Unabashed

 

I’ve expressed my displeasure of the current solar market before. Now the folks at MIT are pledging to revolutionize the technology for the very near future. For me, this is both great news, and not so great news. Supposing MIT is successful and in a few years announces a breakthrough in solar power, making it–as promised–abundant and affordable, the burning of fossil fuels, and potentially even nuclear power, will quickly go bust. That’s a lot of jobs going away, worldwide, including, potentially, mine (Though I’m not in the power generation business myself, the company I work for is owned by a Fortune 500 energy corporation.

On the other hand, it would mean that mankind’s carbon footprint would, what, half? It would shrink astronomically, regardless. And let’s face it, if we all had our own power generation resource, we would be more independent (to me that’s a good thing). If my power went out due to a storm, I’d have the materials and skill to get myself back online and wouldn’t have to wait for the power company to get to my street. Sure, I might still be down for a few days, but I’d have something to keep me busy, right?

So what will our lives be like in 20 years? Speculating that MIT’s pledge is a smashing success and cheap, renewable power is available worldwide, the world will change. Everything will change. Our lives, for better or poorer, will change. This could be the foundation for what will become the Singularity, the dawning of a new civilization. Things are happening rapidly, hold on!

Now I think of it, maybe energy companies need to think about getting into the solar panel installation market. It seems like it would be a conflict of interests, but if solar really becomes the Next Big Thing, they’re going to need something to fall back on, quickly.

Photo from Flickr.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: , electricity, Energy, grid, MIT, power, renewable, solar, sun

Photo by sea turtle

Yesterday was the first day of spring, also known as the vernal equinox, and the Sun was at a point on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator and ecliptic intersect. Traditionally, it’s the only day you can balance an egg on its point. It’s historically been a day for collecting eggs, eggs being a symbol of fertility and new life. Also, some traditions hold that the sun is resurrected on the day of the equinox, because after that day the days become longer than the nights. Today, the first day after the equinox, the day will be a little bit longer than the night, and increasingly longer until the day of the summer solstice, at which point the sun’s arc will decline a bit, and the days will grow increasingly shorter through the autumnal equinox. (Of course, all of this is reversed if you’re in the southern hemisphere.)

The moon is also full right now, so be wary of any practicing lycanthropes in your area. This month’s moon was called the Worm Moon by the Native Americans.

Five things to do during the first days of spring:

1. Go hiking.
2. Balance an egg on its point. It doesn’t count if you do it on the butt–you can do that any time of year. (Did I just say “do it on the butt?”)
3. Light a fire at dawn. New fires were lit at dawn in some cultures to celebrate the return of the sun to predominance in the heavens.
4. Decorate some Easter eggs.
5. Open up some windows and air out the house. It’s time for spring cleaning…

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: equator, equinox, solstice, Spring, sun, vernal