I see by the dates that the last time I wrote anything on this blogspot was over two years ago. My, how time flies! I have been thinking about what caused me to stop writing, other than just plan laziness. I think the problem might be that I bit off more than I wanted to chew by creating subjects, and then attempting to write something meaningful about each.
I am going to take another shot at it, but this time a little more "relaxed" and without topics (unless something comes up that really should be in the existing categories). I find writing to an unknown audience to be a strange sort of thing to do. It is a little like writing notes in a bottle, making whatever comments seem appropriate and throwing the bottle in the ocean. Who knows, maybe someone will find it and read it - or not. Maybe they will like what they read - or not. In any case, there is almost a zero chance of getting a reply (unless you happen to be inhabiting the B.C. comic strip). I find a similar lack of feedback on articles that I write for an engineering journal. I know people read it because they sometimes tell me they like what I write. But other than a rare comment, it feels like so many words going into a void. Writing a book must be even more disconcerting since it takes months (or years) before there is any chance of a reply or feedback.
That being the case, I have decided to ignore any urge to write for others - especially since it appears that the only person who reads my blogs is me. If I am going to write things, obviously the audience is myself and I can pick on any topic that interests me at the moment - or none at all if that is the case.
I like to write about topics that might be called "non-fiction." Topics of particular interest to me are related to engineering, physics, cosmology, some politics, a lot of science, a bit of psychology and some philosophy along the lines of "Who are we?" - "What do we know - and what do we not know?" "Where did our understanding of the world come from?" - things like that.
A current contemplation has to do with the nature of "fun." It seems that I have not been having much fun lately. That doesn't mean I have been unhappy, or even that I haven't been enjoying myself - I am pretty content and have been enjoying my days. However, I haven't been having much "fun" - whatever that might be. In fact, I am having a hard time figuring out what might be fun, or even what I did in the past that was fun. I recall a few times making an exclamation such as, "Wow! That was sure fun!" But I can't really recall what might have caused such a reaction. I recall having fun when engaged in risky, thrilling, exciting behavior - such as riding a motor cycle far too fast on curvy mountain roads. I seem to recall that being "fun." Now it is just plain scary. I also remember a few conversations with people that rose to the level of being "fun." I don't recall any of the topics, or even the people involved, but I am sure that I have had "fun" conversations. I remember eating a couple of meals in my life that were so good, and that I enjoyed so much that it rose to the level of something akin to "fun" - maybe. The reason for considering this is that I would like to have some fun, but am not sure where to go looking for it. Apparently, waiting for fun to come find me might not be the best plan.
Over the past couple of years since I stopped writing this blog I have spent a very large amount of time learning the field of energy conservation engineering. I am taking a break from my safety career to learn something "new." At the beginning I didn't expect to learn anything new, I expected to recall and refresh what I already had learned. It turns out that I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did. I am still a novice, but am now a very aware novice. I can more clearly see the things that I need to know to be effective.
For the first year or so I just studied whatever came along, not knowing what I might find interesting or even if anything would come of it. It seems to be turning out that I have a passion to help make homes and small businesses MUCH more efficient and comfortable, and to do so in a way that is "free" in the sense that the cost of improvements is less than the cost of the energy that is no longer used. Achieving a cost reduction that is greater than the cost of achieving that reduction seems like free to me. This is especially the case when the money for the improvements comes from a loan that costs less to service than the cost of the energy that is no longer used.
Amazingly, we (California, the USA and the world) are in a situation where the technology exists to allow us to stop using fossil fuels for "free." I think of the kids in the car asking the question, "Are we there yet?" It turns out that from the point of view of requiring the use of fossil fuels to power our needs, we are there. Who would have guessed? There are a few simple steps that can make this happen. One of the big ones has to do with reducing the amount of energy needed to do things. For example, I switched the pump on my pool from a standard induction motor to a fancy inverter controlled variable speed pump. It cost me $800 to do that. However, it also cut my monthly electricity cost to run the pool filter and pool sweep from about $100/month to closer to $10/month - and the water stays much cleaner because the filters work so much better! That means that if I had waiting 7 months to make this change I would have spent the cost of the new pump and still would be faced with the future of high power costs. Similar dramatic savings can be had by fixing the HVAC system in a building (especially homes and small businesses). It is pretty easy, and not particularly expensive, to reduce the energy use for heating and cooling by a factor of 80% or more. It is not unusual to go from a bill of $200 a month to one of $200 a year - and end up with a building that is much more comfortable and cleaner (because of less dust). Do things like that, and add a little Photovoltaic solar to make the rest of the power needs of the building and now the home uses zero net energy (maybe even producing a little extra to share with others). If everyone in California did that it would reduce the energy needs of the State by over 50%. Do a few other things, like actually implement the 50+ mpg cars and the energy balance really begins to shift away from our current dependency upon fossil fuels. It is all easy to do and affordable because it costs less than not doing it. Doing these improvements would be a huge benefit to the local communities and job markets - while dramatically reducing the production of green house gases. We really have little choice, we just have to do it.
I am out of time to write more today, but I have a lot of other topics that are boiling around in my mind that I want to write about. If everything goes as intended, I will find time to write about these and other topics as they come along. It seems like every day brings three or four new topics, or new information about old topics. My desire is to talk about them as they come along. It would be spectacular to get into a dialogue about some of these topics, but I realize that is highly unlikely. It is very unlikely that anyone will read what I write, and even more unlikely that I will get a response. But heh, this isn't for that purpose. This is just someplace for me to send messages out into the void - and to create a place for me to hear myself think.
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