I know, the fact that the sun – in comparison to oil, coal and/or natural gas we use to maintain our energy intensive modern industrial society and lifestyles – is free is so often touted by solar advocates that it’s cliché.
But…I’m going to state it again nonetheless:
The sun is free.
And I’ll put a bit of a “fresh” angle on it here, by way of a picture I took the other day, which, after I looked at it in Photoshop two days ago, inspired me to “Photoshop” it in a way that, frankly, makes me giddy!
So, as I note in my first “Save More for the Ride” blog entry about EVs, I was out taking pictures of cars, traffic, and, yes, gas stations about a week ago.
In the course of my two-hour photo session at two major traffic intersections in southeast Denver, I started to click pics of a giant Conoco gas sign, which telegraphs the station’s gas prices to the world, not to mention the competing Conoco station across the street.
I deliberately shot into the sun so I could capture the suns rays coming over the top of the sign.
That way, I thought, I could juxtapose the actual presence of the sun as a potential source of energy to power — that’s right — our cars, with our current mode of automotive fueling, gasoline.
The picture – which is published to the side of this entry – came out reasonably well. I took a vertical shot of the sign and twirled my Nikon D40 28-50 mm lens down to 28 mm to get that “standard” wide (but not super-wide) angle look.
I’m absolutely certain that as consciousness rises about the fact that you can sun-run your EV, more and more people will make the switch from gas-powered, combustible engine cars to electric-powered, solar-charged EVs.
The exposure was OK, especially considering that I was being lazy and shooting in the D40’s automatic mode at the time.
I knew I’d snapped a decent photo, one I might be able to use somewhere on SolarChargedDriving.Com.
But where – and how to use it – and what to do with it, or to it?
A few days later, as I peered through the photos I had taken, this time on my computer, I suddenly realized what I could do with it.
Price of sun = 0000
I could juxtapose the price of sun, which is 000, with the price per gallon of gas advertised on this particular Conoco billboard sign, which, on this bright, blue, August 2009 day was 2459.
I’m only moderately adept at Photoshop – I’d say a low-level intermediate Photoshopper – so, I’m sure I didn’t do it in the most efficient, or even, perhaps evening the “correct” way, but I was able to superimpose the price of sun onto the picture.
The result is the “artistic” and political statement to the right of this blog entry.
I know, it’s not that original. Anyone could have thought of it.
It’s kind of childish, but when I first looked at my creation, I felt, and still do feel, a wave of giddy excitement.
That’s because, I believe – maybe naively – that simple “art” work such as this might inspire others to see and live the world differently than they are now.
Yeah, “anyone” could have thought of creating a photo juxtaposing the price of sun – it’s free! – to the price of gasoline, which is not at all free and absolutely, positively will go up in price as time goes on.
But not everyone has thought of taking the pic I did and re-editing it in the way I have.
Hopefully, seeing my politicized photo of this towering, gleaming Conoco placard glinting in the sun will motivate more people to think about, and compare, the price of sun-running their car to gasoline-powering it.
I’m absolutely certain that as consciousness rises about the fact that you can sun-run your EV, more and more people will make the switch from gas-powered, combustible engine cars to electric-powered, solar-charged EVs.