As I drive along, I quite frequently see things going on outside my car that I wonder about. I?m not talking about the pedestrians I pass by, each involved in their own lives. I mean technological things. Construction that has been going on for months and months and doesn?t seem to have progressed at all, black tubing stretched across roads ? used to count cars that pass, I have no doubt ? and so on.
But there are other things going on?other tests being conducted?that you might not know about unless you keep up with the Technology News on your local TV news station or on the internet.
There?s money in green technology, no doubt about it, and company after company is getting on the bandwagon. No problem with that ? it?s the entrepreneurs in this country that have accomplished the most in this country.
Whenever I hear of a new technological breakthrough, I make note of it in a notebook I keep for the purpose. Such news items pop up in newspapers every now and again, but of course the web is the main place to find out about this material
If you?re interested in living green, and in the green movement, you?ll want to bookmark various sites that spread the news about such technological developments. Or should I say, possible technology.
For example, there?s a company called New Energy Technologies, Inc., which intends to try to harness the kinetic energy that is produced by the 250 million vehicles traveling U.S. roads every day.
The company is developing what it calls MotionPower? technology. This is similar to what is used to power hybrid cars. The technology is installed in the roadways themselves, however (and look like speed bumps). There, it will capture the friction energy of car tires rolling over the device. Tests are ongoing even now in certain high traffic areas (fast food restaurants and hotels) in a few cities, to see if the technology is viable.
In today?s world, it only makes sense to generate energy from as many resources as possible. However with all this rush for greening going on, I hope that the technology used will actually give more value. Sometimes, the benefits of a new energy are offset by how much energy it took to produce. (For example, it takes more effort to produce ethanol from corn than from sugar cane, but because the United States has a corn industry?that?s the kind of ethanol we?ll be producing. And if it drives up the prices of corn?well?that?s just too bad.)
Technology tradeoffs always have to be considered.
