Researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have an idea to solve the problem of energy distribution in the U.S. for the 21st century.
A high-capacity superconducting energy pipeline, or SuperGrid, could deliver electricity and hydrogen fuel across the nation and help meet future energy needs while reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, say experts who recently assessed the scientific feasibility of the idea.
Two years ago, the idea of a continental SuperGrid was proposed by Chauncey Starr, founder and president emeritus of the Electric Power Research Institute. To investigate the technical feasibility of the concept, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with support from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, sponsored a "National Energy SuperGrid Workshop."
If you're interested, you can read the 28-page report of this workshop, held Nov. 6-8, 2002, in Palo Alto, Calif.
The SuperGrid concept goes beyond the current vision of a future hydrogen economy, to one where electricity and hydrogen become synergistic elements in an integrated energy infrastructure, said workshop organizer Thomas Overbye, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois.
Placing the energy pipeline underground would reduce surface congestion and rights-of-way disputes in crowded urban centers, Overbye said, and could reduce the SuperGrid's vulnerability to severe weather, sabotage and terrorist attack.
Will we see the SuperGrid anytime soon? I don't think so.
Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, reported by ScienceDaily Magazine, March 20, 2003
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