I came to an interest in technology along the same path that many people my age traversed. We witnessed the first manned space flights as well as the evolution of electronics from vacuum tubes to transistors. I once received a stern warning as well as a low grade on a speech I gave in the fourth grade regarding the miniaturization of electrical and mechanical components in the future. Seems that my compulsion to rant on about miniature components was more than my speech teacher could handle, or perhaps it was the lack of note cards.
One of the most interesting mechanical / electrical things I came across back then were several Popular Science articles about generating my own electricity and selling it back to the electric company. Although these articles were “survivalist” in nature, the notion of getting paid for my electricity was quite cool. Not to mention, I was not interested in packing away instant dried food, gold and vast amounts of 50 caliber machine gun ammunition.
Looks like we’ve come full circle. One of the remarkable “home” engineers I enjoyed reading about, Ed Fowler has an entirely new opportunity for you and I to “give back” to the electric company.
You will really enjoy Ed and his website EfficientPlanet.com