Energy, Innovation | A New Look At An Old Problem
June 30th, 2009 by Damon CliffordThe world has been running off of fossil fuels for over 100 years. The addiction we have to oil can be seen in our daily lives as we import millions of barrels of oil a year in the US with no end in site.
Are there any solutions to our ever growing dependence on foreign oil? Couldn’t we just drill more here? Is alternative energy the only solution?
I just watched a speech by Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce where he spoke of about the food industry’s pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce, that would make everyone satisfied. The basic conclusion that he revealed is that there is no single sauce that would please everyone, but that you must produce a couple different variants of the same sauce (spicy, chunky, original) to satisfy the majority of the people. This was groundbreaking when the research came out because for decades, the food industry had a single solution that they believed would satisfy the most people and since they were content with their sales, they didn’t bother to test new recipes and didn’t innovate.
I’ve been thinking about this same concept in regards to the energy industry and how it can be applied. The basic thinking in energy is that oil is the way to go. It’s what we’ve been doing for the past 100 years and it’s what will keep us going in the future, so don’t waste any time with alternative energy, we just need to find more oil.
On the flip side, the people that are against traditional energy say that alternative energy is the only way to go, it’s what will get us off our addiction of foreign oil.
Both sides of these arguments are narrow minded. Neither of them look for solutions on the other side, or a way to intertwine them both.
So what’s the solution?
I’m going to dig a little deeper into this topic, but for now I just want to leave you with a thought. If technology was developed for automobiles to get 200 miles per gallon, would we want to spend our money and time in research and development of electric cars?
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July 1st, 2009 at 1:20 pm
A great point you have made here. I really like the way you thought about energy and putting it in a different perspective. But we know that all non – renewable sources of energy are going to exhaust one day even if we make variants for petrol or gas. So why not focus on an alternative which will never exhaust. This way, our future generations don’t have to face any energy crisis.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Thanks for the reply Amy,
Alternative energy will need to be developed some day, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be developed today.
The technology costs to produce alternative energy hasn’t reached a point that is economical, that is why the government has to subsidize alternative energy programs and research. Without those subsidizes, people wouldn’t be getting solar panels on their house and businesses wouldn’t even touch it.
However, technology is moving in the right direction. And as history tells us, we will reach a point where it will be economical and it will be embraced by everyone.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:44 am
Hey Damon, Have you heard abt Prototype cars ?
yeah, those are the cars that runs on water..lol..seems to be strange but yes it’s true..
Well, this whole works on unique electrolysis process – working simply with water and electricity – was originally designed to work in welding factories as a replacement for acetylene torches, a whole new application has come to light from Denny Klein, who recently filed a patent on his solution. He has converted his 1994 Ford Escort to run either as a water-gas hybrid, or on water alone.,
If we can really work on such cars or cars that runs on Solar panels, then we can really save up non-renewable source or energy