The Tower of Power

“So, what do you have planned for today?” asked the woman as she placed his breakfast of eggs, toast and sausage in front of him.

“Cut the lawn, a trip to the dump after I clean the shop out, then over to JP’s place to pick up that bracket he made for me.” Mac replied to his wife. “Do you have anything that needs to be done today?”

“Nope, I have some seedlings I want to get planted in the greenhouse, but that’s about it,” she informed while pouring herself a coffee.

His breakfast consumed; Mac began to deal with his list of chores around their small home in the country. The grass cutting was only about half-way completed when his mower ran out of gas. A trip to the shed revealed that there was a minimal amount remaining in the gas can, so his timetable had to be modified where he would pick fuel up on his way home after completing the rest of his identified tasks.

The trip to the local landfill was uneventful as he placed the recycling materials where they belonged as with the rest of the waste their home generated each week. A visit to Jean Paul was next to pick up a bracket JP had made for Mac’s old John Deere tractor. Then he could finish clearing the area for the expanded outdoor garden Jill wanted for more potatoes, carrots and beets, and probably some other veggies too. Stopping at the local convenience store, Mac picked up a six-pack of beer as he always showed up at JP’s with some refreshment.

Mac pulled off the highway and started down the long gravel driveway that led to his friend Jean Paul Bordeaux’s log cabin home and voluminous workshop. JP and his wife Claire were from a small town in Quebec and had lived in the Yukon since the early 1990s. A former biker, JP’s appearance typecast him as the roughish long hair with shady intentions. Today he was dressed in black leather vest, Pink Floyd T-shirt, jeans and leather work boots, His long curly dark hair tied back into a ponytail and his bright smile exhibiting his easy-going nature. JP was a very talented metal fabricator, welder and was an experienced motor mechanic which was the principal method of his income, His wife Claire was a Registered Nurse at the hospital. They had no children, Gaston, their three-year-old cat was all the family they needed.

Pulling up to the shop’s large front doors, Mac waved to JP who was rolling a 45-gallon drum to a place next to a small shed where other drums were stored.

“Bonjour mon ami !” was JP’s habitual greeting. Grabbing the beer, Mac exited the truck and walked towards the shop entrance, “Hey bud! I’ll get these in the fridge first, then you can show me what you’ve been up to.”

They had a long-established protocol of JP showing off what he had accomplished over the recent past for himself or customer repair projects.

It had only been three months since Mac had retired from his working career as a division manager and stationary plant engineer for the electrical utility. He was still getting used to the relaxed and uninvolved life as a retiree. Some people take to the retirement life easily and content themselves with any variety of daily distractions. Mac was missing his co-workers and the team approach taken to correct failures that occurred in keeping the electrons flowing through the wires. He missed being asked his opinion on a multitude of work-related issues, he missed the responsibilities, and honestly, he also missed the problem solving and urgency of his work to keep the power on for all the nice people in their homes and businesses. He was bored and needed something to occupy his mind, so the visits with JP and the report of work recently completed with the related questions were a joy for Mac. He especially liked when JP was stumped and asked Mac for his advice on solving a mechanical problem.

“Here’s your bracket,” JP announced as he handed Mac a green-painted piece of metal.

Following a quick examination, Mac replied, “This will do perfectly, Thanks Man! Ready for a beer?”

“Sure, but first, I have to get something from the house, I’ll be right back.” JP responded and walked out the side door towards the house. Mac placed a couple bottles of local craft brew on the work bench and pulled the pair of wheeled and reclining former office chairs to their chatting locations and sat down on his usual one.

A few moments later JP returned with a large smile. “My brother in Montreal sent me an early birthday present,” he said as he placed a small decorated wooden box on the workbench. “Lebanese blonde hash like we used to get back in the old days!” he exclaimed. From the box JP withdrew a soapstone pipe with Innuit symbols carved into it. Peeling back the layers of tinfoil wrapping the aromatic block of compressed cannabis pollen, JP carved a couple small chunks off with his Swiss Army knife, crumbled them into the bowl of the pipe, and passed it to Mac.

“I don’t know when I last smoked hash - its been a while.” Mac held the pipe to his lips as JP lit the orange Bic lighter and touched the flame tip to the bowl. Inhaling, Mac soon realized the density of the smoke was much more than he was used to and pulled his head away before he erupted in coughing the dense smoke out of his lungs, “Smooth!” he jested and passed the pipe.

After three rounds each the pipe was spent and placed on the workbench. Each took a long pull on their beers and felt the effect of the powerful hash alter their senses. They chatted about each other’s plans for the coming summer now that the spring season had finally taken hold and the leaves were sprouting, the grass was growing, and the dog shit was melting out of the snow piles. Post-winter clean up was a chore few enjoyed but it was also a time to find all the things misplaced and hidden under the snow.

