EoW November 2013

Transatlantic cable

Their choice is dictated largely by the industry rule of thumb that it costs up to $1 million per mile to bury transmission wire – about ten times more than to string it overhead. And, the reasoning goes, since US cities are much less densely populated than those in Europe, it takes much more wire to serve an American than a European populace. Mr Frum went on to question the industry cost estimates; then to point out the good e ects to be expected from a switchover from overhead to buried transmission wiring. His principal points: † There is reason to think that industry estimates of the cost of burying wires are in ated. While the US industry “guesstimates” costs, a large-scale study of the problem conducted recently in the United Kingdom estimated the cost premium at 4.5 to 5.5 times the cost of overhead wire, not ten. † US cost gures “are a moving target”. American cities are becoming denser as aging baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) opt for city living. Urban centres require less wire per inhabitant than suburban and rural areas. † Costs can be understood only in relation to bene ts. As the climate warms, storms and power outages are becoming more common. And, as the population ages, power failures become more dangerous. In France, where air conditioning is uncommon, a 2003 heat wave left 10,000 people dead, almost all of them elderly. If burying power lines prevented power outages during the hotter summers ahead, the decision could save many lives. While conceding the merit of Mr Frum’s expanded argument for burying transmission lines, outsidethebeltway senior editor Doug Mataconis questioned the feasibility of such a large-scale undertaking. He noted that the United States is much larger than Germany and has many more miles of power lines. Burying every line in the country would be very costly to the utility companies. The money would have to come either from higher energy rates or from the American taxpayer. He also pointed out that the project would involve not only electrical lines but telephone and cable transmission lines, as well – thus increasing the number of participants fairly signi cantly. What is more, it took decades to wire the US for electricity. In Mr Mataconis’s estimate, burying those lines would likely take just as long again. He acknowledged, however, that this “is not necessarily a reason to dismiss the idea.”

Technology

Nanoparticles produced from very common elements hold promise for cheaper manufacture of solar cells

A discovery coming out of the University of Alberta would appear to be an important step forward in making solar power more accessible to parts of the world, such as the Canadian North, that are o the traditional electricity grid. The researchers found that materials abundant in the Earth’s crust can be used to make inexpensive and easily manufactured nanoparticle-based solar cells. A team headed by Jillian Buriak, a chemistry professor and senior research o cer of the National Institute for Nanotechnology, on the Edmonton campus, designed nanoparticles that absorb light and conduct electricity from phosphorus and zinc. Both materials are more plentiful than cadmium and free of the manufacturing restrictions imposed on lead-based nanoparticles. As reported in the 29 th August edition of R&D (Rockaway, New Jersey), the research supports the prospect of making cheaper solar cells with methods that evoke roll-to-roll printing (as with newspaper presses) or spray-coating (similar to automotive painting). It was demonstrated that zinc phosphide nanoparticles, produced synthetically, can be dissolved to form “inks,” then processed to make thin lms that are responsive to light. These inks could be used to “literally paint or print solar cells”, according to Dr Buriak. “Half the world already lives o the grid,” she said. “And with demand for electrical power expected to double by the year 2050, it is important that renewable energy sources like solar power are made more a ordable by lowering the costs of manufacturing.” † The UAlberta researchers have applied for a provisional patent and secured funding to explore scaled-up manufacture. Their work, which was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, is covered in full in ACS Nano , a nanoscience journal published by the University of California (Los Angeles).

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November 2013