Natwerk Designs

National lottery of energy innovation? Who's for it?

There should be a national lottery of energy innovation, to spur invention and refinement in key areas of national energy retooling. For example what mind is capable of the specialized research into how to make photovoltaic panels produce more electricity? Are the imaginations of amateur inventors working on it? Flying vehicles? Plug-in cars? Battery innovation? So many inventors lack the capital to deploy a great invention, so they don't even try. Some of the greatest inventions in history have come from the garages of ordinary people. (Hewlett Packard? Thomas Edison?) The US Government should offer tax-free cash prizes of significant amounts ($1 million, $5 million, etc) to individuals and teams achieving key pre-defined innovation. Imagine the possibilities. Or we could tar up the coast of California and Florida with oil drilling rigs . . . or pour cash into the pockets of families of Saudi Arabia . . . and melt our polar caps away, burning oil, your choice. I've failed to convey my idea miserably. Consider that Ted Kaczynski was one of the most brilliant mathematical minds this earth has ever known, and also happened to be a murder and the Unabomber. Corporations are pretty brain dead folks. General Motors has all the engineers and capital they need to pioneer electric cars or hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. They have little incentive to do so; the profit is still in gasoline vehicles for them. Business mitigates research with respect to risk. If the potential for a payoff is not obvious, they'll blow it off. If this country wants to harvest the top intellect of its residents, it isn't going to happen by hoping corporations get around to it. Without nationalizing research, our government can at least set intellectual goals for people outside of the corporate cube.

Public Comments

1. i don't like lotteries of any kind. the problem with this is that millions of people will submit stupid unworkable ideas that someone has to look at. worse, all those folks that promote HHO will create slick presentations that take a while to evaluate. mind you, i'm all for innovation. just not this particular method.
2. Not sure it is needed. There is now millions of dollars ready and waiting in the normal market for anyone that invents any good energy saving device. Individuals, Corporations, Universities, Governments, etc. are spending billions on research in this area because there is enormous amounts to be made for the successful ones.
3. The problem is Patents. Every new idea should be patented, as it will be patented anyway. This is the first hurdle for inventors. They have to pay to run international checks to make sure the idea is new and original. After that, they have a breathing space - where they have the exclusive right - protected by law , to develop and market that idea - and make money from it. Usually patents are sold to manufacturers for a % of the profits. These patents can be extended each year (yes you have to pay progressively more each year) - up to 10 years or more. This is how it should work. Unfortunately - Here's an example of what happens when it goes wrong. Mr X makes an invention and patents it that will reduce your gas bills by 60% - and boost your BHP by 20%. He sells it to the highest bidder - Maxicars. Maxicars gives him $6,000 + 5% of sales. Maxicars decides that if they produce a super efficient car, that they will not get their $% from the oil companies, so is more cost effective just to pay to protect the patent. MrX is not happy they are not using his inventon, but as he sold it - he can't do anything about it now. This is how major companies are sitting on good ideas - just to protect their future. This is what really stagnates progress. It would be better to pass a law that all patents issued must be in production and products sold within 2 years of issue to remain protected - otherwise it's unprotected. This would cause real developments to occour