Each sat enjoying the long-forgotten buzz produced by the hash making small talk as they drank their beers. Suddenly the cuckoo clock hanging on the wall sounded three PM. Mac was drawn into it in his somewhat stimulated condition and began to study it.

After an immeasurable amount of time and another beer Mac determined it was time to go home. Refusing another hit off the pipe, he stood and placed the empty beer bottles back into the case while thanking JP for the bracket and the drug-inspired trip into yesteryear. “That’s powerful shit” he confirmed, “I forgot what it is like.”

“Want to take some home for Jill to try?” JP offered.

“That would be nice, I’m sure she would like a little taste too.”

Once underway back to home, Mac’s mind began to wander, and the cuckoo clock occupied his focus for a while although he did not know why.

While at the gas station, Mac phoned home to ask if there was anything needed from the small convivence store located there. A small tub of sour crème was added to his purchase as well as a large bag of Cheetos and he was once again on his way home.

The rest of the day was uneventful as he finished cutting the grass, mounted the bracket on to his tractor and before dinner showed Jill the gift JP had provided.

“Want to try it now or wait until later?” Mac asked.

“Oh, how about later? I have some chores to finish before I flop out in front of the TV.” His wife answered.

After dinner they both went outside to measure how big the new planting area would be so that Mac could begin the clearing work the next day. Driving a couple wooden stakes into the ground to mark the corners, the new plot was confirmed, and their job was done.

All their tasks completed, they took their usual positions in front of the TV and settled on a David Attenborough documentary about the Brazilian rain forest.

“So, do you want to try that hash?” Jill asked her husband.

“Sure, I’ll go get it - where is that old pipe we used to have?”

“Its in the bookcase, I’ll get it,” she offered.

“Wow! This is powerful shit!” Jill exclaimed once the bowl was spent.

“Yeah, I forgot how strong it is and to think how much we did back in high school. I wonder if the potencies are the same as back then?”

The Scarlet Macaws captured their attention halting any further discussion about the hashish. Mac’s mind was drawn back to the cuckoo clock in JP’s shop. Something about it was nagging at his mind, but what? “Probably just the confusion of the buzz.” he thought.

Fulfilling their allotted TV time for the evening, they headed off to bed, but sleep did not come easy for Mac. His mind was a blur of ideas and thoughts which he fought desperately to get in order. There was a problem right in front of him that demanded he solve, but he didn’t know what it was. Time passed as he stared at the ceiling trying to get his thoughts to solidify. What was it about that damn cuckoo clock that had taken root in his mind?

The light from the rising sun told him he had lost an evening’s sleep which caused him greater frustration as he had invested seven hours of unused sleep and was no closer to solving this dilemma.

Through the day his mind would not stop chewing on the cuckoo clock and what he was missing.

Once the garden extension had been tilled and raked, he parked the tractor in its garage and sat on his bench under the grove of willow trees with a beer and determined he would figure out why that clock was so important. He began his mental disassembly of the clock hoping that would reveal what was stuck in his mind.

He had a method for mentally disassembling an item; beginning with the source of energy that allowed the object to operate.

The PINECONES! The cast iron pinecones that hung by delicate chains from the clock that were used to power the clock’s mechanism. THAT’S IT!

His mind, finally free of the blockage, began to flow a river of ideas and thoughts he struggled to get into order. For about an hour and another beer he sat under the trees and let his mind wander where it wanted to go. Items he considered to be important or valuable he mentally labelled a higher ranking. “I’m gonna forget this stuff if I don’t write it down,” he considered as an urgent category thought.

He slept better that evening and woke refreshed and with a new purpose. He finally had something to occupy his attention. Retirement is hard for some, as the demands of daily work life are the juice that powers them through. Determination and delivering unwavering performance are much more satisfying than just a paycheck. Your mind is exercised daily, problems are to be solved, promises and obligations must be met, once you get dialed in with your team, things begin to purr. Satisfaction drives the work ethic and you achieve a Zen like state of contentment in your employment. Then one day, it stops. You are no longer a part of the team. You retired out. Thanks for everything, but your time’s up and you’re gone. So now what do I do?

Some retirees throw themselves into projects long denied, like Steve Barrett, a buddy who bought an old wooden cabin cruiser he intended to restore and putt around on the local lakes. Four years later and many thousands of dollars spent, he was still a long way from getting the bottom of the boat wet. Darrin Moyle built a new house he had promised his wife. She lives in it alone now as Darrin died from a heart failure while putting in the driveway lights.

Others sit on their asses in front of the TV and atrophy all the while trying to avoid being underfoot of their wives who never seem to run out of chores to be completed. Some just die once they have stopped working as if their jobs were the spark plug that kept them going from day to day, year to year.

