The Blog of Hans Eisenman

Sinister Soul-Sapper

We have been conducting a grand experiment at home.  Actually, the test is about over. 

Turns out, we had something in our home which was sucking the life out of our kids.  The worst thing about it was its ability to stay out of view and gradually infect  our kids without anyone really seeing it happening to the degree it was, least of all them.  Well, that and the fact that it also had this addictive quality which made them crave it, despite its sapping their energy and leaving them with less than when they started.  Less what?  Less energy, less life, less enthusiasm, less creativity.  (No, I'm not talking about sugar, but that would have been a great guess.)
            

Big @$$ Table

Harnessing the Sun

My friend lives in Oregon.  While he works for Intel, he has very good knowledge of photovoltaics (solar panels, etc.) and has been installing a pretty massive system for his house out there. 

I'm a big believer in this as a technology.  The sun is showering us with energy all day long and it's not the consumable resource that fossil fuels are.

Unfortunately, though, the space needed to power a house of any real size is daunting to the average plot of land, particularly if you have been witness to the latest developments in any suburban district.  In other words, say goodbye to that pool you were planning.

Advancements will probably be made one day that increase PV panel efficiency by an order of magnitude (this is a guess on my part) and when that happens, I'm all over it.

Link: Ralph's Installation.