As I drive around my neighborhood, I notice more and more electric cars. The one I see the most is Tesla. An electric car named after a visionary scientist who lost his mind and fell in love with a pigeon before his death. The car is made by a company owned by a guy who makes his own questionable decisions and gets a kick out of sending his friends into space. He’s not to be confused with the other guy who has so much money that he sends his friends into space. That guy owns Amazon but he does use electric delivery vehicles. I’m not here to question how genius works, even though it does baffle me, I’m here to talk about science and how it is going to save our planet, only if it doesn’t destroy it first.
In the eighteenth century the scientists of the time discovered the internal combustion engine. They also discovered that a waste byproduct of distilling kerosene from petroleum oil could act as the fuel for that internal combustion engine. It was called gasoline. Making and selling kerosene made John D. Rockefeller filthy rich. Once they found that gasoline would fuel these new horseless carriages Mr. Rockefeller became rich beyond all imagination. I read somewhere that his wealth at the turn of the 20th century would be the equivalent of $600 billion dollars in today’s dollars. From what I have read about Mr. Rockefeller, he was such a ruthless businessman, he would have happily sent his competitors into space but not have provided the return trip.
At the time, gas and cars were amazing science that was going to modernize the world, and it did. It led to so many things like air travel, huge industries and a whole new byproduct, pollution. The exciting science of the 19th and 20th century is now choking us folks in the 21st century and giving us days that are way too hot, sea levels that are way too high, storms that are way too intense and droughts that are way too dry.
How do we fix this problem? More science. I see that many of you ducted under a chair when I said more science. I understand. Science brought us such terrible things as nuclear bombs, high tech weaponry, the Internet and Play-Doh. Yes, Play-Doh. The stuff was invented as a wall paper cleaner, but became a kids toy and the terror of parents who have to clean it up after the kids are done using it.
Science is on the forefront of fighting climate change. Everyday we hear of new inventions and technology that can help us break our addiction to fossil fuels. Electric cars are the most obvious replacement for the pollution spewing gas power cars that dominate our landscape. Scientists are discovering new energy sources like wind power, solar power and hydro power. Now, if only scientists could make those electric cars look a bit more stylish. A Tesla looks like a giant egg driving down the street.
California has been in the forefront of implementing much of this new science in an attempt to save the planet. If you drive from the coast to Palm Springs, you will see a forest of giant windmills taking advantage of the high winds that travel through the San Gorgonio pass. These windmills are popping up all over the country and in places like England, off the coast in the English Channel. I just hope they don’t try to camouflage these windmills like they do cell towers. No matter how much they try, those cell towers end up being the ugliest trees in the forest.
Solar panels are now popping up everywhere. Much of the new construction of houses in our area now have solar panels as a standard feature. They are used to collect the power of the sun. Many owners also buy large batteries to store the power they collect and use it to charge their electric car. Also, the electricity collected by those solar panels on houses can be sold back to the electric company. Some friends of mine did this and had a difficult time trying to get the local electric company to accept the power they produced. Guess they don’t like the competition. That same monopoly attitude is what broke up Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. As a result he went from having more money than God to…well, he still had more money than God and his descendants are still living high off the hog due to his riches.
Hydro power has been in use for the longest time. Basically build a dam, capture a large amount of water behind the dam, run the water through turbines that create electricity, then let the water flow downstream to provide drinking water, irrigation for crops and other uses. Unfortunately, because of the massive drought that is encompassing the west, many of these reservoirs that are used to collect water to drive the turbines are drying up. Another result of the shrinking reservoirs is that they are finding a lot of human remains at the bottom of places like Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas, probably wearing concrete shoes. That might have lead to the saying, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” literally.
We are dependent on scientists to keep trying to find solutions to the challenges confronting our planet. One thing they could perfect is a hydrogen fuel cell. This is the same technology that is used in spacecraft to produce electricity with the byproduct being water. Wow, two for the price of one! It worked great in space and some car companies are actually trying to produce hydrogen fuel cell automobiles to help replace environmentally unfriendly, CO2 producing, gas guzzlers. I don’t get why they haven’t caught on. I would guess the one thing that might scare people off is the word “hydrogen.” It is connected to some infamous incidents in our history: the hydrogen bomb and the other the Hindenburg disaster. The German dirigible was filled with the very flammable hydrogen and blew up in LakeHurst, New Jersey. I guess they won’t be using the name Hindenburg for a fine, German made hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.
Hydrogen stations would have to be built all over the country to accommodate any hydrogen fuel cell vehicles built and large amounts of hydrogen will have to be created to fill up those special cars.
How about a helium car? The lighter than air gas used in the blimps that cruise over major sporting events could be used to blow up a balloon above the vehicle. A solar powered engine could turn the propellers to move the vehicle, and we would finally have the flying cars we were promised in the late 1950s. Also, you could paint happy birthday on the side of the balloon and use it at your kids birthday party. Two problems solved.
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