After breakfast, Mac went into town and the stationary store where he picked up two lined hardcover journals and a Day-Timer. It was time to apply some management. Over the years the utility company had paid some big money to send him to a variety of management and operational training courses required for the business section he managed. He thought it would be a shame not to use the training he had received, so it was time for him to step back and look at the big-big picture, then narrow the focus as required and make a workplan for how he would pursue this idea that appeared in his mind.

Returning home, he thought it best to consult with Jill on any remaining jobs and their urgency as he anticipated being occupied with the first rough-out of this project for a couple weeks, perhaps more.

“No nothing is urgent, just getting the garden in.” She replied. “What are you getting into?”

“I want to explore if it would be possible to make an electrical generator that runs on gravity.” He replied with a bit of boast in his voice.

“Gravity?” with her face in a comical questioning pose.

“Sure Gravity! Hydro electric is gravity, water is just the media that transforms the motive energy force from one form to another to make a generator go round and round.”

“So how do you propose to do it?”

“Still use gravity but without the water as a media. Just through the air. Yesterday when JP and I smoked that first bowl, his cuckoo clock chimed and something about it had bothered me until this morning when I realized that the clock was powered by gravity but the motive force was provided by two cast iron pinecones falling on chains to make the guts of the clock function. So how do I amplify that principle to spin a generator to make enough power to run a typical house?”

“That would be cool!” Jill encouraged.

“Yup, no fuel to burn, no emissions, no fuel bills and it will keep working forever, or until the planet runs out of gravity.”

Mac poured himself into the planning of this project: Critical tasks and the order they must be considered; Budget and where to find it; What he presently didn’t know but needed to; Prototypes and testing. There were many things on his list to complete in time.

“Yeah sure I’ll help you to build it, no problem!” was JP’s passionate reply to Mac.

In their usual places next to the workbench in JP’s shop, with beers in hand, Mac had shared his idea with JP as he had believed JP would be a tremendous asset in moving his project forward.

Mac had sketched out a few diagrams of how he imagined the generator would function and blocked out the components for his yet-to-be created project. He had also drawn what he considered the assembly would look like when finished. It was a tower, a Tower of Power he snickered.

He had determined that a large percentage of what the finished product would be and how it would be made was a reconfiguration of items that already existed in the world. The new parts that would need to be created were a small step-down transmission and an ultra-high efficiency generator.

Much of Mac’s planning for his invention was centred on existing windmill technology. He intended to replace the wind as the motive force that turned the generator with a force of gravity, but there are some substantial differences between variable wind velocity and a mass falling at a fixed speed producing enough torque to turn a generator sufficient to generate current. This was the keystone to solving this dilemma.

Getting a wheel to turn was easy, getting a wheel to turn with enough power, or more properly - torque to spin a generator was the problem he had to solve. How big a generator? How much mass had to fall? How to maximize the power output of objects falling at around 32 feet per second? How to make it small enough to be an effective consumer product rather than an industry-sized solution? His original planning was focused on inventing a small consumer-generator that could provide enough power to run a typical household and its heating needs. His knowledge of the local electrical grid and some data from the internet revealed typical daily household energy consumption levels, and he calculated the expected energy requirement in the winter season when the heating demands would consume more juice.

In this format the generator could be used wherever the powerlines did not yet go. As a standalone unit it would not stop operating like when a failure caused the entire electrical grid to stop providing power. Each home could have their own independent electrical generator providing all the energy they required to operate their home cleanly and efficiently. One of the greatest features was the economies afforded by the apparatus. There was the initial capital purchase cost but after than, no fuel to buy, so no monthly bills; maintenance would be limited to a minor inspection and adjustment every six months or so; but the greatest value was the total lack of emissions of any kind. No C02 or other chemical compounds, no depleted batteries to dispose of, no spills and no contamination of the surrounding area…and it would be quiet too.

Mac knew what his primary challenges were; the transmission and generator. The technology he was hoping for existed in other forms at this time, so that is where he began his search for solutions. In the meantime, JP was researching the tower requirements and engineering options based on what Mac had envisioned the final version to be.

“Hello, this is Yan,” said the voice on the phone.

“Hello Mr. Helberg, My name is Mackenzie Lewis, I am a retired electrical engineer and I recently read an article you wrote for Electric Energy magazine on iron boron magnets and their potential use in miniature generators.”

“Well, Mr. Lewis to be candid, that article was some of my dreaming out loud about what could be possible with the new super-magnets and pure grade copper wire windings. As I said in the article, I anticipate these will provide some very interesting options for electricity generation in the future.”

“That’s what I want to speak with you about. I believe I have an idea that would be an excellent testbed for this technology. I have written a paper on my ideas which I would be very happy to share with you.”

