Solving the World's Energy Crisis

While the price of a barrel of oil is beginning to fall from the $70 peak in August, and in real terms it is still well short of the historical high, today's high energy prices combined with the threat of global climate change make research into alternative sources of energy ever more important. In the field of climate change it is widely regarded that there is no technology silver bullet that will stabilize greenhouse gas emissions, instead many different technologies must each contribute their own "wedge." This Christmas in Dallas, Elaine and I discovered what could be the latest "wedge" for dealing with the energy crisis and climate change: Olivia, Maura, and Sam Zimmerman!

Our nieces and nephew possess a boundless amount of energy that has already been proven capable of running me ragged and powering a light bulb (in the form of l.e.d.'s encased in their shoes). With a few R&D dollars, we can turn their sweet cries of "dance dance uncle Allen," and "another horsey ride uncle Allen," into light sweet crude. Now using children for energy often conjures up images of large scale hamster wheel generators, but with a little extra capital expenditure we can capture the energy of child friendly "free range" play by installing piezoelectric floors or some other such device.

All kidding aside, our last Christmas in Dallas before Mike and Ginny retire to Iowa was truly wonderful (and I have a feeling it was probably the Zimmerman clan's last 80 degree Christmas). The whole family was there, and we all had a great time playing with the kids and catching up with each other. We had some wonderful meals, ate too much delicious home-made candy, visited the Aquarium at the Texas State Fair, and had a very merry Christmas.

(click here to see all the pictures, or here for the slideshow)