Room-temperature superconductors are actually a dangerous technology, and here's why: centralization. Simply put, when the power plant doesn't have to be near the users of said power, whoever can sell power the cheapest will amass customers globally instead of locally. With time, the vast majority of electricity generation will be monopolized by one entity located somewhere like China with lax anti-pollution laws. Thoughts?
>>3688Counter point. Joule-thief and or something warm.
Room temp superconductors means the average joe can
somehow salvage it and use it for other things.
Put simply they keep on fucking up on having a decent grid and will continue to have an awful grid because that's their back door to shutting down nations.
But putting room temp super conductors into the hands of people, there's some interesting things that can be done.
The short answer is easy to set up ye olde internets connecting people on totally seperate systems and hardware and power.
Moving electrons with minumal resistance allows for some crazy edge cases.
>>3688Fun fact, even if copper is better electrical conductor, aluminum is used instead for long distances high voltage lines.
On the same token, superconductor materials are laboratory frankesteins not suitable for mass industrial applications, be by price, be by availability.
I actually think this is a good thing overall. But in my opinion, instead of increasing centralization, superconductors could decentralize power production.
The thing is, fossil fuels don't have a long future ahead, sooner or later we'll fully shift to renewable sources like solar, wind, and hydro.
The problem with these has always been that the best spots to generate that energy are often far from cities or industrial centers. But with superconductors, we could finally take full advantage of all those remote locations and move electricity across long distances with basically no loss.
That means even some underdeveloped countries like in Africa, could become ideal places to generate and export electricity.
Plus, with better solar materials becoming cheaper and more efficient, every household could become a small independent power producer. And with superconductors, it's not just local, a single home could sell electricity back to the grid, or even to companies or governments far away. That could be huge economically.
As for cost, yeah, copper and aluminum don't differ much in resistance to make it worth switching. But even if we only use superconductors for the power generation side, the efficiency and profit increase would still be massive.
And don't forget, we keep discovering and inventing new superconducting materials all the time. So I wouldn’t count this tech out. It could very well become practical and affordable at scale.
[Read more]