Surprises for 2010 (Part 1)

Here are some of my predictions as to what is going to surprise people and make a big splash-- let's tune in in 360+ days and check:

Air Superiority: In the battle of hydrogen vs. electric vs. gasoline, air powered vehicles will start to make inroads. Compression is at the heart of the internal combustion engine. Air compressors are very old technology: ask anyone who uses a nail gun. For the price of $200 or less you can get yourself a decent air compressor. Go to the gas station and while suckers are paying $1 per litre, you can run that air compressor for as long as you want for $1 in total. Air powered cars and motorcycles will start to debut in Europe then grudgingly in North America. The best part of air powered: zero emissions and if the compressor is powered from a hydro, wind or solar source it's totally zero emission.

Asia Will Produce The Killer App: There are too many good programmers who have cut their teeth on North American and European projects. Some of them will get together and have an Indian-only get together and buzz together something awesome and something made for their 2 billion neighbours. My vote is on a tool that combines the Mechanical Turk, Adsense and GetAFreelancer: while $5/day sucks by North American standards, it's good coin (for now) in Bangladesh.

AuRA (Augmented Reality Apps): These will run on iPhone, Google's mobile and a list of other smart motion-sensitive phones. The apps will hit phones and miss desktops and laptops because phones are now mobile computers. This year people will become disappointed with the performance of AuRA, much in the same way that people didn't like "server-push" in 1996 that eventual found life as Ajax and RSS. 2012 will be the year of AuRA with the London Olympics being as AuRA enabled as our world is wifi/Bluetooth enabled now.

Global Warming will become Global Adaptation: People are in a frenzy over whether America or China is the biggest polluter and contributor to Global Warming. Who cares. The main impact of pollution is to destroy eco systems we are near (our cities and buffer zones). We walk on trampled Earth. The impact of pollution on the human population is self-correcting-- too much lead in the water and the people are crippled: if the people want to live better lives they can resist the forces that are harming the streets they live in. In China, people who harvest valuable elements from electronics are poisoning themselves and their environs. At some point they will become too sick to continue and stop the practice. People who work in this environment will be prone to related illnesses. I think this year, we will "get it"-- that Global Climate Change has happened before and it's happening now; it's happening on other planets too. Our solution is not to fall for all of the greenwashing. Our solution is to adapt: move to higher ground; use the heat; close down the parka factories; buy stock in CNN because they get some awesome hurricane footage. We can shout at the wind; or we can fly a kite.

Doing Your Part

Have I mentioned that I like the 1-2 punch of using solar power to take the edge of Global Warming?

Environmental campaigners have been trying to change the way we think for a long time. As yet I don’t think they have really succeeded. Now there is another appeal to saving the planet, it might be cheaper than letting it all go to pot! The cost of energy has been increasing for a long time and we have all simply adjusted our mindset to accept this. But there is another way. Solar power.

Solar power used to be unobtainable for most people as it was expensive to install and no one really made it seem appealing. Now it is a different story. With a little bit of research you can find amazing ways of saving money using solar power.

Getting Solar Power Installed

All the investment in solar power is up front, or so it used to be. You used to have to buy all the equipment and then pay a company to come and install it and also pay for any maintenance it needed. Now you can go about this in a different way. Some companies will actually lease you the equipment. For this you pay a deposit and then you pay a monthly amount to the company. So as long as your monthly lease is less than your current energy bills you are saving money. Another option is a grant. You will need to check the availability of grants in your area. These are basically issued to help with the initial set up costs.

Where To Start

First you need to review your energy requirements. Some areas will be easy and obvious to change. For example, are you heating a swimming pool? This is very expensive to heat traditionally and is also very simple and cheap to change to solar. If you are looking to convert you whole home then it is worth consulting one of the companies who specialize in this. They will come and see your house and will be able to advise you how to change and they can even divide the project up so that you can do it over a period of time depending on grants and personal funding.

How Does Solar Power Work.

There are two ways in which we can use the sun to reduce our energy bills. Either the heat can be used to heat water and reduce the costs of heating your home, or your can use photovoltaic panels to convert the suns light into energy. This energy can then be stored in batteries, so your home will not stop functioning when the sun goes down. If you are looking at installing photovoltaic panels you must carefully consider their location as you want them to be as efficient as possible. The best location is on a pitched roof. This tilt means that they will be able to ‘catch’ more sunlight than if they were on a flat roof. If you know the place where you want to place the panels then you can contact one of the companies who sell them and they will also be able to advise you how much energy you will be able to swap from traditional sources to solar power.

So Why Should You Be Swapping Over To Solar Power?

Well, before hand you may have thought it was all impractical, now you know that the advice, and in some cases the funding is waiting for you. With a possible global recession on its way, now it a good time to start reviewing your outgoings, and if a little investment is going to save a lot of money it has got to be worth researching. Secondly, it will only add to the value of your real estate, so your investment will be safe. Finally, you are doing your bit for the future generations.

Jon Kelly is a published author who writes articles and reviews on solar power and its applications. If you would like to find out about solar power and learn more about solar panels.please visit: http://www.worldsolarpanels.com

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