Alternative Energy

“Now this guy wants to talk about real smart energy… must be semen retention.” That was the throwaway line I muttered in the coffee queue at the Sydney Smart Energy Expo. One of those off-the-cuff cracks you make to no one in particular when the conversation around you starts getting a little too cosmic, too quickly. Except someone did hear me. The older gent standing ahead of me—neatly dressed, calm, silver-haired—turned with a smile that said, “I’ve heard that one before.” “Some would say that’s where real energy starts,” I said, deadpan. His name was Dr. John Martin. I wasn’t joking, and he knew it. He wasn’t there to talk about solar panels or carbon credits. He wasn’t pitching a startup. He didn’t even have a lanyard. He was at the Smart Energy Expo to talk about something that’s rarely, if ever, discussed at a Renewable-energy tech conference: “I came….