05.21.07
New and improved stupidity
There’s an old axiom that goes something like:
“If you make something idiot-proof, they’ll come out with an improved idiot capable of breaking it”
That’s pretty much a Universal law. We’ve all witnessed it or been victims of it. Well, The Dept of Homeland Security commissioned Con Ed. and American Superconductor Corporation to build a power grid for New York’s financial district. Specs include resistance to weather and terrorist attacks.
The solution: liquid nitrogen cooled superconducting cables. Now, I’m all in favor of superconductors and liquid nitrogen. They’re awesome technologies. Using them in the transmission of power isn’t an application I would have thought of. Not because superconductors transmit electricity with very, very little resistance…but because of the economics of keeping the superconducting material at such a low temperature (-382 degrees Fahrenheit.) You need to keep liquid nitrogen cold and pump it through the wire. This is not a trivial task.
Even so, the benefits are tremendous, moving 10 times the power of traditional copper cables (depending on who you ask..the manufacturer says 100 times the power of copper.) That’s a very big bang for your buck.
My concerns are:
- rats - they chew through concrete and steel belted cables today…who’s to say they won’t make their way through these cables?
- tunnel/conduit collapse - will the cable survive a tunnel collapse or a crushed conduit (falling rock, subway train, etc.)?
- pump failure - if a liquid nitrogen pump fails, how long before the cable fails?
- inquisitive idiots - people explore…and people will explore areas with these new cables. Locks only keep out honest people. How long before someone decides to try and destroy one of these cables?
Honestly, I believe this new power system will fail in some capacity. Why? The two most devastating natural phenomenons: Mankind and Mother Nature.
