The Rise and Fall of Noise - 209

I wonder what it was like.  I mean before gunpowder and internal combustion engines. How much noise was there prior to our modern inventions? The internal combustion engine, which is the controlled and contained explosion of gas, was patented by Thomas Mead in 1794. It is the greatest proliferator of noise. Its ubiquitous use in automobiles got off to the races with Henry Ford’s Model T in 1908 and for the next 114 years it could be said, noise is our most prolific product. For 300,000 years prior to the Model T, Homo Sapiens could still hear the birds sing, the breeze in the pines, and relax in peace. At most, only 00.038 percent of our existence as Homo Sapiens has been spent listening to the din of an internal combustion culture.

Rural America was once a destination to recover from urban noise. What was quiet rural peace is now ripped by unmuffled ATVs, snowmobiles, motorcycles, trucks and cars.

It is indisputable the development of internal combustion engines has relieved us of hours of agonizing toil. One gallon of gas can do 400 hours of a man or woman’s work. At one time getting around by horse and buggy was the norm. The problem with horses was twofold. First, they poop. While this kept armies of street cleaners employed, navigating the horse minefield was a challenge. Horses are maintenance intensive and subject to getting sick. Unlike a car, a horse must be fed even when parked.

The use of fossil fuels, though, came with a couple invisible deadly costs.  Particulate pollution pre-maturely kills 200,000 Americans a year and sends many more to the hospital. Carbon dioxide is causing the earth to heat at a rate faster than any earth period scientists can identify by a minimum factor of ten.

The good news is we can replace most internal combustion engines and still enjoy modern life. Simultaneously, we can eliminate two threats and reduce another. Electric motors do not emit health threatening particulates or greenhouse gas pollution, plus they are quiet! Noise is pollution too.

Here is what Wikipedia tells us about the health effects of noise pollution: Noise pollution affects both health and behavior. Unwanted sound (noise) can damage physiological health. Noise pollution is associated with several health conditions, including cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and other harmful and disturbing effects. According to a 2019 review of the existing literature, noise pollution was associated with faster cognitive decline. While the elderly may have cardiac problems due to noise, according to the World Health Organization, children are especially vulnerable to noise, and the effects that noise has on children may be permanent. Noise poses a serious threat to a child's physical and psychological health and may negatively interfere with a child's learning and behavior.

We can reduce noise pollution by making the transition to electric driven devices. With the increase of battery power, and their decrease in price, not only are electric vehicles becoming the smart choice but many handy tools such as chain saws, trimmers, mowers, and snowblowers are going electric.  These tools, which are used in different seasons, are often driven by the same batteries reducing costs and simplifying life. With these tools you do not have to mix gas or use gas period. Maintenance is minimal. There’s no smell and there is little noise.

Outdoor powered recreation is changing too. Trolling motors are not the only boat motors being replaced by electric ones. Torqeedo makes outboard boat motors from 1 to 80 horsepower. These outboards not only emit no air and no water pollutants, but apart from the wind whizzing by, they are whisper quiet.

Another startup company out of Canada named Taiga is making an e-sled, a battery driven snowmobile.  The beauty of electric motor driven anything is the motor does not have to wind up to generate torque. It has torque immediately. The Taiga snowmobiles can go from 0 to 60mph in 2.9 seconds, quietly.

Interestingly, the origin of electric snowmobiles was incentivized by efforts at Michigan Technological University (MTU). Electric snowmobiles didn't appear overnight, according to Jay Meldrum, the director of MTU’s Keweenaw Research Center. Meldrum helped oversee the international clean snowmobile challenge student competition, which the center hosted, for nearly two decades. He said the first electric snowmobile to enter was in 2005, from McGill University in Canada. And from these competitions came Taiga.

Dirt bike and motorcycle riders should check out some of the many new models of E Motorcycles.  With most bikes going from 0 to 60 in a tad over two seconds and hitting top speeds of over 200 mph these bikes are not for the faint of heart. Being quiet as they are, they might be described as stealth married to speed.

Bicyclists have also been inundated with a huge variety of E Bikes allowing you to “peddle with assistance”.

As innovators, scientists, and engineers press for excellence from power sources from fission and fusion, to wind turbines and solar panels, others are making clean machines from chainsaws to snowmobiles. They allow us to see what hope looks like. Intelligent hope comes from serious thought, action, and the union of citizens. Hope comes from the greatest energy source of all, will power. Will power to save the planet with a wonderful unsung bonus. These intelligent devices can bring us back to our roots, our source….a quiet clean healthy mother earth.

 The next time you are in the market to replace or purchase something which was fueled by gas, check out some quiet electric toys and tools.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised by harnessing the power of quiet.

Sources: EESI, Environmental and Energy Study Institute Fact Sheet and Societal Costs. The Detroit News and the Washington Post. Wikipedia.

To speed clean and quiet, join Citizens Climate Lobby.