Advice on Inventing a New Source of Renewable Energy

A young reader asks for advice:

My name is Cole, and I’m 15 years old.  My future plan is to start a company named Nova. Nova supports renewable energy sources. I want to make a new renewable energy source that will change the world. I hope you will email me re: what you think on this.

Hi, Cole. First, let me say that I think your goal here is terrific.  To get started, I would encourage you to take a course in physics while you’re in high school, in which you’ll learn the difference between the possible and the impossible. This might sound like a stupid or condescending remark, but most people, until they’ve studied the subject at least a little bit, don’t fully get this.

Once you’ve learned what’s possible, i.e., converting one form of energy into another while accepting the fact that some of it will always be wasted, you jump into a whole new area: engineering. Just because something is possible doesn’t make it a good idea.  Trust me–I’ve looked at well over 2000 ideas in clean energy, and, while most of them are not at all impossible, 99% of them are impractical. That is, they will generate energy, but they positively will not do so cost-effectively.

I would urge you to get this education under your belt. It’s a good idea anyway—even if your life’s work takes you in another direction entirely.

Hope this helps.