Energy = Power

Energy is power out here (literally and figuratively). Power = survival.

I’m kind of glad, in a way, that our neighbors denied us a utility easement through their property. What is the saying, “necessity is the mother of invention”?

I’ll give you the perfect example of someone who created something new and better as a result of a being in a difficult situation. Roger Lehet of Unforgettable Fire LLC.

My son dated his daughter a few years back and that’s how I know him. Basically, he moved onto a boat during some really tough times. He needed a better way to heat the boat and I believe he experimented with different prototypes until he came up with a really efficient wood stove and created a company around it.

I’m always trying to make things better; improve on the existing so I understand where Roger was coming from when he designed his stove.

I was looking into alternative forms of energy today when I ran into something called a thermal electric generator. It basically uses differences in temperatures to generate electricity. One way is to use one in conjunction with a wood stove. I don’t understand how it works but it sounds intriguing.

I thought of Roger and his stove after reading about that so I messaged him to ask if he had considered moving in that direction with his stoves but to my embarrassment, he’s way ahead of me. He’s already branching out into the thermal electric field. I’m impressed with this guy.

Some other forms of generating electricity we’re looking at are:

• Wind: we don’t get enough in our area unfortunately.
• Hydroelectric: would have to be seasonal as we only have water flow in the winter.  I really want to try that. Might also be expensive (expensive for us at this point), unless we can build our own generator.
• Adding to our solar: One of our best options and at a reasonable cost.
• Thermal Electric: Need to learn more about this.
• Geothermal: We’d need help exploring beneath our property. We have warm water coming up out of the bottom of our spring. Would have to wait until next year with better finances.
• Steam generation? This is one I gotta look into more. Anything that uses basic wood burning to make electricity sounds interesting to me. Considering we’re afraid of our own hot water heater, I’m not sure about this one.

I’ve been thinking of other possible ways to generate electricity. It just seems there must be some way to harness heat, or energy of some form in a way no one has thought up yet. Heat from the sun turned into electricity somehow. Anything that moves in nature, and somehow turn that movement into electrical generation besides water. There has to be something out there…. Or a super efficient system that transforms small movement into much bigger somehow to generate electricity.

I know…ants! Harness their collective energy to make electricity. Just kidding.

I used to have an Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm. Might have to order a new one. They don’t call me crazy for nothing. 🙂

Would the energy of the falling ball be enough to transfer enough energy through the balls on the side to the top ball and cause it to fall and repeat the process?