Schmo Better Blues
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[This blog post has been, for some reason, difficult for me to finish. I suppose I feel the topic is one that should be covered responsibly, so that readers will be informed and inspired, rather than the opposite... As Dad once said to me about a circuit model he had built and was attempting to explain, "This is important..."]
Never mind the first ~39 seconds. [I don't want to get into the politics of global warming in this space, but considering the subject matter, I can't help it.] There is much geographical evidence to show that warming is a periodic thing. This is supported by recent astronomical observations of increased solar activity and a warming of Mars similar to what we are experiencing on Earth. We certainly aren't helping matters with all our pollution, but there probably isn't anything we can do to slow down or stop global warming.
We just have to ride it out.
Global warming is indeed an inconvenient truth -- I haven't seen the film yet (partly because I suspect it will make me angry, and I don't like to be angry), but it seems to me that global warming is a convenient starting point for an awful lot of misdirection.
"Money makes the world go 'round." Don't doubt it. Money brings power. People with power want to keep it. Fuel prices keep going up and up, then down again until we think we're getting a bargain. Oh yeah -- then they go up again, and on and on, ad infinitum.
It's nice that Elon Musk, a man with quite a bit of money and therefore a certain amount of power, has decided to found and fund Tesla Motors and slowly bring awesome electric cars into the marketplace. It's great that battery technology keeps advancing, making electric vehicles more and more practical and desirable and inspiring me to start designing again.
What's not so nice is that any invention that potentially threatens to upset the apple cart gets suppressed -- often with 'extreme prejudice'. This is not 'conspiracy theory', but an observable conspiracy in action.
If you visit the history page at the link above, you will only get a hint as to how long the device has been around. It is said that devices similar to the Joe Cell were fitted to tanks in WWII, to increase their range. Tanks from which country, no mention... The origins of this technology appear to date back to a full century before I was born.
So anyway, back to the video. Until I saw it, I'll admit, I knew almost nothing about the Joe Cell, and certainly had no clue as to how it works. I'm still a bit confused, but the video opened my eyes. It shows, once and for all, that we need no longer rely on petroleum for fuel.
JUST ADD WATER, MAKES ITS OWN SAUCE
[Okay, that's inaccurate...] It would take only a few months of development by a qualified team for the Joe Cell to be commercially available in kit form (detailed instructions included), for any Joe Schmo with a certain amount of mechanical ability to fit to a gasoline-burning vehicle, which would never consume ordinary fuel again...
...That is, until the fuel generated by Joe Cells is considered 'ordinary'.
And, it WILL be. Automotive enthusiasts, fear not. With a simple conversion, you will be able to run your internal combustion engines in perpetuity, as long as you are able to maintain them, for close to nothing. You have a diesel? No worries, that will be worked out as well.
All we have to do is get past the power elite, who depend upon us paying through the nose for fuel. This becomes a much smaller hurdle day by day, as the power of our connectivity increases. Elsewhere I've predicted that YouTube will help the revolution more than anything else. Well, the internet in general is fueling the revolution...
...and other formerly suppressed technology is certain to be revealed. Joe Schmo will one day have no energy bills at all. Power lines will be taken down and recycled. Batteries? Only for smaller devices -- but then eventually, none at all.
Proliferation of Joe Cell technology will be a very good thing, but we must remember that electric vehicles are still more reliable and require much less maintenance. Perhaps the best application will be in something resembling a fuel cell, if that is even possible. Its greatest potential may instead be as a fuel source for "bladeless" turbine generators...
THE ICEMAN GOETH
In any case I see Joe Cell conversions for existing ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles as a stopgap measure. ICE may never die, and as a lifelong automotive enthusiast I'd hate to see every single vehicle converted to full electric. However I can see a day when only the most hard-core, purist enthusiasts insist on using gasoline, decades (even centuries) after manufacturers have stopped producing piston engines.
We do have a rich automotive culture on this planet, which should be preserved. I don't want to live in a universe where the 1971 Plymouth Satellite Sebring, as one example, is nothing but a distant memory...
Automotive designers are almost required to be futurists, and some of us might take it a bit too far at times -- but it's become very critical for our species to consider the future. No planet can sustain the kind of population growth we're perpetrating. We need for our technological progress to continue unfettered, meaning we need to get out from under the massive thumb of Big Oil. Only then will we be able to develop the transportation required for off-planet emigration...
Phil Smith
August 2-13, 2007
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1 comment:
"While it may be hard for some to comprehend, the Joe Cell appears to power engines on lightning." - from http://www.thejoecell.com/
...and, there you go.
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