Environmental Primer, Part 3: Alternative Energy

We all know the energy source that automobiles require: gasoline. It may even be one of the most tangible fuel sources that we regularly contact—or almost contact. The fuel tanks run dry, so stop off at the gas station to buy more. Whether you are a self-pumper or a full-service kind of driver, the process is the same: nozzle goes into the car, some aroma moves into your nostrils, and the pump clicks and whizzes away as gasoline flows into your tank. If you can apply yogic awareness and sensibilities to what’s going on with your car at that moment, you will subtly feel the vehicle sink as about one hundred pounds of fuel is slowly added to its load (gasoline weighs about 6.5 lb/gallon, depending upon temperature and grade).

But what about your home? It probably runs on a multitude of energy sources, in the many combinations required to operate various systems and appliances: natural gas, fuel oil, steam, propane, wood, electricity, and the sun. Unless you are using a fireplace and wood-burning stove, or refilling propane tanks every few weeks, you probably don’t get too cozy with your home’s fuel sources. In fact, if you smell your home’s fuel (gas or smoke) or see it (electrical sparks or fire), you’ve got a problem on your hands. Out-of-sight and out-of-mind is a good basic indicator of a residence’s safety in storing and operating its energy resources.

But even though you can’t see it, the fuel of your utilities is all around you: in your walls and in your yard, buried in the streets or flying through the air on wires. Some of it even escapes the boundaries of its carrier. “Stray voltage” is the term used by my local electric company. In fact, electrical current creates its own electrical fields far beyond the diameter of a threaded copper wire (remember the right-hand rule of high school physics?). This rogue energy can be captured and made into a beautiful thing, as Richard Box did in his art installation, “Shake Pole,” which featured fluorescent tubes in an open field beneath power lines … illuminated without wires! 

However, this energy escape is a byproduct of the inefficiencies of transporting power long distances from the power producer (your utility) to the power user (you). It’s why locally produced alternative power is such a key step in the environmental question. And it’s why you should want to see more power generation facilities in your own house or in the neighborhood, rather than stashing it away in some faraway, unseen place.

The electrical utility grid can carry a finite amount of power, and the power plants have a ceiling for the quantity of power they can put into it.