I’ve just been reading an article about how there are plans to run a superconducting power cable between Lower and Mid Manhattan. The idea is that it will provide a stable power grid capable of withstanding attacks. I remember seeing super-conducting in action when I was looking to go to University. And to see it actually being put into everyday, practical use is amazing.
Superconductivity, for those wondering, is where you cool a super-conducting material down to around -230 C. These materials are usually ceramics and at those temperatures the resistance falls allowing the material to carry more power. In traditional cables, there is a resistance which cause a drop in power. In the home, this is negligible, but power companies are only too aware of this problem. The distribution cables from the power station loses a significant amount of power in the journey from there to the sub-station, typically around 7.5%. Super conducting cables would pretty much eliminate this.
Other “future now” news I read was regarding CERN. New experiments are soon to go on-line which will generate 15 Petabytes of data a year. That’s an insane amount of data by today’s standards. We’re only just seeing 1 Terabyte drives are coming out for the home, and a Petabyte is a million times the size of that.
It’s weird seeing technology that was only dreamt of when I was a kid becoming reality. Or am I just getting old?