Mac gave his ‘elevator pitch’ which took all of 4 minutes to deliver.

“Yes, I get your idea,” said Helberg. “The physics of such a project would break through a number of engineering hurdles we face today. Your solution, while simple on the face of it, will be very complex to perfect to a reliable source of energy.”

Mac felt warm and satisfied hearing the comments from the young physicist. “I will send you my paper and some other materials I have created for this project so you may study it in depth…or as deep as I have been able to take it so far.”

Helberg provided his email address and another phone number. “I look forward to reading your proposal Mac, I have been considering how best to test the next evolution of generators that could be possible, and your idea may be the optimum platform to prove these theories.”

In no less than three minutes after hanging up the phone Mac had emailed off his documentation to Yan Helberg, PhD in Electrical Engineering and Sciences in Bonn Germany. He was currently working as an electrical engineer for Eletech Laboratories in their manufacturing quality control division.

Yan Helberg’s imagination was stimulated after reading the project outline Mac Lewis had sent him. There was so much possible if they could solve this puzzle. Like most new inventions, they are created for usually a singular purpose or to solve a particular problem, but many products get adapted to perform other roles as the values, abilities and advantages become better known and experiments are performed, and spin-off products are created.

Months passed and a team of eight Eletech engineers and technologists had been created to focus their many skills and talents to solving this gravity-power puzzle. Yan had approached his employer seeking permission to spend some of his time working on this project. Yan’s boss took these ideas to his management table where it was discussed in detail which led to a project proposal paper that was sent to the senior managers and then the Board of Directors.

These managers responded by inviting Mac, Yan and some of the principle scientists to a meeting to discuss the larger opportunity that could be realized by supporting more R&D for this idea. Discussions included the identification of resources required to move the project along, timelines for critical evaluation points, operating budgets and a rough preliminary management plan. They already knew the marketplace was eager to accept this breakthrough energy technology.

Mac was in awe of what had transpired since his initial brief conversation with Yan. He also realized that he could not complete this project on his own and would require the expertise, experience and deep pockets a partner like Eletech could provide. A discussion about patent rights and downstream benefits was especially exciting for Mac as he began to comprehend and appreciate the scope of what such an invention would mean for the planet, the industry and himself.

“Honey, want to get a vacation home in Germany?” Mac asked over dinner one night.

“Why? We live in paradise already,” Jill smirked, “Its clean, fresh and quiet and we can do whatever we want.” She knew Mac was testing the water for dealing with the demands for his time in Bonn to work on this project. Of course, it would be easier for him to be closer to where the work was being done. She had noticed that when he was at home he would pace and be mentally on the other side of the world after he and Yan or one of the other technicians had been in communications. He would pace like an animal in a cage sometimes or go sit on his bench under the willows and slurp beer with his laptop.

“Well I guess we have to find some solution to your location challenges,” she agreed.

It was a three-bedroom bungalow that was recently upgraded throughout. Located in Thomasberg, just 25 kilometers from the Eletech Laboratories’ plant in Bonn, there was both bus and rapid train service available, but Mac fulfilled a long-time lust for a high-end German sports car. The leased graphite grey Mercedes AMG GT roadster thrilled him and scared Jill when he first took it out on one of the highspeed roadways Germany is famous for.

They moved into their temporary new home in late June after renting their Yukon home to a young couple who also loved to garden. Jill was disappointed that she would not get to harvest the produce from her garden and greenhouse. But promises of canned beets, and various pickled veggie recipes were made to her.

Mac and Jill settled into their new home as Mac adopted the nine to five commuter role, although he often spent extra time when the project was approaching some critical weigh point. Jill took a job working in a clinic for disabled children. She felt very happy to be working to make the lives of these children better. Mac was very pleased about how being a resident allowed him to be closer to the project and the day to day problem-solving he could now be a bigger part of.

Eletech had put him on the payroll as a special consultant which provided he and Jill the means to live in Germany which was much more advantageous than infrequent visits from the north of Canada and endless emails used to keep him apprised of the work underway.

Mac had informed JP that the work he was doing related to the tower structure and related operations was no longer required as a team of engineers had been assigned to that task by the project management leaders. Mac sent JP a cheque for ten thousand dollars for work performed to date and a thank you note explaining the change.

A variety of options for the early-version miniature high-output generator were explored with less than stellar results. It would function, but not to the degree that was required for the level of energy output they were working to establish. Experiments pushed on with the encouragement small breakthroughs would provide as they were achieved.

The beta version of the gravity generator took six more months to become a reality and there was great celebration when the prototype unit initially began to make energy as hoped for. Performance testing had run on for the past three weeks and was fine tuned as experiments revealed what improvements were required.

