Today I was listening to an environmental program on a news station while I was driving home and they talked a lot about the shortcomings of wind power, and how bio-gas is in many respects really great. Along the way many ideas formed in my head, and let me take some time to speak about power generally.
First of all, I don’t see why people have problems with nuclear power. Yes, if the thing explodes it’s not too great, but the chances are fairly remote. Many people have no problem jay walking in the city on the main roads, I think that’s about two million times more of a risk. My point is that we all always take risks in our lives and I don’t think nuclear power is a big one. It would be cool if we could launch these stations into orbit though, a problem there wouldn’t really be a problem would.
Today the world is all about renewable energy, and rightly so. Why waste forests, mountains (coal), why get rid of the ozone layer when we can use ever-renweing materials as well, like the wind, the sun, and other stuff. By the way, bio-gas really is cool because it uses organic waste to make power, taking care of our waste problems as well in one go.
I had an idea that it would be cool if they could use roads to create electricity. You know those lighters where you press down and it lights the gas using a spark? Imagine millions of those on the road. Cars would press down on thousands every mile, in busy motorways this would generate a lot of electricity. The asphalt could be made so that under weight it depresses a bit, say a half an inch, this would enable the depression of the switch.
My second thought was that it would be very expensive in the long run, but maybe much cheaper in the future, and environmentally friendly if we changed the way we think about power. Maybe we should build small, personal power plants at home. The problem with renewable energy like the wind is that it is very unreliable and one plant doesn’t really produce too much. This way it’s hard to synchronize its output into the main grid. If we used personal plants though everything is much simpler. We could use combined plants which would get there energy from small installations around, and outside the house. At first this could be a hybrid solution, you generate your own energy, and if you need more, you get it from the main grid. Also, people living in the mountains could probably supply a load of wind-power, they, and anyone else who has it, could output their access to the main grid, and would get paid to do so.
So in the end, maybe one way forward is for everyone to think of energy as something they need to make. Everything you do needs energy, so maybe turning some of that into power is possible. When you’re riding your indoor exercise bike you could make some energy, the heat energy of light bulbs could be turned into electricity as well, the water flowing down the drain can create hydro-electricity, These all give you next to nothing, but if you combine them you may be able to do a lot, or at least take a load off the current grid. In the end thats less environmental damage and less bill-paying right?