I talked with Mark the day before
yesterday. He and Dona are celebrating their thirty year wedding anniversary.
They’ll be biking in Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. They didn’t get on the slopes this winter
because of lack of snow in the Denver area. I’ll be going to Denver in August for among
other things to see a Bronco game. Manning and the other quarter back, Tebow for a home
game. Mark has season tickets on the South East side of the stadium about 35 rows up.
Watch for me, I’ll be the handsome man with the old white hair (I couldn’t help it, it
just grew that way).
Among other
things while I'm in Denver is a drive over to the war museum on the south east side of Denver, for a full one day tour. It’s a fabulous museum with every era of
flight parafanalia. It even boasts a P51 mustang, the best by far fighter
plane in World War II. The place has surpassed expectations.
Presently, Mark lives in a home with his lovely wife, Dona Wallace, west of the United States Solar Energy Department (purely accidental), and south on a Plato above the Coors Brewery in Golden and next door to the Solar Energy Department.
Now,let me
take you back to when the science of solar energy development was first invented. Amazingly, it all began in my garage. The
date was September 1976. I remember it as clearly as though it were yesterday. I
was standing at my garage work bench alongside my first born son, Mark. He asked me
if I would help him make a parabolic curve as an assignment for his high schools
science fair project.
I said,
"Sure what is a parabolic mirror? “
He said,
"A parabolic shaped mirror can collect infra-red heat rays from the sun
and then reflect the rays back off of the mirror to a
small focal point In the front of the mirror producing a very high concentration of heat, much like
a magnifying glass only it’s a reverse curve.
"Hummm
I’m not sure I understand you go ahead and make it, and I’ll pay for thematerials.” I said
That
was when the moment the sun was first used to generate usable solar energy. Mark built his solar collector which was placed on a
card table with a ten- foot tall sign with an explanation. He went on to win the Bonneville
Science Fair Award, and so was invited to the Weber State University Science Fair and
received the first place blue ribbon award. He so was able to go back to compete in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin and again won a first place Blue Ribbon award along with four other
science fair students from around the nation and Canada.
2/04/2012 Kaysville, Ut: Davis Applied Technology College has installed
solar panels to its main building, resulting in a cost
savings of $7,000-$8,000 per year, according to a news release from the school. In
addition, DATC began an energy technician training program last year to develop the
renewable energy work force.
To be continued…
To see more Karl Wallace short stories karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com or write to Karl: Karl Wallace, PO Box 10686 Ogden, Utah 84401