The finished product was not at all impressive at first glance. Jill said it looked like an enormous dildo. It was still a tower, thirty feet high and ten-foot diameter at the base, tapering to a four-foot diameter at the top. The outer shell was fibreglass, this version was painted a mottled leaf green to help it blend in to the local tree vegetation but it was anticipated end users would paint it to suit their desires, or to help it blend- in to its surroundings. Mock-up diagrams from the Eletech marketing staff included: rocket ships, giant vegetables, the Tower of Pisa, beer bottles, castle battlements, lighthouses and many other similar designs representing tall cylindrical structures. The devise could also be built-in to new buildings or retrofitted to the side of a building in a less conspicuous manner.

Inside the tower was a triangular steel structural form made from angle iron, bolted together and painted a dull primer grey. The three steel cables each held a 200-kilogram concrete block that would fall slowly, thereby rotating the step-down transmission which drove the high-tech miniature generator at the top of the structure. There was a small winch motor and capstan that would automatically lift the weight blocks back up to height, when they had fallen to their programmed limit, the blocks could be manually raised with a hand-operated winch as well.

This experimental model had been hooked up to the main laboratory and supplied power to it exclusively for the past 90 days to provide an ongoing performance testbed. Once all the final adjustments had been performed and the devise was optimised, they began to punish it in various ways to mimic real-world abuses that end-users might cause. A few minor adjustments were made, and confidence was high that this was the final version ready to be introduced to the global consumer public.

Mac was elated and emailed JP a 30-minute video demonstrating the operation and construction of the invention that was inspired in JP’s workshop, with a little bit of help from his brother in Montreal.

The first Friday in October was selected to demonstrate the device to the senior managers. They were seeking permission to initiate next steps that involved manufacturing processes, marketing and establishing a global retail method, as well as installation and maintenance depots, but first they had to have the device protected by international patent laws and approvals from Underwriters Labs, CSA and similar national safety standard bodies.

Of course, Eletech Laboratories had a division of legal staff and experts in getting a product approved for the international marketplace, so others were brought onto the development team to deal with the next steps.

The demonstration was a success and impressed the bosses greatly. All their questions had been anticipated and the best answers to these queries had been prepared in advance. A small celebration was held that Friday evening in the lab where more of the corporate staff, and a couple Board members also attended.

Early Monday afternoon, both Mac and Yan were invited to a meeting in one of the corporate boardrooms to discuss the next steps. “Now comes the real test.” Yan whispered to Mac as they waited outside the board room the following day.

“I expected as much.” Mac replied, “What do you think is on their minds?”

“Well Mr. Stern, the fat board member you met Friday, he’s all about profit and making the company bigger and stronger. So, I expect we’re here to talk about ownership, partnerships and who will call the shots when this is on the market.”

“We have arrived Mac, so now its about making money and your role in going forward either as an inventor with an idea or as an employee or even shareholder, I guess we’ll learn more soon.”

He walked down the pastel yellow corridor towards the lecture hall where he was to speak on how he took an idea and grew it into a world-changing product. His invention had come to be known as the TP in the popular vernacular. He found it remarkable how the TP had been embraced all around the world in just a few short months and the many benefits it made possible for such a diverse market. Electric water pumps were now providing clean drinking water for remote third-world villages, their crops and cattle growing healthier and their quality of life vastly improved. They had light to extend their working days into the darkness of night. All around the world the TP was changing the lives of people for the better. Developing nations with wide-spread populations and limited infrastructure now had a method of providing electricity for their homes, schools, medical clinics and so much more that they had previously done without.

Mac opened the door and entered the lecture hall. He walked toward the lectern in the middle of the bleacher fanout. His running shoes squeaking on the well polished linoleum flooring. Looking up, his eyes scanned the mosaic of seated multi-coloured bodies and their happy faces. He was getting used to these lectures to university students or trade schools. Board room pitches to investors, media reporters and TV interviews had relaxed him a great deal after performing a number of these events and he was now much more confident speaking to a live audience and answering the same old questions.

An instructor: Abbi Silver greeted him and introduced herself as the organizer for this lecture and thanked him so much for agreeing to speak today. All the while her right hand squeezing his tightly.

“Are you ready to begin?” she asked, “Oh and there is a bottle of water fresh from the fridge in the podium.”

“Sure, I’m all set.” Mac smiled and took a step back as Ms. Silver tapped the microphone a couple times.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I know you are all as excited as I am to welcome and listen to today’s guest speaker Mr. Mackenzie Lewis.” She turned back to smile at Mac. Facing the microphone once again she took a breath and said, “To begin, congratulations Mr. Lewis on your most remarkable discovery. As we have witnessed since your device was announced, it has been heralded as a breakthrough in providing clean, non-polluting electricity that can be used anywhere on Earth. There are unconfirmed reports that the Tower of Power is the number one selling energy product for the past fifteen months.” But you all didn’t come here to listen to me,” she tittered. “Please allow me to introduce Mr. Mackenzie Lewis, the inspiration and co-inventor of the Tower of Power” she stepped away from the podium.

