Tag Archives: ideas

Thoughts

Offset electricity costs through wind turbines

I live in a high-rise condo building, and during one of our building’s board meetings, the discussion arrived at the topic of reducing electricity costs. Immediately I thought about the possibility of placing wind-driven turbines on the top of our building. There is always a good breeze up there, and the electricity produced by the turbines could help offset the energy costs for the building. One of the board members promised to look into the matter, but so far, nothing’s come of it.

Perhaps the costs for the turbines are still prohibitive for many buildings, ours included. But I can see a market for this kind of a product, if the costs are brought down enough so that a cost-benefit analysis of such a solution can show its viability in the long-term.

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Thoughts

Solving a part of the traffic and transportation problem

I can’t take full credit for this idea. A few months ago, I talked with a friend of mine who is a transportation specialist. His name is Chris Bennett, and the idea is really his. I think it’s important enough that others ought to know about it.

As I drove to work this morning and I passed a pothole in the road, what he’d said to me suddenly clicked. The way to solve the congestion problem on our road, and also to get extra revenues that can be used to fix our roads and keep them in top shape, is to institute a tax on using the roads. The perfect place to do it is at the pump, and I’ll explain why.

The most consistent measure of figuring out how much uses the roads is by how much gasoline he/she consumes. Sure, some cars consume more gasoline than others, but that’s fine. A gasoline tax would encourage people to think more carefully about a car’s consumption before they purchase it. A gasoline tax is the only way to properly charge for mileage and for gross vehicle weight.

Everyone knows that in general, heavier cars consume more gas. They also wear out the roads faster, because of their weight. A gasoline tax would automatically separate the people who have lighter cars and consume less gas from those who own heavier cars and consume more fuel. It would not only encourage more responsible driving by making people plan out their trips in advance and considering their vehicles consumption, but it would also generate extra revenues for the upkeep and improvement of our roads.

Sure, you may say, the money will be generated, but how will it be divided among the local, state and federal government? They each are responsible for fixing their roads. Well, this would be done according to road usage studies on each of those types of roads. Roads that get used the most would get the most money to get fixed. All of the roads in a specific metro area would be grouped into light, medium and heavy usage. A percentage of the total revenues would then be divided among the appropriate parties that are responsible for the upkeep of those roads. Incidentally, this is why I think charging people for using the roads (having tollbooths on the roads) is a silly way to generate revenues. Instituting a gasoline tax is the fairest way to distribute the payment responsibility among all the “offenders” out there: us, the drivers.

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Thoughts

A better way to store and install printer drivers

How many of us have been irked by the fact that we had to always install printer drivers for our printing devices?

I think printers should store common printer drivers in on-board flash memory chips, and should be programmed to allow us to install the drivers directly from the printer, thus eliminating the need for driver CDs, which always have a way of getting lost. Along with the drivers, the printers would also install software that would check for driver updates on the manufacturer’s website, and would automatically install the updates to the computer as well as to the printer’s flash memory, thus ensuring that the drivers are kept up to date in both locations.

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Thoughts

Integrating solar panels into our windows

Now that the technology for producing solar panels is getting cheaper, I think they should be integrated into our windows. We should be able to purchase windows that are pre-fitted with transparent (or close to transparent) solar panels, that can collect solar energy and transform it into electricity. I’m not too knowledgeable about how to feed the electricity produced back into our house’s electrical circuits, but I would imagine that it could be made in such a way that we could just plug it into a wall outlet. The electricity thus produced could offset the cost of our monthly electricity bill and overall, help reduce heat-trapping gas emissions from power plans.

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