When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  

Or inventing, it seems. 

With high gas prices pinching consumers on the road, and electrical bills no peach in the home, an Oregon inventor has sought to kill both birds with one stone.  Using an old alternator, a spare tire and a few batteries, Carl Ylvisaker has created a small trailer that generates and stores electricity when towed behind a car during its daily travels.

Called the Transportation Assisted Global Energy Reserve, or TAGER, the device allegedly produces enough energy during the course of the day to meet the electric power consumption of the average home for a night. 

While I do admire Ylvisaker’s innovative spirit, it’s hard to tell exactly what kind of impact his device could have on America’s energy crisis. Adherents to the laws of thermodynamics will note that any electricity generated by the TAGER could have been more efficiently generated just by running the automobile’s engine. 

Still, if attached to a zero-emissions vehicle, the TAGER might provide an easier means of delivering carbon-free electricity to the home, sidestepping America’s coal heavy electrical grid entirely.