In a previous article, I wrote about Kevin Blacker and his ideas for improving our lifestyle and utilizing our local southeastern Connecticut area resources more efficiently. We’ve mentioned the increased usage of boulders and rocks harvested from farmland as a means of protecting our coastline. Today, we’ll touch on electricity and water.

Static electricity is generated in a number of ways, some of them accidental, which up until now have been hard to control and utilize effectively. Blacker writes “Everyone seems to be focusing on wind and solar to generate power, less damaging to the environment than burning fossil fuel. But what about commercially harvesting static electricity?

“One possibility might involve the use of long sheets of thin plastic run on a pulley system so they pass close to each other. A static electricity ‘harvester’ would collect the electricity for energy storage into a device perhaps similar to a battery, for later use.”

He goes on to consider an improvement in our water distribution systems.

“Water pipes in the USA have frequently been made of copper and solder (which often contains lead). More recently, somewhat more flexible tubing made from plastic has been used for waterlines. Negative health effects of plastic are not yet fully understood but could exist. Possibly an organic material could be studied and designed for inexpensive, flexible, durable use for waterlines, with no foreseeable health risks.”

The concept with both the above electrical and water subjects is to encourage the development of products that consumers actually need and will be both cost and health effective for the future. Our need for efficient energy that does not deplete a finite resource, such as oil, and distributes clean water to us, unlike what happened in Flint, Mich., should encourage scientists and entrepreneurs alike to develop advanced products.

If we’ve managed to land people on the moon and bring them back alive, and if we’ve been able to land a robot ship on Mars, we can develop a new electrical storage system and a safer water pipe system here on earth.

Look for more of Blacker’s ideas in forthcoming issues.

Ed Johnson lives in Noank.