Ch.17 (cont.)
Am I ready to
shun all modern conveniences to live totally off the grid. Yes I would be ready
to do that in a heartbeat and have been looking at a lot of housing that is
geared in that direction. A smaller house, some as small as three hundred sq.ft.
, are being built as they require substantially less energy to heat and
maintain at a certain level of comfort to humans. They utilize passive storage
systems where energy is stored in heat saving vessels or in rock storage or in
the ground below the house and is removed by circulating air or water, or it
could be the use of a heat pump. With the heat pump drawing in the warmth of
the ground and transferring in a reverse air conditioning system to the inside
of the house, warming the house. Then in the summer it reverses itself to cool
the interior of the house. The small
house Ann and Lee stays at is heated by same stove to cook on and utilizes wood
for the fuel . It stays toasty in the cabin as I call it.
Electric cars
have been around since the beginning of the century but never took off as a
viable form of transportation till recently. Being able to move from one place
to another, is part of the American dream , the freedom to own the road and
explore as one sees fit or wants to do reliable electric transportation has not
found its groove in today’s economy but I do see multi- fuel cars as being a
viable option. Most people live within 40 miles of work and drive an hour or
less one way. Having a vehicle that could be charged as easily as making
contact with the bumper to a pad in your garage would increase the selling
ability of an electric vehicle. This would serve as the charging point to your
car, and then it would not be necessary to handle cables or plug it in. In fact
these charging stations could be in city parking lots or wherever one would
park their car. Then operating the car on electric and when the batteries are
low switch over to electric generated by a small engine and recharge the
batteries as you drive. This allows you the freedom to drive further. Eventually
a standard battery charging system should be developed so that even in remote
areas a solar grid could be set up, waiting for that time when a customer needs
a recharge and simply pulls in and sits and listens to music as he is charged
by a solar grid and continues on his journey. Solar electricity will be the
norm. Fuels , such as gasoline will be a
standby source of fuel for small engines associated with charging. all energy efficient methods will be employed
causing the least effect to our environment as compared to present day systems
of transportation .
We need to
treat electric cars as a race option in the future much as they do stock cars
of today. Have races where fuel efficiency and battery life or the ability to
charge on the go is more important than horsepower except in the sense one
still needs to win the race. This racing venue will not only stimulate interest
in racing electric cars but will also stimulate electric car technology. If we could
do for electric cars, half of what we have done to further technology of
gasoline engines, imagine where would be in 20 years. Let alone the 100 years
of racing, the gasoline engines have seen. Imagine torque applied to each wheel
on the track, more so on one side, than the other so as you advance around the
oval the outside wheels actually are spinning faster than inside wheels making
turning far easier as the car would do this automatically through a computer
controlling each wheel independently. The driver would just sit and override as
necessary. Cars so quiet that all you would hear is a humming sound coming at
you and a swoosh as it went by. And smooth to drive. Component systems allowing
you to swap out a drive motor on each wheel as quickly as you change a tire. And
with the added weight of the batteries even higher speed could possibly be
achieved as the extra weight would increase its road handling aspects. Solar panels
would adorn the exterior of the vehicles increasing their onboard battery life.
But all in all till we embrace electric car or alternative car racing as a norm
we will always be lagging behind conventional systems. The technology that can
be gleaned off alternative car racing could easily be applied to all
transportation systems in the future.
This all helps
the environment and trees in general when we reduce our need for conventional
fuel sources of the petroleum type.
As I would go
on with my spiel and occasionally hop off my soapbox to further enlighten Ann
and Lee on where our future should lead when it comes to reducing the effects
of greenhouse warming and how it is affecting our planet, they would ask me questions
about the finer points of my big plan as they called it. They always said I was
to big for my breaches and that my big head got in the way of the big picture,
but my big ideas had some merit in the scheme of things. I ignored them and went
on a rambling about energy storage as it relates to solar power. They were
lucky it was only a short trip between Beverly and Dolly Sods or else their
ears would have melted, or possibly I might end up in the bottom of the Ohio River
with some pretty concrete blocks tied around my ankles. But they were a captive
audience and with Ann and Lee I try to to take advantage. We kid each other and
they listen as that is all one can do to an idea from someone else. But even
that is learning process as the person you share with will always have a pre-formed
opinion whenever faced with the same situation again in life whether it be me
or someone else. This shared idea will be passed along and this is what we need
to solve problems, the human race will see in the future as we face hunger,
overcrowding and depletion of natural resources. They are not making any new
earths and if they were I am sure they wouldn't tell me if they were, as they
would want it all for themselves whoever they may be. There is no plan B for Earth.
We have only one shot at this and so far we have made a few mistakes, so now it
is up to the human race to figure out how to make it right again so we can
perpetuate ourselves into the future. I shared what I know with Ann and Lee and
hopefully it will have an impression on them and I think it has. Lee has become
more and more observant of the interrelation of man and the environment and has
helped Ann make decisions in her company that will have an impact on society as
never before. Her company actually took steps toward a greener path by
utilizing some of the basic things like recycling as they moved from mining
into recycling of metals.
Gunnite had
also invested in a cd construction demolition landfill where they would receive
industrial waste streams and process it through their facility and send out
toxic substances to be reclaimed at other facilities, but all the rest was
either composted or if especially difficult to utilize would be buried in one
of their old mining pits. The composted
material was used to cover the slopes and protect the drainage off the C.D. fill
area. This was quite a profitable operation as they provided a service to the
industry and in the process utilized their waste streams to improve the
environment from what ravages man had inflicted upon it. This was one other reason Gunnite was being bought out as they appeared to leverage themselves
into a larger share of the waste industry long controlled by underworld interests. What
would the underworld do if they had no place to dump a body? Anyhow Ann and her
family were set to finally capitalize on their fortune and liquidate the Gunnite
corporation and Ann would be rich, as if she wasn't already.
Ann was very
humble in her handling of the rich thing as you would never know she was worth
as much as she was. She lived modestly and nothing extravagant was ever shown. she
never flashed her money and was perfectly content to let you pick up the bill
and yet always being there to support those things Lee loved as much as she
did. They both had a keen interest in the environment and understood the
importance of healthy living. The money was nothing to her as she had a higher
value placed on friendship and love. The money was a tool to accomplish more
and she was working in the back of her mind the best way to make her new found
money do the best for her. She would possibly buy a new business and head in a
different direction as far as the company’s path. I said something to her about
energy storage and she was looking into that possibility as means to utilize
her money for the benefit of human race.
But first she had
things about me she needed to know and was going all out to find the answer as
she had hired an investigator to check into my past, all this without telling me.
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