8/14/2019 WaltPatterson Review of Solar Energy Projects for the Evil Genius

1/1www.modernpowersystems.com October 2007 Modern Power Systems 59

PATTERSON

A modern power system onyour tabletop?

MPS

a tabletop photovoltaic cell, or fuel cell? WithGavin as your guide you'll find out how. He alsoavoids conventional specialist terminology if it'snot necessary. His discourse on 'angle of inci-dence' of solar radiation, for instance, is directand lucid but he never calls it that.

His writing style is conversational, 'you' and'we' and active verbs, not the flat, dead third per-

son passive of traditional academia. Almostevery page is sprinkled with striking specific ex-amples, photos and diagrams. He is also scrupu-lous about the history of the concepts andtechnologies, their originators several of whomI had not heard of their evolution, and indeedtheir shortcomings and drawbacks, economicand environmental. I am still shaking my head atthe sheer abundance of the information packedinto 198 pages. It also includes references, on-line information, and sources for kit and parts inEurope and the US.

He writes with wit and brio. Do you want tofry eggs on your driveway? or make a solar deathray? Here's how, based on good sound scienceand technology. He makes me itch to try out these

ideas myself. He touches on almost every con-ceivable application of solar energy, eventuallycovering an impressive assortment of electricaldevices, complete with wiring diagrams andassembly instructions.

Gavin Harper is already hard at work on hisnext book for McGraw-Hill. I understand it willbe calledFuel cell projects for the evil genius.What would you say to a modern power systemon your tabletop? I can hardly wait.

A

s I write about innovative electricity,I keep asking myself 'Who is going tomake all this new technology?' Forelectricity, what's still taught in most

electrical engineering courses is traditional cen-tralised engineering, entailing vast projects, inwhich any individual role is partial and limited.I'm increasingly convinced that we need an en-tirely new approach. As with computers weneed a change of direction, potentially evenfrom kids in a garage small scale, somethingthey can do themselves, to get them fired upabout the possibilities.

When I was a kid I readScience Magic andother books by Kenneth Swezey, followed his in-structions and tried things out, and they worked,most of the time at any rate. I devouredPopularScience magazine andPopular Mechanics mag-azine note the 'popular'. I collected chemistrysets from friends who were finished with them.

Science and technology were fun. You could playwith science and technology, for sheer enjoy-ment. That's what we need, to get the brightestyoungsters to pick up the innovative energy ideasand make them happen, not because they see agood career path but because they get a kick outof doing it.

In mid-July, at Chatham House in London, weheld a public meeting to launch my new bookKeeping the lights on: towards sustainable elec-tricity. More than 100 people attended, many ofwhom I knew. One I did not was a young mannamed Gavin Harper. He introduced himself dif-fidently, saying he was a 'big fan' of my writing,always an effective way to get my attention. But

I gradually realised that he was no ordinary 'fan'.Still only 20 years old, he has already published

four books; and his publisher is McGraw-Hill, ashard-nosed as they come. Gavin's latest title isSolar energy projects for the evil genius exactly the sort of pitch to appeal to bright, strop-py teenagers.

What they do not want is anything that callsitself a 'textbook'. But Solar energy projects forthe evil genius would be exactly that, if our sci-

ence and technology educators were not sohidebound by stultifying tradition. In the dayswhen I was earning a meagre crust as a privatetutor of physics, I was made as miserable as mystudents by the prescribed textbooks, notablythe omnipresent Nelkon confused and con-fusing, inaccurate and dull, dull, dull. Gavin,however, has already realised an essential truthabout teaching. The overriding responsibilityof a good teacher is not to impart information.It is to make the subject interesting, and indeedif possible to make it fun. That Gavin does. Inhis enthusiasm, to be sure, he overdoes the ex-clamation mark. But that is a minor blemish onwhat is in other respects an exemplary piece ofdidactic exposition a phrase that would make

him cringe.He also achieves a subtle and difficult disci-

pline, more important for science and technolo-gy, perhaps, than for other subjects. He explains,clearly and simply, every new concept and termbefore using it. He starts with the easiest and mostfamiliar ideas, such as a sundial, and buildscarefully out from them, eventually arriving, bycomfortable stages, at some seriously unfamiliarterrain. Would you know, offhand, how to make

Walt Patterson is associate fellow in theEnergy, Environment and DevelopmentProgramme at Chatham House in London, andvisiting fellow at SPRU, University of Sussex.

Walt Patterson's new book, Keeping the lights on: towards sustainable electricity(Chatham House/Earthscan), is

now available from Earthscan, http://tinyurl.com/22y7z4 or (in North America) Brookings,

http://tinyurl.com/2xrujs, and all good bookshops.

Walt Patterson On Energy, (www.waltpatterson.org),

is a free archive of more than 35 years of his work.

Sheet of glass

Asphalt or darksun-absorbing surface

Eggs

Frying pan

Solar egg fryer, as described in Gavin Harper's book, Solar energy projects for the evil genius