很多人都知道应该严格控制能源消耗，而掌握最佳的管控方法则能帮助我们成功做到这一点。为此科学家们询问了500多人：“你认为最有效的节能方式是什么?”结果非常具有启发性。

　　More than half the participants focused on conservation by curtailment: switching off the lights, changing thermostat settings and driving less. Only 12 percent went for efficiency: using compact fluorescent bulbs, insulating the house or driving a hybrid car. But scientists say that it’s actually these moves that yield the bigger energy savings. The results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

　　超过半数的受访者认为减少使用是节能重点——例如关灯、调节温度器设置以及少开车。仅有百分之十二的受访者关注到能效问题——例如使用节能灯泡、房子隔温以及驾驶混合动力汽车。但科学家表示，实际上后者能节省更多的能源。这项研究成果已在《美国科学院学报》上刊登了出来。

　　The study authors think that a big factor is that curtailment is easier to imagine doing—while efforts to improve efficiency would involve, for example, doing research about new appliances or cars, and spending money up front to buy them.

　　研究报告的作者认为，问题的关键在于人们更容易想到减少使用能源，而提高能效则涉及到研发新电器和新汽车等行为，而且购买这些新产品还得先花钱。

　　But if people knew more about the actual energy requirements of their activities versus the savings available through efficiency, they might be spurred to act. To quote physicist and energy expert Arthur Rosenfeld: “Energy efficiency is like a Saudi Arabia under our cities.”

　　但假如人们进一步了解他们日常活动的实际能耗，以及通过提高效率能节省的能源的话,，他们就会迫不及待行动起来了。引用物理学家和能源学家阿瑟·罗森菲尔德的一句话：“能源效率就好似藏在我们脚下的一个沙特阿拉伯。”