Somewhere on my list of favorite things is Alternative Energy. Though I subscribe to Mother Earth News (and look like someone who just might) and HomePower, I'm not a typical part of the tree-hugging, Y2K-alarmist (HP really ticked me off with their freaking out, and never published my letters to them), pot-smoking hippy(<ahem>), tofu-eating, VW-bus-driving demographic that most people think of when they think "Alternative Energy".
I like it because I think it's really cool. Making electricity rather than getting it off the grid and getting propulsion from things other than fossil fuels intrigues me in the same way anything mechanical does.
If a side benefit of my fascination turns out to be one less barrel of oil sucked out of the ground, or one less load of coal being dumped into the local powerplant, so be it.
I was really tickled during our last week-long power outage because, though I was using fossil fuels, we were very comfortable and warm because we had a rather efficient generator giving us juice, and most importantly, it was done correctly so we weren't endangering ourselves with the fumes or endangering linemen with backfed juice.
So, what I'd like to talk about on this board are things like wind power, solar power, hydroelectric, methane, electric cars, or anything else having to do with alternative energy or alternative ways of propelling cars more efficiently.
Personally, I'm not into the whole fuel cell thing because so many scams have historically surrounded it, but if it becomes a viable, deployable technology, I'll be interested. That, and if it works as its purported to be able to, that's too simple and easy. <g> Part of the appeal of AE for me is the struggle to make it happen. The results can be so much more rewarding.
Feel free to bring up companies here that're into things relevant to this board, but please, no buy/sell recommendations or discussions about why the company is so bad/wonderful. Just the relevant technology, please. If you're into a company, tell us about it and we'll check on it ourselves.
So, do you like Alternative Energy? If so, bring it on. I'll jump-start us with my take on a few different forms of it.
