Back to the BYU Cougars Newsfeed

Don Gale: Solar power will not solve our energy problems

Related Topics: Energy, Don Gale, Alzheimer's disease

My wife asked that question more than once during the months when Alzheimer’s was stealing her memory and her life.

She referred to a small plastic panda on our kitchen table swinging from a small plastic tree limb. The toy panda is still there. My wife loved animals, gave our grandchildren affectionate animal nicknames and even wrote a delightful children’s book titled “Christmas at the Zoo.” No wonder I keep the swinging panda. The panda is set in motion by a miniature solar panel that powers a hidden electromagnet. When the sun shines, the panda swings, but when the sun doesn’t shine, the panda doesn’t move.