G’day to you! Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate it
and of course it is great to see you. Coffee’s freshly brewed and the VTs are
hot and delicious...not to mention extremely low-fat, eh.
Yesterday, we drove
up the 401 highway to my sister. Linda’s, in Ajax, just east of Toronto. Good
drive and all and I got to thinking about highways and all the weather we are
faced with here – especially in the 6+ months of winter. I may have an answer
to some of it...
‘Oh, here he goes off on a weird tangent that probably has
something to do with poo’. No actually it doesn’t...though it could potentially
save a lot of last minute lower intestinal accidents, I suppose.
We enjoy
watching all the home reno shows on TV and I am fascinated by the effect ‘radiant
heat’ can have on cold bathroom and basement floors. What is radiant heat? It is
heat generated through a coil in the floor that sends the heat up through floorboards to warm your tootsies as you stroll barefootedly across the kitchen
in search of that early morning coffee.
From what I gather there are two types – water and electric.
With the water type it would be kind of like having a flat heated hose under
your floorboards. The electric one functions much as an electric blanket does.
There is a heated wire in the middle of it through which electricity passes and
heats it up. W
Are you with me so far?
‘But what does this have to do with highways and weather and
accidents, there, Bob?’
What if the governments (in their infinite wisdom) could
apply the principle of radiant heat to roads? Aha! Imagine a highway with a
radiant heat grid underneath it so that snow and ice would not form on it. Think
that would help to prevent many accidents and save a whole bunch of lives? Far fetched,
you say?
Remember, the future is here! So is technology. What I am thinking is
solar heat to power the grids. It might not work 100% of the time but there
could be a solar/hydro-based trade-off. What d’ya think? Could it work?
Oh sure the governments would ignore the ‘saving lives’
effect and claim it was prohibitively expensive, eh, but we are used to
governmental blathering, posturing and what’s in it for me attitude, aren’t we?
The main thing that would be in it for any politico willing to champion my idea
would be re-election and that is what it is all about from their perspective,
isn’t it?
Anyway...give it some thought wile you’re munching on your
virtual doughnut and sipping your coffee. If it wasn’t for the automobile, we’d
be up to our eyebrows in horse doo-doo by now but progress will out.
Let me know what you think. I’d start with a small road or
two and see what happens. Save the 401 and other major highways a few months
till they get the concept perfected. Never mind spending millions to set up a
Royal Commission to study the idea and fly in experts in every field known to
man to present their thoughts on the matter. Let’s just get on with it and save
some lives here!
See ya, eh!
Bob
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