“Hello everyone,” Mac went into his laid-back pose of leaning on his elbows on the podium, his hands acting like batons to gently punctuate his speaking.

“I want to give you a choice, “ he smiled broadly, “I give this speech a lot and I want to give you a good narrative on the TP, so do you want the long version or the short one?” He stepped in front of the podium and discovered nobody could hear him away from the microphone. “Well that’s no going to work” he sneered. “I’ll raise my right arm for the long version and of course my left arm for the short one…. Here goes.” He raised his left arm and there was a sprinkling of applause. He dropped his left arm and raised the right to a thunderous applause.

“Okay, but that will leave less time for questions…” he waited for the collective aww to end and finished by saying, “But we can adjourn to the campus pub when we’re all done and chat for a while. OK?”

More thunderous applause and then the crowd fell silent as they saw Mac lean in to speak into the mic while again resting on his elbows.

“I’m sure you have all heard the beginning of this story and how the idea for the project has been attributed to smoking dope with a friend of mine. That’s true but it was not like the opium den orgy some in the media have painted it to be.

I was smoking some hash with a friend in his workshop when a cuckoo clock sounded three PM. I glanced at the clock which triggered my curiosity for some reason I am still unsure of. Anyway, after about a day of trying to determine what it was that captured my interest, I figured out it was the two cast-iron pinecones that hung on chains which were used to power the clock. Curious, I wondered how that principle could be amplified to produce electrical energy.

My research led me to Yan Holger, an engineer with Eletech Laboratories in Germany who provided a huge amount of technical expertise and the research laboratories where the first prototypes were assembled and tested.”

“We had a great team who took my idea and turned it into a functioning, reliable energy technology to provide clean, non fuel-dependent energy. Without the help, insight and guidance of this team and management at Eletech it would not exist today. I had the inspiration- - they made it a reality, and we are all in their debt for making my idea come true.

“I am often asked how the TP is different from other methods of making electricity. Its not really.

“Its just understanding the primary method of how electricity is produced with a generator and finding new clean, efficient and affordable ways to make a generator spin. Think of it as finding a new low-work influence to spin the generator.

There are two primary methods to produce electricity: One as I said is to make an electrical generator turn thereby producing current. The other method is static-- meaning no moving parts as with solar panels. When the sun shines onto a solar panel, energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the photovoltaic cells in the panel. This energy creates electrical charges that move in response to an internal electrical field in the cell, causing Direct Current or DC electricity to flow. This is a very low electrical output so many cells are required to make up a single panel and when many panels are hooked together their output becomes stronger.

So, the main challenge for mass power supply is to make a generator rotate fast and strong enough to produce the required output for our electrical devices to operate. Some generators spin quite easily but do not produce a large amount of current and you need a great deal of force to make an industrial generator spin, so the primary problem was to make a generator that did not need a great deal of force or torque to spin it. It was all about magnetic fields and how much effort - work or torque was needed to spin the armature.

In basic principles, existing generation technology was based on older technologies that did advance as products and new methods were developed. Hundreds of years ago both water and windmills utilized these natural motive forces to power mills to grind grains and turn machines by either primitive gearing or large belts. The same principle was applied when the first electrical generators were hooked up to both wind and water wheels and that is sort of where the technology stalled for a couple centuries.

“Great advances in generator designs were made and became the power source for the electrical grid currently in place in nations around the world. Windmills of course have advanced greatly over the past decades as they are producers of clean non-emitting energy. Water wheels evolved to become the very sophisticated hydroelectric systems that now provide the most significant source of electricity feeding the world’s power grids.

Some still believe nuclear power is a space age technology that produces power in some mystic fashion involving killer penetrating rays. Its not. All a nuke plant does is boil water to create steam pressure to spin a generator. That’s it. So, the race to create one form of clean non-polluting source of energy is basically finding a clean power source to boil water.

He paused and took a sip of water. “Is everybody still awake? Okay, here comes the breakthrough part,

The cuckoo clock made me realize that gravity is a natural clean power source that could be enhanced to spin a generator. As already noted, hydro electric runs on gravity, water is just the media that transforms the motive energy force from one form to another to make a generator spin. My task was to find a way for weight to behave like water forced through a manifold to spin a generator.

As you already know, in the laws of Thermodynamics: Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. I had all of the rules and a few clues that helped me to engineer what has turned out to be the Tower of Power.

