现零碳排放。然而，位于日本东北部的建筑商和开发商山口对此持怀疑态度。

    “如果日本东北部将兴建智能社区，肯定有人忘记告诉我了。我没听到任何人说起这件事。肯定不会有渔民在乎他用的电是来自燃煤热电站，还是太阳能面板。”

    他指出，那里的居民仍然期盼着基本的设施和工作岗位，绝不会在乎将耗时更久才能建成的高科技城镇。他说：“能源或生态方面的智能化对于满足幸存者的需求而言完全是多余的。”

    其他地方的私营行业正在努力推广“智能生活”，来自电子行业的最新产品纷纷融入智能系统，以节约能源，同时使生活变得更加便利、舒适。

    日本是这个方面的领头羊，因为很多智能生活技术都专注于节能产品，日本是发达世界里最节约电力的国家之一。国际能源署（International Energy Agency，简称IEA）指出，日本非常擅长于提高能效。尽管存在着未进行绝热处理的住宅，但日本的能效是美国的近两倍，平均为8,400千瓦时，而美国为13,400千瓦时。

    高能效电子产品帮了大忙。福岛核电站和其他电站的关闭导致能源短缺，此后研发的电器产品都具有很高的能效。IEA表示，这类更加智能的机器和做法有助于遏制气候变化。IEA声称，提高能效可以使全球温室气体排放减少65%左右。

    如果日本低下的建筑标准决定向其他工业化国家看齐，日本将在智能生活方面成为世界领导者。如果能效是减缓气候变化的最佳途径，松下等日本电器制造商或许会出人意料地拯救自己和这个星球。（财富中文网）

    译者：千牛絮

    Market research company Fuji Keizai estimates the market for innovative energy-saving equipment and products that support such communities in Japan will increase by 160% to ¥3.8 trillion in 2020. Globally the market will expand 2.5-fold to ¥40.6 trillion in 2020 from ¥16.3 trillion in 2011.

    Even before the quake, some developers and electronics firms had singled out smart homes as potential for growth. Now, as the destruction in the tsunami-hit areas of Tohoku present something of a blank slate, Tokyo has promised six energy-efficient and energy independent "future cities" to be built soon.

    Three of the region's obliterated towns will host the world's first mega solar power project. Those sites will feature intelligent power meters. Remotely monitored and controlled homes, meanwhile, promise that these communities could be on their way to zero carbon emissions, say officials. However, Tohoku-based builder and developer Steve Yamaguchi is skeptical.

    "If there's Smart Community building going on in Tohoku, somebody forgot to tell me. I haven't heard it mentioned a single time by anyone in any capacity. Certainly no fisherman gives a damn whether his electricity comes from a coal-burning plant or a solar panel."

    He points out that people living there are still waiting for basic amenities and jobs, never mind high-tech towns that will take longer to achieve it. "Being smart in terms of energy or ecology is entirely superfluous to meeting survivors' needs," he says.

    Elsewhere private industry is promoting "smart living" where the latest products from the electronics sector work in tandem with smart systems to save energy and bid to make life more convenient and comfortable.

    Here, Japan is something of a leader, as much of such smart living technology is focused on energy-saving gadgets that help make Japan one of the most frugal users of electricity in the developed world. The country excels at energy efficiency says the International Energy Agency (IEA). Despite uninsulated homes, Japan's energy efficiency means by comparison to the U.S., it is nearly twice as efficient; burning an average of 8,400 kilowatt-hours compared to the U.S.'s 13,400 kilowatt-hours.

    Energy-efficient electronics help. Electrical appliances, developed in the wake of the energy shortages following the shutdown of the Fukushima nuclear plants and others, are highly inefficient when it comes to power consumption. Such smarter machines and practices could help with climate change says the IEA which claims that energy efficiency could reduce global greenhouse emissions by around 65%.

    If Japan were to bring its poor building standards in line with the industrialized world, it could be a world leader in how to live smarter. And if energy efficiency is the best route to slowing climate change, Japan's appliance makers, Panasonic et al, might unexpectedly save the planet alongside themselves.