Supposing this lead apatite if conducive, can we not use it for high voltage cables? Some absurd level of energy loss occurs in those.
I understand that there are current limitations inherent in superconductors, but is there no way to scale this?
I understand that there are current limitations inherent in superconductors, but is there no way to scale this?
It doesn't really - because we do the transmission at very high voltage, and the power loss is proportional to 1/V.
Power loss in transmission in the US is about 5%. In the transmission lines themselves it's only 2-4%. [1]
If you ran a power line all the way across the entire continental United States, you'd still get about 80% of the power out of the other end. The longest economically effective distance you can run an AC power line is about 2500mi, and DC around 4300mi. [2]
[1] https://chintglobal.com/blog/how-much-power-loss-in-transmis...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission#ci...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
This seems pretty significant. We don't have much losses because we don't transmit energy over long distances. But now we could.
Most power is generated in a centralized way anyways because it's much more efficient that way. The 'dregs' aren't connected because putting up the wire costs far more than the extra power yields. A few percentage points more efficient won't change the economics, especially if the wire is (a) lead and (b) dramatically more expensive.
3.5% per 1000km is respectfully, basically nothing. You'd get 85% of the power out of a line from SF to NY.
I'm not saying there aren't use cases for room temperature superconductors, I'm saying this is not one that's going to be top of the list.
But why connect SF to NY - what's the advantage? What about connecting a place where it's midnight with a place where it's noon? That'd allow you to use solar arrays instead of local coal/gas/nuclear power plants.
The whole purpose of interconnecting power generation sources is to be able to accommodate for dynamic demand and ensure resiliency.
AC Power networks are sort of similar to how the internet works. The high voltage transmission lines are like the transit lines or "backbone" of the internet.
Those lines connect power stations which are sort of like ISPs in that they deliver the last mile power to the end user.
Our modern society basically instantly stops the second we are unable to meet demand for electricity, so we design these systems in a way where redundancy is supposed to be ensured.
This isn't always the case though. Texas is a great example of a completely messed up electrical grid that is insufficient to support its populous. It causes deaths in heatwaves and freezes almost every year now.
https://global-sei.com/technology/tr/bn84/pdf/84-10.pdf
This is state of the art, note the different deployment options, including pressurized ones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_wire
For detailed information about one actually built and used: https://www.furukawa.co.jp/review/fr035/fr35_04.pdf
The enthusasiam is nice but there's a lot of NIH going on. I'd encourage people to research subject matter before thinking no one else has had similar ideas before.
It's "easy to make" in a sense, but the yields are insanely low (think 1/1000) or less of input materials. This indicates there are some variables that either are not controlled for or cannot be controlled.
That being said, its still early but it looks like LK-99 is not what we typically think about when we think of a super conductor. If we can figure out a good way to make it (with time we likely will), it will still have applications, just likely not high power transmission ones.
Superconductors may be fragile and unsuitable for cables.