Energy Saving Light bulbs.
A bill passed Congress that will require people to use fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs. What's interesting about this is: they are only made in China, they contain mercury, and as such, become hazardous waste when disposed of, and if you break one, you're encouraged to call a Haz-Mat team to clean it up.
I just left General Electric.
They are spending months reinventing themselves. Can't they just stop that, and spend one weekend inventing a better light bulb? I'd think a middle school science project contestant could put something together with LEDs.
I often thought, that by simply replacing the breaker that controls the lights in a house with a rectifier and stepdown transformer, then replacing the bulbs in a house with led's, would be an incredibly simple solution. It would be cheap, the bulbs wouldn't burn out, and we could move on to the next energy issue.
I know that precooling the condensor on home air conditioners with water
can save homes in Las Vegas 30% off their power bill. I know, because I built a prototype. It hooked up to the garden hose spigot and used 1 gallon a day, and it didn't waste any water.
And how about making round tires for cars ? Have you pushed a car lately? The tires themselves provide friction just by changing shape as they roll. Try this with your car....try coasting on a level road to see how fast you slow down. You are slowing down because of all the resistance from wind and road resistance.
I'd think that could be easily be improved...again, by a middle school science fair contestant.
I'd think new cars would be shaped more like a wings than boxes.
Speaking of cars...how about powering them with water ? You could create you're own hydrogen and oxygen at home from tap water. And when the mixture burns, its only by product would be water. That could used for making of a truly unique hybrid engine that doesn't burn petroleum.
And speaking about hybrid engines Is anyone every going to come up with a battery that comes close to 100% efficiency. Most of the energy waisted by braking could be stored in it. Whenever you let off the 'gas' pedal, the battery could be charging.
These ideas are kind of brain dead solutions. Are they too simple ? Or is everybody going through life these days with a cell phone to their ear, and a gameboy in their hands?
Thursday, June 19, 2008 4:53:30 AM, From: jim, To: Stories