This Earth Day has gotten me thinking about what I do as an individual to help preserve the environment and encourage sustainable use of our natural resources. Yes, I already drive a Prius, buy organic food, and recycle all my paper, cans, and glass, but there must be more ways to support this kind of change, right?
It’s been clear since the 1970’s that we are going to need a full-blown energy revolution away from the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil. Over the past few years, I have spent quite a bit of time researching alternative energy companies, and actually invested in a couple of solar ventures that will hopefully make a difference. But we need something perhaps more radical like that — perhaps having to do with hydrogen or even cold fusion (there was an interesting comeback segment on 60 Minutes the other night). The trick is making sure that the energy outputs exceed the energy inputs, which is generally NOT the case with biofuels).
A while back I had the honor of interviewing Jack Robertson (former deputy administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration — a huge hydropower utility on the Columbia River serving the entire west coast). Jack is now involved in developing a new hydrogen economy that could one day end our dependence on fossil fuels. It’s fascinating to consider how we could use excess hydroelectric power (at night) in order to ‘hydrolize’ water to extract pure Hydrogen, which could be stored and burned later with zero emissions to produce electricity. You can listen to Jack Robertson discuss his non-profit efforts in my interview at https://divination.com/podcasts/JackRobertson.mp3
