Most of us spend all day at school or work. After a long and busy day, all we want to do is return to a comfortable home. Smart technology (科技) can turn any home into a nicer place to live in.

Smart homes have been around for some time. The Scottish company Pico Electronics invented a type of technology called X10. With X10, household devices (家用设备) like lights and alarms (警报器) can communicate with each other by using radio waves.

Of course, 5G networks have made smart homes much more wonderful than X10. Perhaps the most widely used smart home technology is the voice-activated assistant (语音激活助手) . Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa allow users to interact (互动) with nearly any device in their home simply by speaking a few words. This is especially good for children and disabled people, as they can do things that would usually be too difficult, according to How-To Geek.

Common household devices can become “smart” as well. For example, according to HowStuffWorks, a smart dustbin can record the things you’ve thrown away and place an online order for new things. Smart fridges can create dinner recipes (食谱) using the food inside.

But it’s not just about convenience. Smart homes are also good for the environment. By turning off devices that you’re not using, smart homes can lower the electricity you use. Using less energy means that we use fewer natural resources, which is good for the environment.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was a great success. China has kept the promise to hold a green Olympics. Many green actions made it possible, like providing environmentally friendly smart beds, using new energy(能源) cars, supporting sporting places with 100% clean energy and reusing rain and snow water.

Take making ice as an example. China didn’t use R507, a common material, to make ice because it isn’t friendly enough to the environment. Through 18 months’ hard work, China independently developed the CO₂ direct cooling technology.

A net of tubes (管道) runs under the ice. High-pressure liquid (液态) CO₂ goes through them to create heat (热) exchange. The CO₂ evaporates (蒸发) under the ice surface. The evaporation takes in heat and turns water on the surface into ice. And the CO₂ goes into another circle. This technology helps to make ice better and faster. And above all, it is much greener because there’s no new CO₂ produced. Among all the 15 ice sporting places in the Winter Olympics, 7 used the CO₂ direct cooling technology to make ice. As a result, much less pollution was caused.

Beijing did so much more to save energy. Beijing built the new sporting places with green materials. As for the old ones, Beijing used new glass walls to take the place of traditional walls to let more natural light in. 70% of the waste heat was also reused to keep warm and dry. And a large number of new energy cars were used at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is the first to truly achieve carbon neutrality(碳中和), and it has set new standards in green technologies. Some newspapers say China has an example for the world in environmental protection and green development.

Science Events

【小题1】 I am interested in doing physics and chemistry experiments. And I hope to have a picnic in a beautiful garden. 【小题2】 I prefer to walk around the museum without hurrying. I also want to find out how scientists bring ideas to life. 【小题3】 I have an interest in space travel. And I’d like to find out what goes on in a spaceship and the technology involved.

A. Universe See inside a spaceship that went to the Moon, and find out what great effect space trips have had on the world today. You’ll learn about the technology involved and some possible developments. B. Explore Help scientists with real projects at this event, and hear all about their experiences! Find out about where you live by taking part in experiments checking pollution levels in the air and in river water. C. Go Science You can choose your own way around the museum without hurrying. Afterwards, find out what’s in your meal in our specially-designed science café or watch a show to find out how our scientists bring ideas to life. D. Newman’s Learn about the greatest scientists in the exhibition (展览) of inventions which changed our world. There are experiments for you to try in the physics and chemistry area. Our café sells food or bring your own to eat here in our beautiful garden.