“The way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas,” two-time Nobel prize laureate Linus Pauling said modestly. That’s something to think about, isn’t it? Don’t stress out about the quality of your ideas – at least initially. Let them come to you.
But I have to chuckle about some of the ideas I come across that are purported to contribute meaningfully to the supply of renewable energy. Here’s the content of a call I had with a young man in Florida the other day – and I had actually heard this exact concept a few months earlier from another gentleman – equally as earnest: harness the energy that flows out of the vents in your attic. “It’s a form of solar energy, in which the sun heats that air. My invention uses a generator to turn that energy into electricity.”
At least this isn’t theoretically impossible. In fact, as I explain, “There is no doubt that you will be able to generate electricity. But how much? We’ve all seen attic vents like this one. How much power do you think is being dissipated on the hottest afternoon in the summer? I’m guessing it’s a few watts.
I can tell by the reaction I hear on the other end of the phone that these people write me off as a nay-sayer, blind to a great idea – a fool who wouldn’t know a breakthrough idea if it slapped him across the face.
“Look, do this, before you spend money in patents, marketing, etc.,” I suggest. “Take this idea to your local high school physics teacher and discuss it. If you’re still excited about it after that talk, please call me back.”
The phone isn’t ringing.
On Sundays I like to take a hike of 6 or 7 miles, sometimes including a stop-off at the Ballard Inn, where I sit on the porch and read the Sunday paper. Relaxing there yesterday afternoon with a glass of lemonade, I came across this Doonesbury cartoon on global climate change, which I thought I’d bring to readers’ attention, as it’s another example of Garry Trudeau’s hilariously keen insight into the ways of the world.
I called my friend, 