All of you here today, you too can find similar breakthroughs in creating electricity. My so-called breakthrough was not a brand new invention, all I discovered was a cleaner, smaller, better way to spin a low resistance generator, That is the real breakthrough in this project, that and the step-down transmission, but that was just a reengineering of existing windmill technology.

In your careers continue to think big but spend as much time in thinking smaller and simpler, that’s where the real important solutions are to be found. All you need to do is find the cleanest and most reliable way to boil water to make steam. Then you’re on the beach.” Mac smiled as he concluded the 50-minute speech he had delivered many times.

Thanks for listening, and as I said earlier, lets answer your questions at the pub. Somebody should phone them and let them know a crowd is coming.”

Two years following the marketplace introduction of the Tower of Power, a consortium of global electrical energy providers- the ones that own the hydro electric dams and distribution networks filed a class action suit for compensation for revenue lost as many of their previous consumers had changed over to the TP power option and disconnected from the power grid leaving these utilities with greatly reduced revenues.

As soon as the media started to cover this lawsuit story social media was ablaze with public comments arguing that they have been gouged long enough by their utilities and it was time for them to feel some pain for a change. The green supporters took a much more academic approach and promoted the non-polluting benefits the TP provided, and the greenest solution is always the best one. The argument shifted to environmental protection when the debate was focused on which option was greener, hydro or the TP. Watershed protection and historic damages to the landscape and aquatic species became the battle ground as it became apparent technology had created a dispute to measure which generation methods were the optimum with the least amount of negative impacts to the landscapes and atmosphere, and the age of the hydro networks and even to the risk of flood damages as the dam infrastructure was aging, some of it built in the 1930s and the cost of maintenance was becoming prohibitive. Now revenues were declining and impacting on their abilities to maintain and upgrade the aging electrical systems. Old transmission cables and wires also needed to be replaced as line-loss was increasing creating more potential problems for the aging distribution networks.

Energy production was at a crossroads. The advantages of the TP were clear and undisputable compared to ageing hydro electric plants augmented by wind and solar farms as well as diesel-fired generators and their distribution networks which were weak links to maintaining reliable, low-cost electricity. The TP had removed the long-standing problems of wide-spread power failures across the grid. No more were there cascading system shutdowns impacting hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. Wildfires, floods and motor vehicles crashing into power poles no longer created blackouts interrupting commerce and trade and people living their lives. Their TP generators operating silently and reliably in their back yards.

The TP was responsible for allowing the electrical utilities to scale back their ever-increasing need to reengineer their service grids to provide more energy to satisfy consumer demands. In fact the popularity of the TP and the reduction of consumers connected to the grid provided the utilities with an abundance of energy and a reduction in revenues so that they now had to think in competitive ways--something entirely new for those who once had a monopoly and unfettered ability to dominate the marketplace.

Industrial and large commercial customers were now able to negotiate with the utilities for their electrical needs. Shareholders and government-owned electrical utilities were at a loss for how to adjust to this new reality as most of these providers were regulated for much of their business operations and revenues. The infrastructure investments had been made but now their ability to generate revenue was seriously impacted. The return on their investments declined.

So, governments began the difficult job of trying to find a balance for the struggling utilities and customers who demanded a better deal because there was now an overabundance of hydro electricity and the cost of sales remained high. Financiers were concerned about getting their money back as the earlier established ROI had blown away in the wind.

Solar and windmill manufacturers also felt the impact of reduced sales as the TP option had a dramatic impact on their bottom lines.

Some politicians took the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities to problem solve and would often speak about what they thought the optimum solution would be, which only added to the passion and debate of moving to a greener planet without carbon and excise taxes as the whip which benefitted government coffers.

The legal department at Eletech had considered this eventual outcome when the TP had reached a critical tipping point where the status quo electrical utilities would feel the pinch and begin to clamor for changes to protect their interests and income.

The marketing staff at Eletech had a plan for how the corporation would proceed when these debates began. They were golden, they had created a product that the world’s people were waiting for. It had arrived. It was effective, efficient, affordable and performed as it was intended to. All the Save the World supporters were on side, their much-awaited panacea was in place and functioning. If it displaced the old technology, nobody cared, their Holy Grail had arrived.

Back in the Yukon for about a year following the launch of the Tower of Power, Mac and Jill were happy to be back in their own home and near old friends once again, although Mac missed his AMG roadster in Germany. Mac received a phone call from the Director of Operations at Eletech asking if he would like to be the spokesperson for the company during these highly public debates.

“You are the face of the Tower of Power Mac,” said the COO, Udo Fuchsbichler, “ Everybody knows who you are and according to some consumer testing our marketing group has completed, you are trusted and people believe you. So, we would like you to take the lead for media interviews until these issues are sorted out.”

