Thomas Edison was a smart guy 5

Some day some fellow will invent a way of concentrating and storing up sunshine to use instead of this old, absurd Prometheus scheme of fire. ...

This scheme of combustion to get power makes me sick to think of -- it is so wasteful. It is just the old, foolish Prometheus idea, and the father of Prometheus was a baboon.

When we learn how to store electricity, we will cease being apes ourselves; until then we are tailless orangutans. You see, we should utilize natural forces and thus get all of our power. Sunshine is a form of energy, and the winds and the tides are manifestations of energy.

Do we use them? Oh, no! We burn up wood and coal, as renters burn up the front fence for fuel. We live like squatters, not as if we owned the property.

There must surely come a time when heat and power will be stored in unlimited quantities in every community, all gathered by natural forces. Electricity ought to be as cheap as oxygen, for it can not be destroyed.

-- Thomas Edison, 1910

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. birdboy Posted 10:10 am
    14 Apr 2006

    getting itWow. Even more amazing than Edison's ability to see into the future is that even today, when we have learned how to harness the energy of the sun, the wind, and the Earth's core, we still don't get it. Edison understood that the consumption of Nature' resources by fire is wasteful and harmful to the Earth, while energy flows all around us, just waiting to be captured and used, without the need to transform natural things into toxic and harmful waste products. Here we are today, able to capture energy cleanly and efficiently, but still preferring to consume by fire, even in the face of global consequences. Energy exec's blame politics and regulations- consumers blame high prices and inconvenience. So the Earth burns, toxics pile up, the rich get richer, and those that do 'get it' are ridiculed by all. Even Edison was considered a crank in his day. Science and philosophy are not so far apart- maybe that's why you don't hear much of it on prime-time TV or in church.

    a liberal in redsville

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  2. GRLCowan's avatar

    GRLCowan Posted 5:35 am
    15 Apr 2006

    Edison never saw a SSMEHe saw steam train engines that might have a big "15" on them to indicate 15 percent heat-to-work efficiency. This was a boast. 15 percent was a new frontier. Now-a-days coal-fired electricity plants are coming into service with efficiencies in the low forties, territory they share with the best automotive diesels. Rocket engines are over 70 percent.
    Also, when capturing sunlight, it's quite sensible to capture it in some combustible form. Maybe even hydrogen, as long as you don't try anything stupid like storing it. React it with CO2, make solar gasoline.
    Interestingly, Frank Shuman did some of what Edison was calling for in 1912.
    --- Graham Cowan, former hydrogen fan

    B: internal combustion, nuclear cachet

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  3. GRLCowan's avatar

    GRLCowan Posted 5:53 am
    15 Apr 2006

    Link correctionFrank Shuman's 1912 solar initiative

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  4. atreyger Posted 3:56 am
    16 Apr 2006

    wowThomas Edison WAS one smart dude to say this back in the day. Except that orangutans don't have tails.

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  5. amazingdrx Posted 5:28 am
    16 Apr 2006

    Yep AEdison was a bit eccentric, but who knew about his renewable power predictions?  I remember reading about his life as a kid, it sure energized my interest in science and technology.
    I always admired Edison's combination of invention with business, very few inventors have ever acomplished that.  Even Dean Kamen, one of the most successful inventor/capitalists of this modern age can't come close to Tom.
    And who knew about all that solar experimentation  100+ years ago?  Excellent link GRL!  Thanks.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

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