双语时事系列201:“节能标知”言过其实？

2009-12-21 00:00:00来源：网络

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双语时事：“节能标知”言过其实吗？

Can Energy Labels Be Trusted? 能量标识可信吗？

Just how good is the Energy Star label?

Gadgets and energy are a big problem. Just by failing to shut down computers overnight, U.S. workers waste some $2.8 billion worth of electricity. Our love affair with the Internet ends up emitting 2 percent of global carbon dioxide—roughly the same amount as air travel.

Fortunately, there's Energy Star, a program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that sets standards for how much energy a given gadget can use. For example, in order to qualify for the blue and white logo a laptop must use 1.7 watts or less in sleep mode.

According to a new report by the EPA's Inspector General, an in-house watchdog, Energy Star approves mostly products that meet its standards: 100 percent of DVD players tested, 100 percent of monitors tested and 95 percent of the printers tested.

Unfortunately, however, some products that aren't Energy Star labeled, such as certain DVD players, perform "comparably to, and in some cases better than Energy Star products." And EPA itself does very little testing of gadgets. So did Energy Star really save 180 billion kilowatt-hours for consumers in 2007?

The solution is for EPA to begin testing all products to ensure that the ones that qualify as Energy Star really are the most energy efficient and cost-effective choice, and to make sure that those bearing the brand live up to the hype.

“能量之星”标识到底有多好？

新的电子产品和能源是各巨大的问题。仅仅由于没有夜晚关闭计算机，美国工人就浪费价值约28亿美元的电能。全球二氧化碳的排放中有2%是由于使用和我们息息相关的互联网所致，其排放量大致相当于航空旅行所导致的二氧化碳排放量。

所幸的是，美国环境保护署（Environmental Protection Agency，EPA）开展了一项“能源之星”项目，该项目确定电子产品使用能源的标准。比如，手提电脑在休眠模式下，其耗电量必须小于或等于1.7瓦，这样才能贴上到蓝色和白色的能量标识。

根据EPA的家用监测机构“检察长”的最新报道，“能源之星”核准了大多数达到其规定的产品：被检测的DVD播放器和显示器中，达标率均为100% ，在被检测的打印机中，有95%达标。

但遗憾地是，有些没有贴上“能源之星”标识的产品，比如某些DVD播放器，它们的节能表现与那些贴上标识的产品不相上下，有时候节能效果还更佳。而且EPA自身很少检测电子产品。因此，“能源之星”在2007真的为消费者节约了1800亿千瓦时的电能吗？

解决这个问题的方法在于：EPA应该开始对所有的产品进行检测，以便保证达到“能源之星”标准的产品是最节能和成本最低的产品，同时EPA要确认那些贴上“能源之星”标识的产品不是在夸夸其谈。

Vocabulary:

Gadget: 小玩意儿；新发明

Billion: 十亿

Logo: 标识

Hype: 炒作；（言过其实的）宣传

英语原文来自SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN《科学美国人》http://www.sciam.com 作者：David Biello

本文选自上海新东方学校惠瑾的博客，博客链接地址：http://blog.hjenglish.com/huijin