Inventive ideas please PUD

  • Kristi O’Harran / Herald Columnist
  • Monday, April 22, 2002 9:00pm
  • Local News

Snohomish County PUD commissioners are in for a treat today when they meet three students who won a 2002 Energy Invention Contest.

"We asked students to brainstorm new ideas that use, save or create energy," said PUD Public Education Coordinator Sonia Siegel. "Let imaginations go wild."

And so they did.

Dominick Jones, a fourth grade homeschooled youngster who lives in Edmonds, designed the Super Pump, an energy machine built inside a road that Dominick said could save millions of dollars. Cars run over a rubber strip in roadways, activating an anti-freeze type liquid.

"The liquid goes to the pump, the pump pushes air to the turbine, the turbine goes to the generator, the generator goes to the battery and then to the light," he wrote. "It can supply energy for anything that is needed."

As an added benefit, Super Pump doesn’t use ugly tall wires or burn coal. Pretty ingenious for a fourth grader, huh? Dominick said he helps his parents turn off lights and keep the thermostat low. His work earned him and the other two winners $300 each.

Winner Katie Miller, a seventh grader at Gateway Middle School in Everett, designed a Home Energy Recycling System (HERS).

"HERS is a complex system of wires and energy absorbers that recycle power from both inside and outside a house," Katie wrote. "The program is built to supply a generator with enough electricity to run a standard household."

Microscopic, clear light absorbers laced on interior walls collect energy from appliances and whatever comes through windows that goes to a mat of foam rubber in sheet rock that transfers energy to electrical circuits, she wrote. Energy is carried along wires to a generator. At the same time, larger absorbency pads, installed in the roof, transfer solar energy along more padding to the generator. A second generator stores excess energy in a battery pack.

HERS is superior to regular home electrical systems because it only uses the energy to start up the secondary generator (the part that turns on the main generator) and in time collects enough energy to keep itself running independently, Katie wrote.

Her recycling theme was shared in the winning high school entry by Matt Jacobson, a senior at Lakewood High School.

Someone might want to try his Hot Water Reversal Pump. I wish I had one at my house.

"For my invention, I decided to design a digital shower control," Jacobson wrote. "This shower control would address energy conservation issues."

His pump system integrates into the top of a hot water tank. After a shower, the hot water left in the pipe between the tub and the tank is reversed to go back into the tank. His mathematical calculations about how the plan worked were way over my head. He lost me at "Volume = Area X Length."

Basically, energy saved after a shower could power a 60-watt bulb for several hours. He wrote that his invention would work any time hot water is left in pipes.

PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos said students, like Jacobson, showed creativity in their entries.

"What’s especially impressive, when you look at their designs, is that they’re incorporating a variety of concepts learned in science, math and even art classes to come up with their ideas," Neroutsos said. "This was learning at its best."

We may never see their ideas in action, but commissioners will meet bright stars today who may spark tomorrow’s conservation concepts.

Kristi O’Harran’s column appears Tuesdays and Fridays. If you have an idea for her, call 425-339-3451 or e-mail oharran@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.