Inside city hall, May 13, 09

We were headed north on the coastal road of Vancouver Island, off the west mainland of Canada. As we came up on the crest of a hill we saw an amazing sight: on top of a large store were several goats. There were also weeds and grass, not your ordinary rooftop adornment. I had to stop and check this out. I asked the goats why they were up there. Of course I got my answer in goat language that sounded a lot like, “Why not?”

The building was attached to a hill, in fact part of the store was dug into the hillside. Goats are notorious hill-climbers, so why not? Unique, to say the least. Since we were already stopped we browsed a while. The store won!

It could be that someone from the Waco Chamber of Commerce saw the same sight. The Waco chamber has a “living roof” on its new energy-efficient structure. There are 1,750 square feet of a variety of vegetation reducing the temperature atop this “heat island.”

Roof plants also collect airborne pollutants and add an extra layer of insulation, reducing heating and cooling costs. The low-maintenance plants are irrigated with rainwater. Excess water is directed to a cistern on the ground. During dry periods a solar-powered pump redirects the water back to the roof.

Someone was thinking outside the box on this project. I lift my hat to the Waco chamber. This gives the old saying, “Don’t let the grass grow under your feet” a new meaning.

The U.S. Defense Department has offered a research grant for the most promising idea on how to produce fuel from algae. With concerns about biofuels made from food crops, the idea of algae as a fuel source has blossomed.

The algaes that produce fuel are not the same that you find floating in a pond. These tiny organisms are genetically modified versions that have proved capable of producing high-octane gasoline and airplane fuel. Fuel algae can be grown with wastewater in locations inhospitable to food crops. Coal-fired electricity plants could supply carbon dioxide as plant food.

Supporters of the idea hope that fuel algae will one day replace petroleum as a fuel source. Researchers at the University of Texas have the world’s largest collection of algae specimens.

These projects were at some point just little bitty ideas that were eventually moved to the front burner and allowed to simmer and be stirred until they became full-blown plans. Someone probably laughed at one or both, but not for long.

That store owner in Canada wanted to build a larger building than he had space for on the side of the road. No doubt he had an idea to dig. And raise goats, to a new level, where they would draw attention to his store.

Ideas are diamonds in the rough just waiting to be polished. So don’t stop thinking and dreaming. Share your ideas with the rest of us and we promise not to laugh.