Now, I know its a really big deal because things are not going so good. The one big thing we need is jobs.
With enough jobs people could buy homes again, they could enjoy our country's natural beauty, eat some of the great food our country cooks up in nice restaurants, and pay taxes. Yes, we could pay some taxes and maybe our elected officials would get back to work and off the streets. I just don't want to put up with the campaign trail again, so soon.
Mr.President, I have an idea for jobs.
We know how to make wind mills and wind farms. We know how to do solar panels. I've been dehydrating apples in the back window of my car all week. I took a lovely solar shower today. All cheap. Just plastic and glass.
I'm no scientist, but we have plenty of technology to combine solar and wind to make one viable contraption for your average American family. I believe a good science teacher could challenge his high school class to come up with an affordable system this year.
This solar flashlight always seems to be ready to go, even though I keep it in my purse on a key ring.
This yard light operates via rechargeable battery by solar power, and it has been working for over a year. Each only cost a few bucks at Walmart.
As I drive across the country, I'm amazed by the wind farms. Hundreds of windmills, out in the open fields, basking in the sun. How come there are no solar panels installed on the bases of those windmills? There could be double the energy gathered from the same amount of land.
While they are installing the cables to transmit the wind power generated to the main storage facility, bundle that right up with a solar panel cable transmitting all the electricity that has been gathered from the solar panels installed on the base of that windmill.
When it's night or stormy, the wind power will charge the system, when its still but sunny, the solar panels will charge the system. When its even party cloudy, and mildly breezy, both will work together.
Windmills have been used to pump water for centuries. What if it just ran a turbine instead, on the homestead.
I believe we could create and manufacture an affordable system like this. I envision something every family could go to home depot and buy for $100 bucks. It would be simple enough the average person could take it home and set up in the yard and assemble themselves. It would be a minature version of those colosal giants on the windfarms seen across the land.
Mr. President, think of all the jobs that would create! It would be a long term solution, a real solution. Think of all the clean energy and all the oil we could avoid buying. Imagine the emotional boost our economy would get. That's some change I could believe in.
Just thinking.
There is a competition (college level)for these green ideas.. from which the solar road idea came about.. and won. Now if only they would get it beyond testing/ trial stages!
ReplyDeleteTurbines are not like the old fashioned windmills of yesteryear. The old windmills were built to last and as well ran simple attachments (usually used to run pumps to supply livestock with water). The smaller turbines (for home use) right now... cost several thousand dollars on up, are fickle.. and don't seem to last (maintenance constantly needed). I am not sure if they have the same issue like solar panels.. where the distance impacts how much energy is actually accumulated.
Many wind generators are placed on rented land. If you are close enough to their transformers (? power grid thing.. we looked into this for our farms but it was a long time ago..)have enough land for it to go up on, have the air flow requirements.. it is one possibility to rent to them. 30 year contracts I think is about the average. The space they rent is not much larger than the footprint of the turbine, and they need an access road to it too.
One of the materials to make solar panels is man made and requires a lot of strip mining to get it. Plastics.. are derived from oil.
Hence the quandary.
We passed the point a few decades ago where the Earth could "sustainably" hold current human population.
Sounds great to me but it'll never happen. There are too many in Washington who've been elected, through oil lobbyist campaign money. They will block Obama (as they have been anyway) at every turn. Their livelihoods ($$) are at stake. They would rather see him fail (to insure against re-election) than see our country (struggling families) begin to recover.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2011/1101.leonard-2.html
..I'm just sayin'.
Both of you are right, of course. I just think sometimes we try to hard and the answers are right under the nose. Back when I first got married, we lived for two years in Wisconsin with the only heat a wood stove and no running water. The windmill supplied all our water and the livestock cow tank as well.
ReplyDeleteWe visited the Science and Industry Museum in Chicago, years ago. They had a simple bicycle set up whereby the visiter could pedal and create electricity. This was demonstrated both with a meter and light bulb. Of course, there are pedal powered lights for long distance bike riders. The simple act of resistance on a wheel creating electrical charge is easy.
Yes, the distance to transport electricity wastes it. Thats why each family should have a home version delivering right on site, not traveling to central dispursement centers, then back again.
Alas, you are right, politics and greed will hold us back. Thankfully efficiency is being encouraged for all appliances and furnaces.
Future generations will look back in disgust, saying, You guys actually BURNED OIL? Yuck!
Well, I'm all for anything that lessens my dependency on gasoline, within reason. But I live way out away from anything, and I can't see me spending all day driving a horse and cart to town and back. So there's no solution on the horizon for me and my needs, I fear.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Arsenius, no horse and buggy for me. I want technology to bring us something marvelous, like we saw what happened with the home computer. The memory card I use in my digital camera has more capacity than the computer I moved to Georgia with, 11 years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I love my car. I read about your adventures with solar power, and that was a good heads up to me not to install those panels and heavy batteries until they figure out a more efficient way to capture this energy.
I found my wood stove yesterday. Photos and blog to follow soon. Hint, I got it at a flea market, and it will take some love, but its the perfect size.