3 ms·

Also the cost of a equivalent superconductor network would be an order of magnitude more expensive that what is essentially room temperature metal cables with v

Also the cost of a equivalent superconductor network would be an order of magnitude more expensive that what is essentially room temperature metal cables with very basic technology - transformers, insulation, and switchgear.

londons_explore 8y ago
A superconducting power network could be built today - it would consist of a pair of ceramic superconductors suspended in a liquid helium pipe, wrapped with 3 feet of insulation. Every few kilometers, one would need liquid helium pumping and chilling plants. Total helium losses to leakage wouldn't be too big. Electricity transmission efficiency would be reduced by all the chilling gear running, but still better than regular conductors. The only real barrier is cost. Not even the cost of the superconducting material. You can't hang a 6 feet diameter pipe on pylons across the nation - you're going to have to bury it, and that's going to get exxxxxpensive fast!
- stupidcar 8y ago
  > The only real barrier is cost. I feel like this could almost be a slogan for the human race at this point. Our grasp of science and engineering has reached a level where's there's very few things we might want to build where we couldn't conceivably do it. We could build the most outlandish megastructures, infrastructure and space bases if we really had to, but it all just costs too much.
  - londons_explore 8y ago
    "It's expensive and we couldn't find investors" really means "It's a lot of work, and nobody thinks it'll be worth it". We might be able to anything, but the capitalist system stops us doing things that don't look profitable.
    - naasking 8y ago
      Profitability at time X is a pretty decent heuristic for whether something is worth doing at time X.
      - danharaj 8y ago
        How do you know that? Unknown unknowns.
        naasking 8y ago
        Unknown unknowns are more likely to cause problems and delay completion, not accelerate development.
- Retra 8y ago
  Is the amount of energy you spend building and maintaining that network more than what you're already losing to inefficiency?
- ThrowawayR2 8y ago
  > ...suspended in a liquid helium pipe... Where would we get enough helium to cover more than a small city's worth of power transmission lines?

londons_explore 8y ago

A superconducting power network could be built today - it would consist of a pair of ceramic superconductors suspended in a liquid helium pipe, wrapped with 3 feet of insulation. Every few kilometers, one would need liquid helium pumping and chilling plants. Total helium losses to leakage wouldn't be too big. Electricity transmission efficiency would be reduced by all the chilling gear running, but still better than regular conductors. The only real barrier is cost. Not even the cost of the superconducting material. You can't hang a 6 feet diameter pipe on pylons across the nation - you're going to have to bury it, and that's going to get exxxxxpensive fast!

stupidcar 8y ago
> The only real barrier is cost. I feel like this could almost be a slogan for the human race at this point. Our grasp of science and engineering has reached a level where's there's very few things we might want to build where we couldn't conceivably do it. We could build the most outlandish megastructures, infrastructure and space bases if we really had to, but it all just costs too much.
- londons_explore 8y ago
  "It's expensive and we couldn't find investors" really means "It's a lot of work, and nobody thinks it'll be worth it". We might be able to anything, but the capitalist system stops us doing things that don't look profitable.
  - naasking 8y ago
    Profitability at time X is a pretty decent heuristic for whether something is worth doing at time X.
    - danharaj 8y ago
      How do you know that? Unknown unknowns.
      - naasking 8y ago
        Unknown unknowns are more likely to cause problems and delay completion, not accelerate development.
Retra 8y ago
Is the amount of energy you spend building and maintaining that network more than what you're already losing to inefficiency?
ThrowawayR2 8y ago
> ...suspended in a liquid helium pipe... Where would we get enough helium to cover more than a small city's worth of power transmission lines?