Nowadays, cars are playing an increasingly important role in daily life and many societies would stop functioning without them. So, the claim that in 20 years’ time, no one will own cars may be hard to believe. But this is the prediction made by a team of transport researchers who are taken seriously, not only by governments but also by car manufacturers.

The Human Science and Advanced Technology Institute at Loughborough in the UK is part of an international research program. The team there believes that by 2040 all cars will be computerized, which will mean extremely large fuel savings, no accidents and better use of roads. The super-intelligent car of the 21st century will drive itself and it will not be owned by one individual. Instead, we will have a choice of cars and change them as frequently as we change our clothing.

According to Dr. David Davis, who leads the research team, these predictions are based on the rising cost of the car culture, which had blocked up our cities, polluted our air and caused more deaths turn both world wars put together.

Davis says cars will be fitted with intelligent cruise control devices to regulate the distance between one car and another. Brakes and accelerators will become redundant (多余的) because the car will automatically speed up or slow down to match the speed of the car in front. Computers are much safer drivers than people, so cars in a road train will be able to drive much closer together than cars driven by people so that the roads can be made the best of.

By 2030 Dr. David Davis believes car technology will give motorists a clear view of the road whatever the weather conditions by projecting an image of the road ahead onto the car’s windscreen. And by 2040 cars will travel in convoy linked to each other electronically. Cars will be connected by an electronic tow (牵引) bar to the car in front to form “road-trains”. “The front vehicle in such a train burns the ordinary fuel” says Davis. “But all the others in the train would burn about ten percent of the normal amount and so produce about ten percent of the pollution.”

Home automation is nothing new. It’s been around for years now. 【小题1】 And when something is new, people have to be doubtful about it. So, here we are with tons of widespread myths around home automation. Let’s check out what unbelievable myths we encouraged and why you need to stop believing them.

Myth 1: Home automation is too expensive

The most common misunderstanding is — I can’t afford it! It is not your fault if you think it’s too expensive. 【小题2】 Actually, home automation devices were quite pricey initially, but things have changed now. Smart home products nowadays are simple and programmable devices that are affordable to many homeowners.

Myth 2:【小题3】

Most people think that home automation devices and systems are some devices out of a spy movie. It is a common myth that you must be a techie to use the devices or make changes. However, it is not true. 【小题4】 Even though it seems like a challenging task, all it takes is a simple touch to control your home.

Myth 3: Smart devices will become outdated after a few years of purchase

Another common myth is that smart home automation technology will become out of date after some time. Firstly, all efficient home automation devices are futuristically designed. Secondly, most home automation companies provide updates that are easy to install and keep them up-to-date.

Smart home automation is a new technology. 【小题5】 Thus, don’t let the myths and technical terms about home automation scare you! The products that power the smart home are light years away from the myth around them.

In Belgium, a company called HydroVolta is improving ways to take salt water and turn it into fresh water under the Horizon-funded SonixED project.

The vast majority of the earth’s water is salt water. Only 3% is fresh water and less than one third of that is accessible, the rest being locked away in glaciers and groundwater. “We will need to treat salt water so people can drink it and industry can use it,” said George Brik, chief executive officer of Hydro Volta. “But with current technologies, desalination (脱盐) requires high operational costs. On top of that, existing technologies use high amounts of energy and chemicals.”

The basic technique now to turn salt water into fresh water is electrodialysis (电渗析), where a kind of membrane (隔膜) is used to separate salt from water. But the method has a weak point: the membrane gets dirty easily and requires chemicals and high pressure to clean. That in turn involves large amounts of energy. Under SonixED, HydroVolta has developed ultrasound technology that keeps the membrane clean in a much more efficient way.

Energy use in this field depends on pressure, which is measured in a metric unit known as bar. Existing technologies to desalinate seawater take around 50 to 80 bar, while the new desalination technology uses just one to three bar. What’s even better is that a greater amount of fresh water can now be generated. “Existing technologies waste around 60% to 65% of the seawater that’s taken in,” said Brik. “Our new technology improves the situation. If we take in 100 litres of seawater, we can produce 65 litres of drinkable water.”

HydroVolta thinks this technology will be beneficial to larger companies that generate drinkable water as well as to industrial businesses that need water to fuel their operations. Meanwhile, Brik says the new desalination technology may need a push from governments to encourage a bigger demand. “They can be the first customers,” he added.