“Sure, I guess, but I’ll have to get permission from Jill first,” he explained. “How much travel will be involved, and I expect the marketing group will be available for support?”

“Of course, I know they have been working on a strategy for the past few weeks and the Board has endorsed it. It was made with you in mind as the spokesman. Of course, you will be well compensated for your time on this in addition to your stock holdings and performance bonuses.”

“Ah, the money isn’t important to me, I already have more than enough thanks to the deal we made. How about any fees to be paid to me for this new task get donated to the various Children’s Hospitals or the Make a Wish Organization? We’re saving the planet from global warming, so let’s do something for the kids in need now.”

“You never fail to amaze me with your ideas. You have inspired me Mac, I think that would be a very good charity project the entire company could get behind, I’d love to challenge a few of our competitors to do the same too.”

Mac began his promotional tour by guesting on the late-night talk show circuit often with other representatives from Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Federation and similar save the world organizations.

Mac would often begin his story by explaining how he was motivated to find a way to create affordable, non-polluting electrical energy because it was topical around the world with governments raising taxes on fossil fuels to dissuade consumers from using gasoline without looking at the bigger picture to how our lives would be dramatically altered.

“The rich people can take these changes in stride, from paying more at the pump or even shelling out for a new electric vehicle. But the majority of people do not enjoy this position of wealth and are forced to live a lesser life because their livelihoods still involve fossil fuels for transportation and keeping their homes warm. So, I focused on creating an alternative method to produce electricity so that there could be a rebalancing of electricity use locally and around the world. I was not even considering the financial implications creating a new clean energy source would stimulate. Changing from Henry Ford to George Jetson technology does not happen with the flick of a switch.

“The Tower of Power is not the answer for all of our energy needs. Vehicles will not function by using the TP, but it can be used to charge electric vehicles. I envisioned the TP for primarily domestic home applications. By making more energy consumers independent from the grid, the utility power could be redirected to service industrial and similar large volume consumer needs like hospitals, schools and other institutional and commercial users like factories where a TP would not be practical. This rebalancing would also help the utilities to better manage their generation, distribution and negate the need to increase their generation as more consumers come on-line.

“In fact, what has happened is most utilities now have a surplus of energy with the removal of so many households who now have a decorated Tower of Power in their back yards. This is forcing the utilities to rethink their business plans and revenue requirements. Government owned utilities are also a cash cow for some, and they are hesitant to lose those revenues that are used for other purposes. So, what is the real argument being made by those electrical utilities lobbying for some financial consideration? I suspect much of it is because for more than a century, they have not had any real competition in supplying electricity to the marketplace, so they got comfortable with the status quo and governments got used to the steady source of revenue.

“Now we introduce the Tower of Power and many consumers bought one so they can keep more of their money in their pockets, the grid does not fail in a cascading blackness over the land affecting them and they are happy with their new reliable energy independence.

“New technologies are improvements over those already in place, so of course there will be some adjustments to be made, but that does not grant the status quo suppliers a guaranteed income in perpetuity.

“When Mr. Edison began selling electrical light bulbs, candle makers and gas-light services did not take the position that their business in making light should be protected forever. I am also concerned that for these utilities maintaining their profits is more valued than clean air and a reduction in Green House Gases.

Governments must decide if their Crown Corporation revenues are more valued than the Clean Energy Future they have been force-feeding to us for the past 30- something years.

When the Tower of Power was first announced a number of government agencies around the globe where quick to offer congratulations and their unwavering support for this new energy invention in the highly visible global campaign to end Climate Change.

The consumer demand for the TP caused Eletech to expand their plant and hire two more shifts to produce the high-tech generator. Jobs, jobs, jobs, and clean green energy; the things the world leaders said they valued for all the world’s populations. A local dealer network was created around the planet to sell, install and service the breakthrough technology resulting in many more new jobs in the Green Economy around the planet.

These objectives have been met through the creation of the TP, yet none of these others considered how their traditional electrical enterprises would be affected if their wishes came true. So here we are and now some are saying that proceeds from the TP should be shared to offset the revenue losses related to the old electrical technology. There were arguments of course.

New technologies displace older ones like in an evolution of improvements where the new and improved versions and the resultant winners are determined through consumerism and building a better mouse trap.

If the older technologies can’t keep up with consumer and marketplace demands and new standards of performance, they should not be compensated for their failures to innovate and advance.

And here we are today, on the eve of the largest legal battle the world has witnessed since the Hague trails following World War II. The Hague’s International Court of Justice will once again become the setting for determining fairness and future growth related to how the TP will advance without causing financial hardships to traditional energy providers around the planet.

The demonstrators both for and against had been trying to capture media attention in the days leading up to the trial and the media was well-fed with stories about their face to face conflicts.

The court case is expected to last a year or longer before an agreement is anticipated.

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