3 ms·
> several square meter cross-section HVDC loops Let's take one half-way around the world. That's 1 sq m * 20000 km = 20000000 m^3. Let's take aluminum because
by danuker 4y ago
> several square meter cross-section HVDC loops
Let's take one half-way around the world.
That's 1 sq m * 20000 km = 20000000 m^3. Let's take aluminum because it's cheap. 2.7 tons/cubic meter = 54 Mt.
Multiply by price: $2444 x 54M = $132B for just the wire. That's $16.5 per capita.
But you also need insulators, labor, machinery, design, and so on.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- whatever1 4y agoIt’s not that high, if you consider that we consume 150 terra watt hours per year worth of energy. Even if we assume a (unrealistically) low cost of 1 cent per watt hour for transportation, it means we spend at least $1.5T to transport our energy per year.
- ben_w 4y agoExtremely cheap! Unfortunately global production is currently 64 Mt/year[0], so the world would need to sustain an increased production for a while. (Especially as square meter cross section is the order-of-magnitude answer, not an exact value). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_primary_aluminium_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_primary_a...