Whose resource is it anyway?

The development of solar and wind power is touted by environmentalists as the cure-all for the pollution and destruction caused by the use of fossil fuels. After all, what could be cleaner than an array of solar panels angled up towards the sun, just sitting there? Or a row of shining wind turbines, all rotating in unison, catching the wind in their blades and generating electric power for free? Yes, there are downsides that we are reminded of - the sun sets every night (except above the Arctic circle for a few months every summer!) and the wind does occasionally die down - but other than those inconveniences, both are relatively benign.

The technologies for both are very well developed and safe to implement - this is not like nuclear where the threat of a leak is only a tsunami away (I jest of course - that was a freak incident - but the truth is that the consequences of a nuclear reactor accident will always be enormous, no matter how small the probability). I've never heard of a solar panel falling off a roof and killing someone - likewise, bird deaths caused by wind turbines often tend to be exaggerated.

The biggest challenge with the widespread implementation of solar and wind, however, is the nature of the resource itself - it does not have an owner. The sun and the wind are the most democratic of energy sources, because they are ubiquitous - other than the fact that the rays of the sun are differently angled, and that wind in some areas is stronger than others. But unlike deposits of oil, coal, gas, uranium, lithium - in fact, just about any other natural resource that we depend on - there is no question of claiming "ownership" over solar and wind.

And that's the inherent problem - because the modern fossil fuel industry is based on the concept of companies and countries counting barrels or tons of reserves that impacts the global economics of energy production, distribution and consumption. Every oil company has to show that it can replace its reserves year on year or risk getting punished in the stock market - similarly, a country that can suddenly "double" its quantity of reserves becomes the darling of the international aid organizations.

Solar and wind, however, are meant to immediate consumption - or, at best, immediate generation of electricity which can then be stored for later usage. If it is sunny today, it might be cloudy for the next give - so you can't talk about the reserve of sunshine (or wind speed) as it is instantaneous. Again, that is not necessarily a negative - but it definitely impacts the ability of an organization to be willing to go into business in the same way it currently does business for fossil fuels.

Smart home, Dumb people

The focus of the electronics and consumer goods industry has been on the development of "smart" devices or appliances that are able to provide or exchange information and, as a result, have capabilities far greater than their analog predecessors. Take the lowly thermostat for example - in its primitive form, it came with two settings - on and off. This resulted in either a lot of wasted energy if the device was left on the whole day, or uncomfortable surroundings if it was left off. The emergence of the programmable thermostat changed this and allowed homeowners to set timings for the device to turn on and off.

The "smart" thermostat takes this to an entirely new level - it allows you to remotely access and control the thermostat and make adjustments all while checking to see how much energy is being consumed in the house. Is this really necessary? How much additional efficiency can one realize from such a device? Or are people paying for the "convenience" of being able to have this control, even if they use it only once in their lifetime?

The smart fridge is an even bigger white elephant. It's one thing to have  fridge that can control the temperature to reduce energy usage - but why would you need a fridge that keeps track of what items are in it and automatically generates a list of what to buy on the next trip to the grocery store? Since when have humans become incapable of opening the fridge door and doing a 10 second scan of the contents?

The reality is that the consumer goods industry, having become a victim of its own success in rolling out more efficient and longer lasting products, now has to contend with falling sales. So their only option is to invent new "needs" and try and satisfy them with icing and cherries. Every industry faces this at some point in time, and because the mantra is "keep manufacturing no matter what", the obsession with novelty is perpetuated.

Let's focus on applying smart technologies where it really makes sense - where humans are not physically or mentally capable of undertaking the same task in the same amount of time. For example, controlling the flow of traffic in a city is beyond the reach of any single human, and unless one is willing to hire hundreds of traffic police, the only solution is to implement an intelligent controller that ensures the major roadways are moving and any bottlenecks are quickly resolved. You don't need a car that somehow senses the level of sunlight is too high and automatically changes the window tint to reduce the glare.

The joy of getting things done

There are some of us for whom curling up with a good book under a blanket represents the ultimate bliss - still others would venture out to a pub and spend several hours with friends drinking into the early hours of the morning. Me - I like assembling furniture and planting bulbs. Why, you ask? Because the joy you get at the completion of the task is worth all the effort that goes into it.

Take this morning - with snow coming down hard, and the office closed, I decided to tackle the latest Ikea purchase sitting in my basement - a TV stand. No ordinary stand this, it was a real beast weighing close to a hundred pounds. But once the box was opened, and the individual pieces separated, it looked decidedly simply. About 15 minutes work, I thought, then I can get some breakfast.

About 45 minutes later, as I was still grappling with the last piece, I realized to my horror that one of them had gone in backwards. Now if you've ever assembled Ikea furniture before, you know that the only reason that something doesn't turn out the way it should is because the person doing the assembly has goofed up - I have yet to see a set of instructions that is incorrect (same with the correct number of screws and dowels in each order!) I went back to step 1 and started all over again and realized that I had been looking at the  instructions upside down - so much for my theory that men are great at spatially challenging tasks! Luckily it was a simple fix and i was soon staring at a perfectly functioning well assembled table.

Gardening has its own challenges - you have to imagine a layout and then proceed to plant your bulbs so that you can have waves of different colors throughout the year. Unlike furniture, where the results are seen almost immediately, gardening requires a fair amount of patience as it will take anywhere from 3-6 months to witness the miracle of how soil, air and water act together. The thrill one gets when you see the first tiny green shoot poking its head out of the ground is worth the wait!